Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for NOTTINGHAM

NOTTINGHAM, a town, three parishes, an extra-parochial tract, and a district, in Notts. The town occupies a rocky eminence, overlooking the rich valley of the Trent, contiguous to the river Leen and to the Nottingham canal, near the N bank of the river Trent, 15½ miles E by N of Derby, 27½ N of Leicester, and 124 by road, but 128 by railway, N N W of London. A railway impinges on it, coming from Derby, and going north-eastward to Newark and Lincoln; another railway goes from its western vicinity northward to Mansfield; a third railway goes from the Newark line, at a point 2¾ miles to the E, eastward to Grantham; a fourth railway, in course of formation in 1867, goes from the Mansfield line, at a point 2 miles to the N W, north-westward to Alfreton; the first of these railways is crossed, at a point 6½ milesto the W S W, by a line going southward from Chesterfield to Leicester and Rugby; and all the five railway shave such junctions, connexions, or prolongations as combinedly to give Nottingham railway -communication with all parts of the kingdom. The river Trent and the Nottingham canal, both in themselves and in their connexions with other navigations, also give extensive and ramified water-communication.

History.—Nottingham is of doubtful origin. It may have been settled by the ancient Britons, and may also have been occupied by the Romans. Numerous caves, perhaps partly artificial, are in the sandstone rocks beneath it; and are supposed to have been dwellings or storehouses of the ancient Britons. A town was certainly here in the times of the Mercian Saxons; and was called by them Snottengham, from the two words Snottenga signifying "caves" and Ham signifying "a dwelling." The same name, slightly altered into Snottingham, continued to be used in the middle ages; and was eventually changed into Nottingham. The Danes got possession of the town about the middle of the ninth century; were expelled from it, in 868, by Burhed, King of Mercia; got re-possession of it some years afterwards; and were re-expelled by Edward the Elder. Edwardalso, in 910, fortified it with a wall, and built a bridge in its neighbourhood over the Trent. The town wasfurther strengthened on the S side, in 924; but it was taken again by the Danes, soon after that date; and it remained in their possession till rescued by Edmund in941. It had so many as 192 burgesses in the time of Edward the Confessor; and contained then considerable possessions of Tosti, brother of Harold; but it suffered some decrease of prosperity in the next 30 or 40 years, and had only 120 burgesses at the time of the Conquest. William the Conqueror visited it in 1068; built a formidable castle at it, on the site of a previous fortress; constructed other works for strongly defending the town; and committed the government of both town and castle to his natural son, William Peverell. The castle stood on the top of a bold rock, rising murally from the side of the river Leen, at the height of 133 feet above the level of the adjacent meadows; and was regarded as impregnable. The town, nevertheless, was taken and burnt in 1140, in the course of the civil wars of Stephen, by Ralph Paganell; was taken again, in the course of the same wars, in 1153; and was seized by the rebel barons of Henry II., in 1174. Henry II. kept Christmas at it in 1178. John, afterwards King John, seized the castle during the absence of Richard I. in Germany; but Richard I., on his return to England, soon recovered possession of it; and, in 1194, he held a parliament at it, to call John to account. John, in 1212, during his own reign, retreated to it; and, in 1215, kept Christmas at it. The confederate barons who, in the time of John, had invited the Dauphin of France to accept the English crown, madean unsuccessful assault on the town and the castle. The barons who rose against Henry III. got possession, but were expelled in 1264. Edward I. often halted at the castle on his march during his protracted wars against Scotland.

Edward II. and his voluptuous queen Isabella for along period made Nottingham their residence; and after that unhappy monarch's murder, his widow, and her paramour Mortimer, Earl of March, took up their abode in the strongly-fortified castle, in defiance of Edward III. at the commencement of his reign; but were surprised and arrested here, by a party of the king's emissaries, in 1330. The emissaries obtained entrance through a subterranean passage, leading by a winding staircase to the castle's keep; and that passage, in allusion to the Earl of March's capture, is called Mortimer's Hole, and continues to be an object of interest. Two parliaments were held in the town, in 1334 and 1337, by Edward III.; and one of them passed the first enactments for prohibiting the exportation of English wool, and for encouraging foreign manufacturers to settle in England. David, king of Scotland, was imprisoned at the castle in 1346. Parliaments were held in the town, in 1386, 1394, and 1397, by Richard II. Edward IV. was proclaimed here in 1460, and visited the town in 1470. Richard III. marched hence, in 1485, to Bosworth field; and Henry VII. marched hence, in 1487, to the battle of East Stoke. Henry VIII. visited the town in 1523. Charles I., in May1642, at the commencement of his civil wars, first hoisted his standard on a height within the limits of the castle; and thence the extra-parochial tract comprising these took the name of Standard Hill and Limits of the Castle of Nottingham. The parliamentarians, next year, be-sieged and took the town and the castle; and placed a strong garrison in them, under the command of Col. Hutchinson, whose memoirs, written by his lady, have procured for him no small share of celebrity. The castle, during the protectorate of Cromwell, was dismantled, and so far demolished as to be made uninhabitable; and, after the restoration, it became the property of the Duke of Buckingham, passed by sale to the Duke of Newcastle, and was taken down. A new edifice, in the Italian style, resembling a magnificent villa, was founded in 1674 onpart of its site by the Duke of Newcastle; was completed in 1680, after the Duke's death; had, over its principal entrance, a fine equestrian statue of the founder, sculptured by Wilson out of a single block of Donningtonstone; descended to the Duke's representatives; was burnt down, in riots of 1831, in resentment of opposition by the then Duke of Newcastle to the reform bill; and is now in a state of dilapidation. The Duke, in 1832, at the Leicester assizes, obtained damages of £21,000 against the hundred of Broxtow for the destruction of the building; but he did not apply the money to restore or re-construct it. The gateway of the ancient castle still stands; and some portions of the outworks also remain. A meeting of noblemen, acting in the cause of the Prince of Orange, was held at Nottingham in 1688; and the Princess Anne, afterwards Queen Anne, residedat the new castle in the same year. A great waterspout, of twenty minutes' continuance, fell in 1785; and a great flood of the Trent occurred in 1795. Considerable political excitement arose at the time of the French revolution of 1798; serious riots, occasioned by mistaken views of the effects of introducing improved machinery for the manufactures, occurred in 1811-2, and in 1816-7; and political riots, already indicated for their destruction of the Duke of Newcastle's mansion, occurred in 1831. The British Association met at Nottingham in 1866.

Among distinguished natives of Nottingham have been William of Nottingham, author of a " Concordance to the Evangelists; " Plough, who, in the time of Queen Mary, wrote an " Apology for the Protestants; "Fleming, the theological writer; Jebb, the physician; Kippis, the biographer, 1725-95; Sandby, the engraver, 1732-1809; Gilbert Wakefield, the distinguished classical scholar, 1756-1801; Henry Kirke White, the poet, 1785-1806; Philip James Bailey, the author of " Festus" and other publications; and William Vialls, the founder of the Loan Funds and other charitable institutions. Nottingham gives the title of Earl to the family of Finch-Hatton.

Site and Structure.—The situation of the town is veryfine. The surrounding country has a hilly aspect, butis diversified with valleys, parks, and mansions. Achain of wood-crowned hills is on the N; a large plain ofrich meadow, forming part of the fertile valley of the Trent, is on the S. The land of all kinds in the neighbourhood is very productive; the mansions of Colwick hall, Wollaton House, Clifton Grove, Wilford Hall, Bramcote Hall, Roclaveston Manor, Gedling House, and Nuthall Temple, are at distances of from 1½ to 4½ miles; and the diversified expanse of Sherwood forest stretches away from the immediate N E vicinity. The views from the town are very pleasing and diversified; and the rural walks in the vicinity are numerous and picturesque. The streets in the central and more ancient part of the town are generally narrow and irregular, and several of them stand along acclivities of the old cavernous rockyhill, and rise in terraces above one another, in somuch that the ground-floors of the houses in the upper ones are considerably higher than the roofs of those at the bottom. But the streets in the new parts are well aligned, well built, spacious, and convenient; and theycover, as compared with the old streets, an aggregatelylarge area. So much as about one-half of the acreage of the town consisted of fields and meadows, over which theburgesses had a common right of pasturage during three months of each year; but in 1849 an enclosure act was obtained; and the principal portions of those lands are now occupied with streets, factories, and warehouses. One of the new streets was formed in 1862-3, at a cost of about £30,000; and a subway, in the form of a culvert or capacious tunnel, for a sewer and for gas-pipes and water-pipes, was formed contemporaneously with the street, at a cost of nearly £5,000. The market-place, situated in the old town, includes an area of 6 acres, is one of thefinest in the kingdom, and is surrounded with elegant shops and lofty houses, the ground-stories of which have the form of a projecting piazza. The wall and the moat which anciently defended the town ran round the outside of the market-place; and some remains of them were discovered in the course of excavations for new sewers in 1866. The section of wall then laid open was 5 feet high and about 5½ feet thick, and consisted of blocks of local sandstone rudely bedded in sand and clay; and the section of the moat was 30 feet wide, and continued to be seen to the bottom of the excavations made, or to the depth of 13 feet. New sewerage was effected in 1865 to an extent which cost £9, 846, and in 1866 to an extent which cost £8, 247; and is in course of further extension as rapidly as pecuniary resources will permit. Yet the aggregate sewerage is very far from being satisfactory." Many miles of streets in the older part of the town, " said an official report in 1866, "are in wretched condition. In some cases, there are no sewers; in others, two or three lines of old drains exist, of which no one knowsthe history." Water supply is partly obtained, by pumps, from various excellent local springs; but is principally furnished through pipes by a public company whose works include reservoirs of great capacity. Extensive suburbs, within the parishes of Lenton, Radford, and Snenton, adjoin the borough boundaries, and are practically parts of Nottingham, sharing in its manufacturesand trade; and these, in common with the town itself, have made great progress since 1831.

Public Buildings.—The Town-Hall stands at Week-day Cross; replaced a previous structure of timber and plaster in 1741; is a plain stuccoed building; has a front supported by a row of wooden pillars; and for-merly comprised the town jail. The County Hall stands on the High-pavement; was erected in 1770; under went extensive internal alterations and repairs in 1854; was altered and repaired again, with addition of a large new grand-jury room, in 1860; is a massive stone edifice; and contains portraits of George III. and others, and standards taken in 1745. The County Jail stands behind the County Hall, on the brow of a rock 70 feet high, over-looking a dense quarter of the town called the Marsh; adjoins private buildings on the E and the W; was erected at different periods, and much enlarged in 1833; and has capacity for 76 male and 14 female prisoners. The Town Jail stands in St. John-street; occupies the site of a convent of the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem; and has capacity for 171 male and 30 female prisoners. The Exchange stands at the E end of the market-place; was erected in the early part of last century, and repaired and faced with Roman cement in 1814; is a handsome brick building; contains, in the N wing, the police-office and the magistrates' clerks' offices; contains, in the upper stories, a suite of noble rooms for the transaction of public business or for assemblies; and, in the ground-floor, has been converted into shops, behind which are the shambles. The Corn Exchange was erected in 1849, at a cost of £5,000; is a fine structure; and, besides being used on Saturdays for the corn market, is used at all other business times as an exchange and news-room; and it occupies part of the site where formerly stood Thurland Hall, which was built in 1651 by the Pierreponts. The old Theatre stood in St. Mary's-gate. The new Theatre stands in Upper Parliament-street; was built in 1865; presents a frontage of 70 feet to a line of new street then about to be formed from Parliament-street to the market-place; has a portico extending over the pavement; forms a block 132 feet long and 90 feet wide; contains accommodation for 2, 200 persons; and is approached by six different entrances. The Post-office stands in St. Peter's-gate; forms part of Albert-street; and is a recent handsome stone building. A new edifice with better accommodation for the post-office service, and with accommodation for all the other government offices, was erected in Victoria-street in 1867-8. The offices of the Corporation accountant and of the Sanitary committee adjoin the Post-office. The Midland railway station occupies an enclosure of about 20 acresin the meadows of the West Croft; and the Great Northern railway station is in the East Croft. A dock, a new corn warehouse, buildings for other heavy goods, and large sheds are at the canal. Swimming, hot, steam, and Turkish baths are in Gedling-street; and bathsheds, provided by the Corporation, and free to the public, are on the north bank of the river Trent. A bridge of 19 arches crosses the Trent in the vicinity of the town; and a wooden bridge, for passengers, crosses the canal. An ornamental fountain, to the memory of the late John Walter, Esq., was erected in the early part of 1866, at a cost of £1,000; stands in a broadspace, laid open by improvements, at the junction of Lister-gate and Carrington-street; is an octagonal structure, of four stages, in the pointed style; and measures12 feet in diameter at the base, and 40 feet in height. A picturesque drinking fountain also is in the Arboretum, and was erected at the expense of the late Mrs. Enfield. The cavalry barracks, in the Castle-park, were erected in 1730; but ceased to be permanently used about 1859. A spacious brick building, formerly used as a riding-house of the yeomen cavalry, and occasionally as a circus, stands near the Castle-gate, and is now used as a carriage-repository and livery stables. Other public buildings will be noticed in subsequent paragraphs.

Parishes and Churches.—The borough contains thepolitical parishes of St. Mary, St. Nicholas, and St. Peter; and the district contains also the extra-parochial tract of Standard-Hill and Limits of the Castle of Nottingham. Acres of the whole 1,870. Real property, in 1860, £301, 120; of which £7,082 were on the canal, £26, 351 in railways, and £11, 311 in gas-works. Pop. of St. Mary in 1851, 45, 729; in 1861, 64, 553. Houses, 13, 243. Pop. of St. Nicholas, in 1851, 5, 846; in 1861, 5, 154. Houses, 1,077. Pop. of St. Peter, in 1851, 5, 832; in 1861, 4, 986. Houses, 1, 121. Pop. of Standard Hill and Limits of the Castle, in 1851, 1,012; in 1861, 1,072. Houses, 170. The ecclesiastical arrangement leaves St. Nicholas and St. Peter's parishes unchanged; cuts the rest of the town into the sections of St. Mary, St. Paul, Trinity, St. John the Baptist, St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, St. Anne, St. Saviour, and All Saints; and includes the chapelry of St. James without any territorial limits. Pop. of St. Mary ecclesiastical, about 6,000; of St. Paul, 6, 817; of Trinity, 9, 239; of St. John the Baptist, 5, 892; of St. Matthew, 5, 455; of St. Mark, 12, 119; of St. Luke, about 8, 500; of St. Anne, about 9,000; of St. Saviour, 4, 425; of All Saints, 5, 585. St. Paul's was constituted in 1838; Trinity, in 1842; St. John the Baptist's, in 1844; St. Matthew's and St. Mark's in 1856; and the others, since1860. The livings of St. Nicholas and St. Peter are rectories, the living of St. James is a p. curacy, and the other livings are vicarages, in the diocese of Lincoln. Value, of St. Mary, £900; * of St. Nicholas, £216; * of St. Peter, £400; * of St. Paul, St. Mark, and St. Anne, each £300; of Trinity, £400; * of St. John the Baptistand St. Matthew, each £300; * of St. Luke, £290; * of St. Saviour and All Saints, each £233; of St. James, £200 Patron of St. Mary, Earl Manvers; of St. Nicholas, Trinity, St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, St. Anne, St. Saviour, and All Saints, Trustees; of St. Peter and St. James, the Lord Chancellor; of St. Paul, the Bishop of London; of St. John the Baptist, the Bishop of Lincoln.

The places of worship within the town, to the extent of the poor-law district, in 1851, were 9 of the Church of England, with 8, 582 sittings; 5 of Independents, with 3, 841 s.; 7 of Baptists, with 4, 601 s.; 1 of Quakers, with 550 s.; 1 of Unitarians, with 610 s.; 2 of Wesleyans, with 3, 664 s.; 1 of New Connexion Methodists, with982 s.; 2 of Primitive Methodists, with 1,850 s.; 1 of the Wesleyan Association, with 340 s.; 1 of Wesleyan Reformers, with 600 s.; 1 of the New Church, with 200s.; 2 undefined, with 770 s.; 1 of the Catholic and Apostolic Church, with 400 s.; 1 of Latter Day Saints, with 324 s.; 2 of Roman Catholics, with 1, 123 s.; and 1 of Jews, with 50 s. The places of worship in 1867, exclusive of those in public institutions, were at least 14of the Church of England, 5 of Independents, 2 of Particular Baptists, 3 of General Baptists, 1 of Scotch Baptists, 1 of Quakers, 2 of Unitarians, 1 of New Connexion Methodists, 2 of Primitive Methodists, 3 of United Free Methodists, 1 of the New Church or Swedenborgians, 1 of Huntingtonians, 1 of the Catholic and Apostolic Church, and 2 of Roman Catholics.

St. Mary's church stands on an eminence 70 feet inheight; figures conspicuously in all views from theneighbourhood; dates from the time of Henry VII.;is cruciform and spacious; was altered and enlarged about 1835, so as to have accommodation for 2,000 persons; has a central later English tower of two stages, crowned with pinnacles; exhibits beautiful designs and elaborate execution; includes two chapels, called the Clare and the Plumptre; had once a guild and three chantries; was restored and beautified in 1867; and contains an old font with a Greek inscription, remains of brasses, and some elegant monuments. St. Nicholas' church stands in Castle-gate; was rebuilt in 1678; succeeded a previous church, taken down during the civilwar; is a neat edifice of brick, with stone cornices; was enlarged in 1756 and 1783; and underwent great interior improvement a few years prior to 1867. St. Peter's church stands in Peter-gate; is later English, greatly modernized; has a W tower, with lofty spire; and contains a monument to Dering, who wrote a history of the town. St. Paul's church stands in George-street; was built in 1822; and is a handsome edifice in the Grecian style, with a Doric portico. Trinity church stands in Milton-street; was built in 1842, at a cost of more than £10.000; is a handsome edifice, in the pointed style; measures 120 feet by 64; and has a tower and spire 117 feet high. St. John the Baptist's church stands in Leenside; was erected in 1843, at a cost of £4,000; and is a stone structure, in the early English style. St. Matthew's church stands in Upper Talbot-street; was built in 1853; is a stone edifice, in the modern pointed style; and has a tower and spire. St. Mark's church stands in St. Michael-street; was erected in 1855; and is a very plain edifice. St. Luke's churchstands in Carlton-road; was built in 1863, at a cost of £4, 500; and is in the early English style. St. Anne's church stands in Beck-street; was built in 1863, at a cost of £3, 100; and is in the decorated English style. St. Saviour's church stands in Arkwright-street; was erected in 1865, at a cost of £3, 100; and is in the 13th century geometric style. St. Matthias' church was built in 1868, at a cost of about £3,000; and is in the early English style. All Saints' church was built also in 1865; cost, together with endowment for it, £20,000, defrayed by W. Windley, Esq.; is in the decorated English style; and has a tower and spire 175 feet high. St. James'church stands on Standard Hill; was erected in 1808; and is in the later English style, with a low tower. Trinity Free church stands on Bunker's Hill; was built in 1860; and is a chapel of ease to Trinity church.

The Independent chapel in Castle-gate was rebuilt in 1864, and is a very handsome edifice. The Wesleyan chapels in Broad-street and Halifax-place are ornamentaland very spacious structures. The Free Methodist chapelin Shakespeare-street was originally built to accommodate 700 persons; was enlarged in 1862, at a cost of about £550; and is a handsome edifice. Several of the other dissenting chapels are large and ornamental. The Roman Catholic church of St. Barnabas stands in Derby-road; was built in 1841, after designs by Pugin, with aid of £10,000 from the Earl of Shrewsbury; is in the early English style, 180 feet long and 80 feet wide; includes a Lady chapel and five sidechapels; contains a carved stone pulpit, stall, and sedilia; and ranks as a cathedral. The Roman Catholic chapel in College-street is connected with a convent. The general cemetery is at the top of the Derby-road; was formed in 1837, at a cost of £5, 540; comprises about 12 acres of sandy soil; has a neat gateway, with six alms-houses on each side; contains a chapel; and is tastefully laid out. The Church of England cemetery lies on the verge of the forest-hill; comprises about 16 acres, laid out with picturesque effect; and is restricted entirely to members of the Church of England.

