NOTTINGHAM, a large market-town of England, the capital of the county of the same name, in the centre of England. It is a place of great antiquity, deriving its name from the Saxon word Snottingaham, which is descriptive of its position as a retreat in rocks, since there were formerly many, and are still a few, caverns, cut on the soft rock on which its castle was built. It is by some antiquaries asserted that it was once a Roman station; but that is a subject of controversy. The earliest records notice some incursions of the Danes about 866; but they appear to have received a check from the town, and a defeat near it from King Alfred, who afterwards made it the winter-quarters of his army. William the Conqueror erected a castle, and constructed fortifications so strong as to render the place impregnable against any of the methods of attack which were then known. King Richard Coeur de Lion assembled a parliament in this place previously to his departure for the Holy Land, and another soon after his return from Palestine. It was from Nottingham that Richard III. marched forth to his fatal battle of Bosworth Field. There Charles I. erected his royal standard at the commencement of the civil war, at the spot which is now covered by St James’ Church. The Castle of Nottingham, defended by the royalists, was besieged by the parliamentary forces under the command of Colonel Hutchinson, to whom, after a brave defence, it at length surrendered, the particulars of which are related in a most interesting manner by the wife of that officer. When Cromwell had attained supreme power, he ordered the fortifications to be destroyed and the castle to be dismantled. At the beginning of the present century, this town and neighbourhood were distinguished by the riotous disposition manifested amongst the lower orders, who acquired the denomination of Luddites, and were excited to destroy much of that machinery by the aid of which the town subsequently attained to its present high degree of affluence. These disturbances were quelled by the pow er of the law, and some wholesome severities; but it caused the removal of many of the capitalists, and a large portion of the trade, to distant and more tranquil districts. During the excitement respecting parliamentary reform in 1832, a very violent spirit was manifested, which led to the destruction of a silk-mill in the neighbourhood, the burning of the ancient castle belonging to the Duke of Newcastle, and outrages upon private houses. These disturbances led to a few exemplary punishments, and some heavy burdens on the town, to indemnify those whose property had suffered by the riots.

Nottingham is finely situated upon the side of a hill overlooking the valley of the Trent, and near to the south-, western extremity of what was formerly the forest of Sherwood, once famous as the resort of the celebrated Robin Hood, but now a well-cultivated district. The environs of the town are picturesque and beautiful; and there is a delightful walk on the bank of the river Leen, having a fine view of the south front of the castle, and of the gardens, which were formerly the fish-ponds belonging to that edifice. The windings of the river Trent have also a great effect on the whole scenery.

Some of the old streets are narrow, but in the great extension of the place of late years some new and spacious avenues have been built, and much improvement has been judiciously effected. The market-place is one of the finest in England. It is spacious, occupying an area of 27,515 square yards, or rather more than five acres and a half. It is well paved, and admirably adapted for the purpose of the three weekly markets held in it on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, the last of which is the principal one. At the east of the market-place stands the Exchange Hall, which is a noble-looking building. The pediment is crowned with a well-proportioned pedestal, on which stands the figure of Justice. On the pediment are the town arms, with an oak branch on one side, and an olive branch on the other; and underneath it, with a clock intervening, is a handsome Venetian window, ornamented with two elegant Ionic columns, which lights the spacious room within it. That apartment, when the temporary doors which divide it are thrown open, is 123 feet long, thirty wide, and thirty high, with an arched ceiling. It is used for public dinners, at which more than 400 persons can be commodiously seated, and also for public meetings. This room was nearly destroyed by an accidental fire in 1836, but has been restored and further beautified. One part of the building is appropriated to magisterial business, and another is occupied by the Artisan’s Library; an institution possessing some thousand volumes, which are lent out to members, who pay seven shillings and sixpence on admission, and one shilling and sixpence quarterly. Underneath the Exchange there are a few shops in front, but the principal part of the ground-floor is appropriated to shambles. In another part of the market-place is the Subscription Library, containing a large collection of valuable books; and a news-room; a cabinet of mineralogy, with sculpture, maps, and portraits of eminent individuals connected with the town, amongst whom are Colonel Hutchinson, Lord Byron, