The history of Nottingham, embracing its antiquities, trade, and manufactures, from the earliest authentic records, to the present period

Preface

TThE anxiety of every inquiring mind to obtain a candid and impartial history of the city or town, in which Providence has destined him to reside, particularly one so famous as Nottingham was in days of yore, is so apparent, that did I not feel myself in duty bound to return thanks to those friends, who have generously aided in furnishing me with information, I should not have trodden in the beaten and joyless track of those authors, who consider a " Preface to the reader" as an indispensible appendage. But, as justice and gratitude demand that tribute from me, I shall perform the pleasing duty concisely, and without affectation.

Among those, who have thus aided me, I have to name Mr. George Coldham, town clerk; Mr. Tollinton and Mr. Booth, churchwardens of St. Mary's, a few years ago; Mr. John Hawksley, late of Arnold, and now of Snenton ; Mr. Sutton, printer; and Mr. Johnson, Mr. Turner, and Mr. Allen, sextons of the three parishes. There is another friend, whose never-ceasing exertions have contributed much to my stock of information on this subject; but who, from a sense of delicacy, is desirous of being nameless here.

I shall not attempt to emblazon the birth of this work, by detracting from the merits of those who have gone before me, to whose productions I owe much ; nor shall I, like many authors, sound my own trumpet of praise ; but shall leave the readers to form their own judgment of the merits of the production. And if it give them a degree of pleasure in the reading, corresponding with the trouble it gave me in collecting the materials, they will be fully satisfied.

B

Introduction

It is to the transcendant genius of a Milton, and the gigantic powers of a Hume, that historians owe the clearing of their dubious path. Till the bounteous Creator lent to the world the above-named immortal writers, a historian might have wandered in the trackless wilderness of antiquity, with as little probability of a successful egress, as though he had been wandering in the Cretian labyrinth ; and the more plausible falsehoods he culled from the thorny wild, the more was he extolled by the credulous multitude. But these two great men have proved, that a researcher into history, is not bound, in order to establish his character as a writer, to exhibit any thing but what is founded on authenticated facts, or supported by collateral circumstances, not of a very dubious kind. They had thousands of prejudices to encounter; but they steered triumphant through the tempest, and anchored safely in the haven of truth. I would not here be understood as wishing to discard every thing which is doubtful, merely because it is so; for many doubtful questions may be rectified by circumstantial argument and collateral bearings ; no, my intention is to exclude the legends of those dreamers, whose exertions centered in a display of the marvellous, that they might feed the wild fancy, and fatten on the fruit of the credulity of those for whom they wrote.

In history, as in the science of astronomy, there is a certain space, beyond which, the native and artificial powers of man, never will enable him to penetrate. The virtuoso, who delights to wander in the fogs of his own raising, may grope, if he please, in the nebulous regions of history; but until it be proved that some good is likely to result to mankind from his labours, I shall not attempt to follow him into his darksome retreat. For what matters it to us whether the ancient Druids dwelt in rocky caves, or in huts of a conic form; or whether they transmitted their legends from father to son by oral or written means ; which, to the world are now no more, except what are pretended to ba preserved by modern dreamers, to feed the folly, and waft the flame of the readers of romance; a species of composition which tends so much to dissipate tho morals of the fair part of the creation, that the Almighty wisely created to solace the other sex through the thorny path of life ; but who, for want of due attention being paid to their education, and a proper cultivation of their morals, when nature begins to bloom, too often implant the thorn, instead of the rose, in the breast of the partners of their bed.

Were we to consult the historians of the monkish age, we should find long dissertations on Gog and Magog; on. Brute or Brutus, and his Trojans : we should also find a list of twenty-eight kings, all reigning in Britain, when it was invaded by the Romans; but, in all probability, when they related these things, their own desire to excite wonder supplied the place of fact ; or at least, they gathered the matter of which their histories are composed, from the wild legends of their cloisters, where hypocrisy and fraud were the chief articles of barter; and to support which sprung a desire to deceive.

It can now be of no consequence to us, by what name this country was known two or three thousand years ago : whether it was called Albion, either from Albion Marcatius, who, it is said, reigned over the wild hordes that inhabited it before any thing like a written chronicle was known among them ; or from Ab albis rupibus, words which imply the white rocks which present their projecting bearings towards the coast of France; or from the word Olbion which signifies rich and happy. Or, next, whether it was called Britain from the British words Pryd and Cain, which imply form or shape, and white ; or from the British word Bryth, which signifies painted or coloured ; to which the Greeks added Tania, meaning region, the painted region; or from the Greek word Alphon, which signifies white. Be all this as it may, it only proves that conquerors, folly, and caprice, have adopted, or changed the names of countries at their will. Notwithstanding this country may have been known by a hundred different names, we know it best by that of England; and the great object of the historian should be, to show how it has risen from its once obscure situation to its present state of opulence and power; that its inhabitants may profit by experience, and thereby learn to cherish the virtues, and avoid the vices of the past and present times.

The arguments which apply to the unsettled state of the early part of British history may, with equal propriety, be applied to the history of this ancient and celebrated town ; for what difference can it make to us (since no chartered

8 INTRODUCTION.

right, or privilege enjoyed by custom depends upon its original name) whether it was called Causcnnw, Gofennce or Govciunr, from a cluster of hills, according to the opinion of Dr. Gale ; or, as Dcering has it, from a number of caves*- and afterwards Snoden-gaham, Snoiiden-gahatri, or Snotlengaham, and thence Nottingham, which latter name, from a change of circumstances and expression, I think, sprung from the numerous nutterics in its neighbourhood, though the former might have arisen from a compound of the Saxon words den, cave, and habitation : Not, very probably, bcin<* substituted for Nut, when etymology was less attended to than it is at present. And, though exceptions may be taken to any rule, which is the offspring of fancy, it is fair to conclude, that the names of towns, like the surnames of men owe their birth to some particular circumstance connected with business, Sec. or to the product of some particular plot of earth. As a proof that this town was once beset with nuttcries, when the workmen in 1793, were removing the soil in a swampy piece of ground near Poplar-place, between the rivers Lecn and Beck, in order to lay the foundation of Mr. Robert Denison's cotton-mill, whole handsful of entire nuts were found, at least two feet below the surface. This circumstance might be worth the attention of the naturalist, as, in all probability, they had lain there near two thousand years.

The first deed, now extant, wherein this town is called by its present name, is that in which William Peverel gave the tithe of the fishery of Nottingham to the monastry of Lenton ; he having previously been created Lord of the Manor of Nottingham, by his father William the Conqueror, to whom he was a natural son. At the time William created his son Lord of (he Manor of this town, he gave him ten acres of land, to be converted into an orchard of which, it is thought, Standard Close formed a part, as it continues extra-parochial to the present day, but more of this hereafter. This close has long been in the Newcastle family, part of which was given for the purpose of the General Hospital's being erected upon ; and the remainder was sold, in 1807, for building purposes, under the express condition, that no house should be erected upon it, the annual rent'of which should b? less than twenty-five poundsand that no manufactory should be carried on in any of the buildings.

From whatever sources Nottingham derived the different names it has borne; and from whatever causes the changes have taken place, it is not material further to inquire; but wc may venture to affirm, without fear of contradiction, that, in point of manufacturing and commercial genius — in industry and useful invention, it yields preference to no town or city in the British empire; and in its progress in the fine arts it will give up the palm but to few f.

Alter briefly treating upon the antiquity of the town, and its various embellishments and peculiarities, the grand object will be to delineate the rise, progress, and value of its trade and manufactures; and to show the necessity of fostering those acquirements as the guardian angels, or vital sparks of its existence.

What is said by John Rowse, the monkish historian in the reign of Henry the Vllth, respecting Nottingham having been a place of note, near a thousand years before the birth of Christ, is treated by Deering just as nonsense deserves: but a few arguments, collateral to those employed by that writer, may not be deemed impertinent, or inconclusive.

When the Romans made a conquest of this country, they found the inhabitants of the interior in a state of nudity, and resembling, in manners and ways of life, the wandering Koracks of the present day, who inhabit Mount Caucasus. Practisers in human sacrifice, they lived in a state of savage seclusion from all mankind, except their own isolated hordes — in strict obedience to their Druids and Bards — delighting in woods and caves; and every clan allowing a community of Wives.

The lofty yielding rock on which Nottingham stands, then half circumscribed with woods, which bade defiance to the tempestuous howling of the north and north-east winds, affording at the same time, plenty of fuel and game: the Trent, which would serve them as a barrier against their southern enemies, and yield them plenty of fish, and water for themselves and their flocks ; while the south and south-west sunbeams shed an enlivening influence on the spot, would be inducements sufficient for some of those children of nature to chuse it as the place of their abode. The vast

* Asser, who was one of our Saxon historians, asserts that Snotlingaham, in the Saxon, Speluncarum domum, in the Latin, and TuT ogo banc, in the ancient British language alike mean a habitation or retreat in the rocks.

t At the present time Mr. Boriniugton and Mr. Barber, as portrait and landscape painters, stand almost unrivalled, as does Air. Tomson for the painting of animals.

INTRODUCTION.

quantity of oak, too, the object of their peculiar devotion, would be a strong incentive to them to fix their residence so near to where it grew. Their more maritime neighbours, who, of course, would be beforehand with them in the knowledge of commercial pursuits, would supply them, in exchange for their flocks and their herds, with implements of war, and with tools with which to make their subterraneous habitations in the rock, the sandy quality of which would render the task comparatively easy for them to perform. We have thus given reasons why the rocky front on which Nottingham stands, was, probably, inhabited so early as the days of the Druids, and others will appear hereafter; but the idea of giving, even a tolerably correct history of a town, during a space of near three thousand years, while the records of the country itself cannot be traced, with any degree of certainty, more than two thousand, would put any one, except a monkish historian, to the blush.

The learned have long canvassed the question whether Nottingham ever was a Roman station; but as no proof, cither positive or circumstantial, has ever been adduced in support of its having been so, except that an old man, is said, by Dr. Stukeley, to have found a pot of Roman coins at Wilford, (a small village on the south bank of the Trent, nearly opposite to this town, where a ferry-boat is kept to conduct passengers to and fro), which, by the bye, is no proof at all ; first, because there is no evidence, except that of Dr. Slukeley's, that such pot ever was found, whose testimony of itself is of a very dubious nature; and secondly, if such a pot were found, it might have been deposited there to prevent its contents from falling into the hands of the Danes, when they ravaged this neighbourhood in the year 866. But be this as it may, J feel no inclination to enter further into the dispute, as it is not connected with the object in view. It is almost certain, however, that the Romans had a camp at Mansfield-Woodhouse, a village fourteen miles hence; as the late Hayman Rook, Esq. of that place, discovered various remains of that people's industry in his own neighbourhood.

In the Saxon heptarchy, the kingdom of Mercia, of which Nottingham formed a part, began in 582, and continued 202 years; during which time there reigned in it eighteen kings, most of whom were cither great promoters of peace , or were very fortunate in war; one of whom, whose name was Peafo, established Christianity among his subjects about the year 660.

As these German adventurers, from their marauding course of life, possessed a considerable share of military skill it is likely they would fix upon this advantageous situation- as a place of strength ; in particular as, by dislodging the Britons, they would easily convert the caves of the latter into storehouses for their plunder ; or into places of retreat in case of danger ; and as the forest would supply them with fuel and with game. The Trent, too, would particularly engage their attention; as it would afford them any easy communication with the German Ocean, and thereby enable them to obtain a supply of strength in case of need, without such supplies being constrained to be landed until they arrived at their ulterior destination. By the same conveyance too, the fertile plains of Lincolnshire would teem their harvests into the storehouses of the invaders ; while the forest of Sherwood would furnish them with timber with which to build their vessels. And the rich mines of Derbyshire, which were likewise in Merda, would also send their leaden wealth down the Derwent into the Trent, making this town a central depot ; which would daily add to its importance ; and also to the commercial interest of the kingdom, of which it formed a part. Hence it is from this time, and from these concurring circumstances of advantage of situation, as well military as commercial, that we arl to date the rise of Nottingham, as a place of importance.

While the heptarchy lasted, and the kingdom of Mercia was governed by a separate monarch, there can be little doubt of this town's being frequently the seat of government, as its situation afforded such excellent sport for the chase, which was always considered a kingly exercise, particularly as we step backwards into the ruder ages of the world. But, waving all probabilities, we may fairly conclude that this toWn made rapid advances during the heptarchy, or shortly after, since in the reign of Ethelred, the fifth Saxon king, in 866, it could, for a time stop the progress of a vast army of Danes, that had landed in the north ; and, after having burnt the city of York carried fire and sword, sparing neither age nor sex, till they arrived at Nottingham, which was then denominated a city and which, after great difficulty, was taken by the enemy, who therein took up their winter quarters

Although we have accounted for the forming of many of the caverns in the rock, where it presents its stupendous front towards the south, by supposing them first to have been made as dwellings for the ancient Britons, and then converted tnto storehouses by the Saxons; yet there are many extraordinary vaults in the interior of the town, which

C * s

10 .INTRODUCTION have long been considered as objects of groat curiosity ; especially those around the great Market-place ; and one leading from Market-street, up Pilc.hcr-gate, and terminating near the mansion of the Jate John Sherwiri, Esq. now the property of .Mr. Hi, Bigsby, attorney-at-law. This immense vault is chiefly arched in a regular manner, and supported by columns, carved with capitals. Some parts of this vault, to all appearance, was originally designed for places of worship; and others for places of abode. Deering informs us, that it was discovered by one Edward Goddard, a bricklayer, who was living in his time. In one of the apartments were found a wooden cup and can; but when touched they mouldered to dust. Let us endeavour to account for the formation of these subterraneou* apartments.

In the early part of the tenth century, many disputes arose between the married and the unmarried clergy; the parties alternately procuring each other's expulsion from the performance of the sacrcdotal duties, accordingly as each could make interest with the higher powers. In the reign of Edward the Martyr, it appears that the monks were in favor, to the complete exclusion of the married priests. But, about the year 975, some dreadful calamities befalling the country, such as the earth not yielding her increase, disorders among the cattle, &c, which the people looked upon as so many .curses sent from heaven, to punish them for the miseries which were endured by the married clergy and their families; in whose behalf, and in order to appease the wrath of heaven, the Duke of Mercia* destroyed the monasteries in his province ; cast out the monks, and gave their benefices to the married clergy. Under this change of circumstances is it not probable, that those hypocritical and disappointed monks would exhibit a strange austerity of morals, and shew a desire to live apart from the rest of society, in order ta excite compassion in the minds of the people, and stir them up in their defence? To enable them to carry on this farce the better, by an extraordinary appearance of sanctify and devotion, is it not highly probable, that they would procure the making of these subterraneous dwellings, as places of affected retirement and retreat? more particularly as this being a large town, that the more people might be within the hearing of their wailings, and have their feelings wrought upon in support of the holjf monkish cause.

At the village of Dale, ten miles west of.this town, is a large cave in the side of a hill, which tradition informs us was, in ancient times, the retreat of holy men. Within the view of this cave an immense stone window-frame, belonging to an ancient abbey, still rears its majestic brow.

While on this subject it may not be improper to speak of a cave of modern formation, which runs under a hill, called Dog-kennel-hill, on the west side of the road leading from St. Mary's workhouse to the Gallows-hill. This cave, which is the largest in the town, is the work of one James Ross, or Rouse, who, during thirty years, got sand in it, which he sold to the good housewives of the town to scatter upon their floors. Old age and infirmities compelled him, a few years age, to cease from his labour; and he retired to spend the remainder of his days in St. Nicholas's workhouse. The hills about the gallows, and those on the south side of the Derby road, leading from hence to Radford, have all beeu perforated to a considerable extent by persons getting a livelihood in the manner as did poor Ross ; but the caves near the gallows were chiefly filled up, and the scattered fragments of hills and rocks removed, in 1811, by the distressed mechanics and artizans of the town, who were employed to do the work by the overseers of St. Mary's parish, rather than take them and their families into the workhouse. While these poor fellows were at work on these hills they found more than thirty human skulls, and many other bones ; but the whole in so scattered a state, as to justify a supposition that they had been brought thither at the lowering of some one of the church yards.

But to return to the antiquity of the town, and the bravery and patriotism of its inhabitants, which objects will be further illustrated by dropping a few more words on the invasions of the northern barbarians. The cold and uncultivated state of the regions those people inhabited had a natural tendency to contract the generous feelings, and enlightened ideas which give happiness to man, in proportion as they are diffused. Those people always living in a state, bordering upon anarchy; never obeying their chieftians, except when they led them on to plunder; possessing in an extraordinary degree, those principles which spurn at the chains of a master ; and the food the ate, and their general habits, all conspired to stamp their very features with relentless ferocity; and to propel them on to seek for

* At the dissolution of the heptarchy, the kingdom of Mercia was converted into a dukedom.

INTRODUCTION. ] 1 happier climes; which the divisions of the Roman empire enabled them to obtain. Being enemies to learning themselves, they sought its destruction in others, hence books, as well as men, became objects whereon to vent their savage fury. And hence it is that we find so many chasms in the histories, both of nations and towns, where these barbarians once held dominion. But, if wc consider, that Nottingham, in 8G6, could make a serious stand against an army of Danes, that had ravaged and laid waste the greater part of the north of England; and, when compelled to submit, that it could furnish winter-quarters for this army, we must conclude that it contained a considerable number of brave fellows, whose habitations occupied a serious extent of ground. The imposing number, and consummate bravery of the inhabitants at that time, are fully established by the resistance they made to the Danes ; and the extent of the town is fully established by the great circumference of the wall which surrounded it, and which was erected by Edward, the elder, in 910. Then if we compare these positions with the diminutive state of the town, in the time of Edward the Confessor, we must conclude, that it had suffered much from the contentions for power by the northern invaders, in the intermediate time. For, in' Doomsday. book, it is stated that Nottingham contained only one hundred and twenty-three burgesses, and nineteen villains, without any other class of men being noticed ; which certainly would have been done, if any such had been found in it at the time; while it contained two hundred and Jifteen houses. This proves that much destruction had taken place; and that the inhabitants had either been slaughtered in their resi stance to their oppressors, or that they had fled for safety elsewhere--perhaps both ! But the most valuable part of the extract, from Doomsday-book, is that which proves this town to be a borough bit prescription ; it being admitted to be such before any charter, now extant, was granted to constitute it a borough. It also returned members to parliament, as early as the year 1283.

Nottingham has also been independent of the county ever since the reign of Henry the Fifth ; and a county of itseif

from the days of his successor. The following towns and cities likewise enjoy the like privilege; to wit:

Berwick-upon-Tweed, Haverford-West, Kingston-upon-Null, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Poole, Southampton, Bristol, Canterbury, Chester, Coventry, Exeter, Gloucester, Lincoln, Lichfield, Loudon, Norwich, Worcester, and York.

In the division of South Britain into twenty-eight petty kingdoms, prior to the invasion of the Romans, Nottingham belonged to that part, the people whereof were called Coritani ; and when the country was divided by Constantine the Great, in the early part of the fourth century, into four governments, it belonged to that division .called Maxima Caesaraeensis.

TO JOHN SMITH, ESQUIRE, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR THE TOWN,

AND

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL COMMANDANT OF THE SECOND REGIMENT

OF LOYAL LONDON VOLUNTEERS.