A grey friary stood in Broadmarsh, in the W part of the town, not far from the castle; was founded in 1250, by Henry III.; was given, at the dissolution, to the Heneages; and has left no remains. A white friary stood between Moat-hall-gate and St. James' lane; was reputed to have been founded, about 1276, by Lord Grey of Wilton and Sir John Shirley; contained in its church analtar to the Virgin Mary, erected in 1308; was given, at the dissolution, to James Sturley; and has completely disappeared. A Hospitallers house and a lepers' hospital were founded, somewhere in the town, in the time of Henry VIII.; a college, or free chapel was in the castle; and a cell of two monks, called St. Mary's priorycell, was in the chapel of St. Mary-on-the-Rock; but allthese also have completely disappeared. A Carmelite friary was in the neighbouring parish of Lenton.

Schools and Institutions.—The schools, in 1851, were 25 public day schools, with 3, 330 scholars; 100 private day schools, with 2, 787 s.; 38 Sunday schools, with 9, 337 s.; and 8 evening schools for adults, with 468 s. The free grammar-school stands in Stoney-street; was founded in 1513, by Agnes Mellors; went nearly into disuse prior to 1807; was revived, in that year, by the corporation; is a good building, not sufficiently commodious; and has an endowed income of £708 a year. Anew edifice for the grammar school, large and handsome, on an elevated site near the Arboretum, was erected in 1867-8. The blue-coat school, for instructing and clothing children, was originally a building in the Middle-pavement, on a site given in 1723 by William Thorpe; is now a building of 1853, in the Tudor style, in the centre of a rising-ground on the Mansfield-road; and is supported partly by endowment, partly by subscriptions. Ten national schools are in various parts; public day schools are connected with several congregations, variously Church of England, dis-senting, and Roman Catholic; a Lancasterian school is in Derby-road; a British school, for boys and for girls, is in Bath-street; a school of industry for girls is in Rutland-street; and ragged schools are in Glasshouse-street, Newcastle-street, Colwick-street, and Leenside. Schoolsin connexion with St. Saviour's church were built in 1866. One of the ragged schools was built in 1859; is a structure in modernized chromatic by zantine style; contains two schoolrooms, each 45 feet by 20; and has the two rooms so constructed that they may be temporarilyconverted into one for lectures or public meetings. The institution for the blind stands in Clarendon-street and Chancer-street; measures 96 feet in front, and 104 feet in flank; and serves, not for Nottingham only but for the Midland counties. Sunday schools in Victoria-street, inconnexion with Derby-road chapel, were built in 1859-60, at a cost of about £1, 250; and are in the geometric pointed style, of Bulwell-stone, with Bath-stonedressings.

A Congregational theological college was erected in Forest-road in 1868; is in the early decorated English style; contains a hall 60 feet long and 30 feet wide; and educates about 55 students upon an income of about £2,000 a year. A school of art stands in Waverley-street; is a new and commodious edifice; contains class-rooms, a spacious museum, and galleries for paintings and sculpture; was the scene of an effective exhibition in 1865; and is one of the best provincial institutions of its class in the kingdom. The mechanics' institute was established in 1837; is a recently erected building in Milton-street; comprises class-rooms, reading-rooms, a library-room, and spacious lecture-hall; has a museum, an excellent philosophical apparatus, and a good library of about 3,000 volumes; and was burnt in 1867, and partly restored, but mainly rebuilt, in 1868-9. The Artizans' library stands in Thurland-street; is a recent edifice, in the Italian style, with a fine room 50 feet long, 18 feet wide, and 20 feet high; and contains many thousand volumes. The People's hall stands in Becklane; was built and endowed by Mr. George Gill; contains a very large and excellent library; and has classes for gratuitous instruction in most of the useful arts. A natural history society holds meetings in the mechanics' institute. An Arboretum was formed, at the town's expense, in 1852; occupies a large tract on two hills; contains, at the Nangle, a commodious refreshment room; and is daily open to the public.

