- published: 17 Oct 2014
- views: 36933
Coordinates: 53°02′13″N 1°18′46″W / 53.0369°N 1.3128°W / 53.0369; -01.3128
Brinsley is a village in Nottinghamshire, England. The church of St James was built in 1837-38 from Mansfield stone, the chancel being added in 1877.. The village is split into two sections, Old Brinsley which is within Broxtowe and New Brinsley which is in Ashfield.
Brinsley elected Sadie Graham, a British National Party candidate in the 2007 Broxtowe council elections. However, she sat as an independent until she was dismissed for failing to attend meetings.
Brinsley used to be a major mining town. The only remainder of this heritage are the headstocks. They are not only of significance for the area but are also the only headstocks left of this kind. After the final closure of Brinsley Pit they had been moved to a museum but have recently been restored and brought back to near their original place. The Friends of Brinsley Headstocks have worked on turning the area into a nature reserve. There are several farms in the area that have gone organic. The countryside is often explored by leisure walkers with walks organised by D.H. Lawrence Heritage.
Brinsley Schwarz were a 1970s English pub rock band, named after their guitarist Brinsley Schwarz. With Nick Lowe on bass and vocals, keyboardist Bob Andrews and drummer Billy Rankin, the band evolved from the 1960s pop band Kippington Lodge.
Nick Lowe (bass, guitars, vocals) and Brinsley Schwarz (guitar, piano, vocals) originally met at Woodbridge School where they played in school bands with Barry Landerman (keyboards, vocals) and Phil Hall (guitar). In 1964, whilst still at school, they toured RAF bases in Germany as "Sounds 4+1". On leaving school, Schwarz formed "Three's A Crowd" with Pete Whale (drums) and Dave Cottam (bass). Landerman joined in 1967 and they renamed themselves "Kippington Lodge". Their first two singles, produced by Mark Wirtz, in a close-harmony pop style, both flopped. Cottam left, and Schwarz invited Lowe to join. Landerman then left to join Vanity Fare, Bob Andrews joined on keyboards, and finally, Whale was replaced by Billy Rankin on drums. Although the next three singles also failed, they had a residency as support band at The Marquee. The band's style was changing from pop into "a folk-rock band with psychedelic pretentions". In 1969 they renamed the band after their guitarist, and performed their new music under this name, whilst continuing to play pop as Kippington Lodge. One of the band's first agents was John Schofield, at the time the lover of Hattie Jacques (who would occasionally make bacon sandwiches for the band members when the visited Schofield's home). In the early part of their career the band shared a communal home in a large old house in Beaconsfield. The premises were used as a rehearsal space by The Band, who came to the UK as part of the Warner Brothers tour, where they borrowed the band's instruments.