The original village of Normanton-by-Derby, which now forms the southern part of the suburb, dates back to the medieval period.

St Giles' Parish Church stands on Village Street, atop a slight hill, and its spire can be seen across most of the district.

The area began to urbanise rapidly in the mid 19th century, Normanton eventually being absorbed by the expansion of Derby's boundaries up to the 1930s.

[3] The New Normanton part of the parish (roughly the area north of the modern inner ring road) was annexed by the town in 1901.

[5] The area has a high ethnic minority population, with the largest concentration of Derby's British Asian community.

Most of the wall, and many buildings, remained when the site was quit by the army and became a small industrial estate in the mid 1960s.

It was all, however, demolished in 1981, and the site is now the Foresters Leisure Park, including the Showcase cinema, some fast food restaurants, a bingo hall, and a bowling alley.

At the north west corner of the original Barracks site is now the Oast House pub, a distinctive modern building which is, as the name suggests, in the style of a traditional English oast house a type of structure totally incongruous to this part of the country.

Just along the ring road on Village Street is the church that served the Garrison, St Giles', where there are numerous memorials to the Sherwood Foresters.

The area's main public recreational facility is Normanton Park; it was opened in 1909, as recorded on the café clock tower.

[5] Other nearby primary schools whose catchment areas cover parts of Normanton include Arboretum, Pear Tree, St. Chad's and St. James'.

[9] Research Scientist and Member of Parliament Ashok Kumar was born in India, moving to Normanton as a child, where he lived on Silver Hill Road.