The Infirmary, or General Hospital, stands on Standard-hill; was built in 1781; was recently raised in height, and very much enlarged by the addition of wings; is surrounded by a lawn and garden, comprising about two acres; and is open to patients from all parts of the county. The Lunatic Asylum stands near Snenton village, on the road to Southwell; was erected in 1812; serves for pauper lunatics from all parts of the county; and contains accommodation for about 160 patients. The Lunatic Hospital, for first and second class patients, stands on Coppice-hill; was built in 1859; and has accommodation for 70 patients. The Dispensary stands in Broad-street; was erected in 1843; and is a cemented building, with Corinthian pilasters. Plumptre's hospital was founded in 1392, by John de Plumptre, for two chaplains and thirteen aged widows; was rebuilt in 1823, by John Plumptre, Esq., with alteration of the trust property; has an endowed income of £880; and gives allowances to 20 out-pensioners. Collin's hospitalwas founded in 1704, by Mr. Abel Collin; is for 24 aged men and women; and has an endowed income of £759. Willoughby's hospital was founded in 1525; comprises 19 tenements; and has an endowed income of £183. Labray's hospital was founded in 1700, for 6 poor frame-work-knitters; and has an endowed income of £143. Handley's hospital comprises 12 old tenements for aged persons; Bilby's alms-houses comprise 8 tenements; Lambley's hospital is a neat building of centre and wings, comprising 22 tenements; Wartnaby's hospital, Warser-gate hospital, Wooley's alms-houses, and St. Nicholas white-rents comprise each six tenements; and these seven institutions have endowed incomes ranging from £17 to £41. Burton's alms-houses were erected in 1859, by Miss Ann Burton; are for aged widows, widowers, spinsters, and bachelors; and have accommodation for24 inmates. There are also an eye dispensary, a medical aid institute, a homœopathic institution, a female refuge, apprenticing charities, and a variety of other benevolent and miscellaneous institutions. The total of endowed charities is about £3, 703 a year; exclusive of a capital of £12, 766, left by Sir T. White for loans without interest.

Trade and Manufactures.—The town has a head post-office‡ in Albert-street, receiving post-offices‡ in Derby-road, Mansfield-road, and Snenton, and postal pillar-boxes in about thirteen places; telegraph offices in Thurland-street and at the railway stations; banking offices in South Parade, Thurland-street, Beast Market-hill, and Low-pavement; and principal hotels in Poultry, George-street, East Long-row, and Station-street. Three daily newspapers, and three weekly ones, are published. A weekly market, chiefly for corn and cattle, and very largely attended, is held on Saturday; another weekly market is held on Wednesday; a fair, for cattle, is held on the Friday after 13 Jan.; a large fair, called Goosefair, for cattle, cheese, cloth, and other merchandise, is held on 2, 3, and 4 Oct.; and other fairs are held on 78, and 9 March and the Thursday before Easter. The chief departments of manufacture, and of employments connected with it, are the making of bobbin-net and beautiful laces, the making of all kinds of hosiery, thethrowing and dyeing of silk, the process of bleaching, the making of machines for lace and hosiery, the spinning and twisting of silk, the spinning of cotton and woollen yarn, the making of malt, the brewing of ale, and the carrying on of all kinds of ordinary artizanship. The persons of 20 years of age and upwards, at the cen-sus of 1861, employed in the manufacture of lace, were 2, 118 males and 3, 892 females; in the manufacture ofsilk, 178 m. and 443 f.; in the dyeing of silk, 38 m.; in other dyeing and calendaring, 172 m. and 7 f.; in the manufacture of hosiery, 2, 134 m. and 1, 339 f.; in the manufacture of cotton, 130 m. and 309 f.; in themaking of boots and shoes, 866 m. and 221 f.; in the making of ropes and cords, 34 m. and 2 f.; in the making of brushes and brooms, 35 m. and 5 f.; in basket-making, 38 m. and 1 f.; in paper-making, 27 m.; in the making of machines and engines, 287 m. in needle-making, 61 m.; in the making of tools, or in kindred employments, 203 m.; in coach-making, 98 m. and 1 f.; in iron-manufacture, 120 m.; in malting, 84 m.; and in brewing, or in employments connected with it, 100 m. The improved machines for manufacturing lace and hosiery have of late years been worked by steam. Considerable business arises from transit-traffic in coal, building-stone, lead, and iron. Races are held twice a year, on a course N E of the town; and draw large assemblages of people. The race-course is 1¼ mile in circuit, and has a handsome grand stand.