SIR,

&oLN Author, who, in dedicating his labours, searches among the tombs for materials with which to emblazon the character of his Patron, pays but a slender compliment to his own discrimination, and offers a very inadequate tribute of respect to the man, whose favor he is seeking to acquire. To tell a Gentleman that he inherits a thousand qualifications from his ancestors, when, in fact, his own virtues are scarcely known ; or when his vices are perhaps conspicuous, is to make a public exhibition of him, as a person whom mankind ought to shun. A writer who sacrifices truth at the shrine of adulation, burlesques himself, and deserves not the confidence of his readers; while a Gentleman who possesses not merits of his own to render hirn conspicuous in public, as well as in private life, is unfit to sanction a publication.

I shall not, therefore, obtrude myself upon your notice by common-place panegyric on the virtues of your ancestors, though they have been long famed in Nottingham for acts of charity and benevolence, and for being trustees to the benefactions of others ; but shall confine myself to a statement of those qualities which always endear their possessor to that part of society, whose good opinion and esteem are of value.

As a father of a family, and a pattern of conjugal fidelity, your character stands unrivalled, while your conduct in the Senate, as a lover of your country, and an admirer and defender of its constitution, has exalted you amongst the foremost of those, whose

GREATEST GLORY IS, THE PROMOTION OF THEIR COUNTRY'S GOOD.'!!

Under a firm persuasion that, during life, you will continue to rank among your country's best friends, and that you will use your utmost endeavours to restore the pristine purity of the constitution, I respectfully submit to your notice the History of your native Town, trusting you will find it an agreeable companion during some of your leisure hours.

SIR, I have the honor to be, your very obedient and humble servant,

JOHN BLACKNER.

i

THE

HISTORY

OF

JV o t tin g ha W 9

FROM THE EARLIEST ANTIQUITY

TO

Chapter I

CONTAINING OBSERVATIONS UPON THE STATE OF ITS ATMOSPHERE; ITS TOPOGRA- PHICAL DESCRIPTION; AND AN ACCOUNT OF ITS RIVERS, POOLS, BRIDGES, AND ROADS.

When the observing and sentimental traveller from the south, has arrived upon Ruddington-hill, and his eyes are cast forwards, he beholds, with equal astonishment and admiration, the ancient and celebrated Town of Nottingham, extending itself irregularly over the summit, the sides, and at the foot of an almost perpendicular rock, which terminates the site, in a south-eastern direction, which was occupied by the extensive forest of Sherwood, so renowned in song and ancient story, for the valorous exploits of Robin Hood and Little John*. The prospect of Nottingham from Ruddington-hill, is doubly delightful to the approaching stranger, in the summer season ; for while the town exhibits an appearance similar to that presented towards the sea by the celebrated city of Genoa, the bold, decorative, and native scenery which surrounds it, almost beggars all description.

The genial refulgence of the south and south-west sunbeams, which shine, unobstructedly, upon the gardens, and extensive fields and meadows of Nottingham; and the gently sloping

* This ancient forest used to be visited in the summer season by great numbers of the merry-hearted mechanics and artizans of this town, with their wives and sweethearts, in what were called nutting parties, who took with them provisions and liquor for the day; and also a fidler, to whose melodious strains they capered ou the " light fantastic toe," until the sun bid his golden head in the western clouds. These happy sports, which revived in th€ mind the rural simplicity of the days of'yore, have been rapidly on the decline since, the year 1*792; and the various inclosures on the forest have brought them to a close. '"

D hills, which rise in graceful succession to a considerable distance, sheltering the town, in a great measure, from the northern antl eastern blasts, unite in forming such grounds into a kind of natural hotbeds. And when these grounds are aided too by a requisite portion of industry, they present a luxuriance scarcely surpassed by any part of the kingdom. The floods, which, in the winter season, generally overflow the meadows, contribute much to their fertility; but when they happen in the summer season, they often do much damage, by laying- and nding the grass; or, if in harvest time, by sweeping away the hay. But more of til :< fter.