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Kirkby in Ashfield is a market town in Nottinghamshire, England, with a population of 25,265 according to the 2001 UK census, falling to 20,672 for the covered by the three Ashfield wards taken at the 2011 UK census (a possible alteration to the area). The Head Offices of Ashfield District Council are located on Urban Road in the town centre. Kirkby in Ashfield lies on the eastern edge of the Erewash Valley which separates Nottinghamshire from Derbyshire. Kirkby, as it is locally known, was originally a Danish settlement (Kirk-by translates as 'Church Town' in Danish) and is a collection of small villages including Old Kirkby, The Folly (East Kirkby or Kirkby Folly), Nuncargate and Kirkby Woodhouse. Kirkby-in-Ashfield was once an important centre of coal mining and railways in west Nottinghamshire, with three active coal mines and several railway junctions. The former Mansfield and Pinxton Railway from the Erewash Valley Line was joined here by the later Midland Railway line from Nottingham. The Great Central Railway main line passed to the southwest side of the town and had a double junction with the Great Northern Railway Leen Valley Extension line to Langwith Junction and the Mansfield Railway to Clipstone (near Mansfield). The town rapidly expanded during the Victorian era. It prospered until the closure of the coal mines in the 1980s and early 1990s led to a major slump in the local economy. The area has since suffered a high level of socio-economic depression. The railways were closed during the Beeching era leaving the town without a fast link to central Nottingham or nearby Mansfield. The railway re-opened in the 1990s as part of the 'Robin Hood' line. The town is currently undergoing a revival and is progressively changing from a traditional mining town to a commuter base of the greater Nottingham area, however the transition from industrial centre to commuter town is in its infancy and will take some years to develop. [edit] A nineteenth century descriptionA Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Kirkby in Ashfield from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:
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