The Borough.—Nottingham was chartered by Edward II.; and has sent two members to parliament since the time of Edward I. The borough is of the same extent parliamentarily as municipally; has the same limits now which it had before the reform act of 1832; consists of the political parishes of St. Mary, St. Nicholas, and St. Peter; and, under the new act, is divided into 7 wards, and governed by a mayor, 14 aldermen, and 42 council-lors. It has courts leet and baron, held twice a year by the mayor as lord of the manor; it is the seat of a county court, of quarter sessions, and of both spring and summer assizes; and it is a polling-place for the S division of the county. Water-works are at Trent-bridge, Castle-road, Ropewalk-street, and Basford; a fire brigade and engine are at St. John-street; a county-police station is in High-pavement; the borough police-office is in Smithy-row; and police stations are in St. John-street, Meadow-lodge, and Snenton-road. The police force for the borough, in 1864, comprised 99 men, and cost £6, 708. The crimes committed within the borough, in 1864, were 204; the persons apprehended, 76; the depredators and suspected persons at large, 465; the houses of bad character, 160. Corporation income in 1855, £29, 467. Amount of property and income tax charged in 1863, £27, 180. Electors in 1833, 5, 220; in 1 868, 6, 921 Pop. in 1851, 57, 407; in 1861, 74, 693. Houses, 15, 441.

The District.—The poor-law district is divided into the sub-district of Sherwood, comprising part of the parish of St. Mary, with a pop. of 6, 187 in 1851, and of12, 572 in 1861; the sub-district of St. Mary, comprising part of the parish of St. Mary, with a pop. of 7, 669 in 1851, and of 6, 659 in 1861; the sub-district of St. Ann, comprising part of the parish of St. Mary, with a pop. Of 12, 640 in 1851, and of 20,079 in 1861; the sub-district of by ron, comprising part of the parish of St. Mary, with a pop. of 11, 664 in 1851, and of 14, 673 in 1861: the sub-district of Exchange, comprising part of the parishes of St. Mary and St. Peter, with a pop. of 6, 598 in 1851, and of 8, 964 in 1861; the sub-district of Castle, comprising parts of the parishes of St. Mary, St. Nicholas, and St. Peter, with a pop. of 7, 482 in 1851, and of 6, 723in 1861; and the sub-district of Park, comprising parts of the parishes of St. Mary, St. Nicholas, and St. Peter, and all the extra-parochial tract of Standard Hill and Limits of the Castle, with a pop. of 6, 179 in 1851, and of 6,095 in 1861. Acres of the whole, 1,870. Poor-rates in 1863, £45,091. Pop. in 1851, 58, 419; in 1861, 75, 765. Houses, 15, 611. Marriages in 1863, 850; births, 2, 719, of which 273 were illegitimate; deaths, 1, 951, of which 862 were at ages under 5 years, and 26 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 8, 308; births, 23, 600; deaths, 17, 890. The workhouse stands in York-street, within St. Anne's sub-district; is a brick structure, erected at a cost of more than £18,000; has capacity for about 1,000 paupers; and, at the census of 1861, had 844 inmates.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, three parishes, an extra-parochial tract, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Nottingham CP       Nottingham RegD/PLU/PLPar       Nottinghamshire AncC
Place: Nottingham

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