Description: Saville's Spinney was the scene of a gruesome murder in 1844: 'On Thursday evening week a quadruple murder, of a most revolting description, was discovered to have been committed at Colwick, about three miles from Nottingham. The victims of this massacre were Anne SAVILLE and her three children, two boys and a girl, of the several ages of seven, five, and four years, who were found with their throats cut from ear to ear, in a retired spinny. The husband and father, there is little doubt, was the atrocious criminal.' (taken from the Carlisle Patriot, June 1, 1844). Further tragedy ensued when 12 people were crushed to death due to the immense crowds which turned out for the hanging of the father, William Saville.
Comment from Mark Higginson (Picture the Past): The railway in this view, which is looking north, is the Great Northern Railway's line from Grantham to Nottingham and the signals on the right herald the divergence of the route to Grantham and the Derbyshire Extension line to Colwick North Junction, Gedling, Daybrook and beyond to Ilkeston, Derby and Burton upon Trent (in railway terms they are 'splitting distants'). There were several foot crossings on this section of the GNR and map evidence confirms that this one was just west of Netherfield and Colwick station and linked Colwick Vale to Whimsey Lodge. Saville's Spinney (the same maps use the spelling Savel's Spinney) itself is some distance down the line towards Nottingham and had its own foot crossing. It therefore seems unlikely that the crossing depicted here was named Saville's Crossing, although its official name has not been discovered.