The Wardwick is one of the oldest street names in Derby and is recorded in 1085 as Walwick Strete, originally Walda’s Dairy Farm. It was close to the Wardwick that the Mercians first established a village settlement quite distinct and apart from the later Saxon settlement of Derby.

The library was the result of an architectural competition won by R K Freeman of Bolton with his Franco-Flemish design and opened in 1879. The pictures below were taken in 1991

It was financed by Michael Thomas Bass, a brewer and philanthropist who was also MP for Derby 1848-83. He also presented the citizens of Derby in 1882 with an art gallery, designed by Story of Derby, to the rear of the library on the Strand frontage

The statue of Michael Bass, sculptured by Sir J E Boehm, was the son of William who was renowned Burton Brewer, this statue one stood in the Market Place, it later was moved to the front of the art gallery, pictured above and more recently moved again to the edge of the newly named Museum Square

Strand Wool Shop, standing on the junction of the Strand, St James Street, Wardwick and Victoria Street, in 2000 this has been converted to a modern cafe-bar

Opposite an elevated view of Victoria Street and the junction with the Cornmarket, dating from around 1930

The pictures on the left were taken in 1990, when these attic dormer windows looked in a sorry state, the same windows in 2005 shown here above right look a bit better, but I'm not sure about all that white planking!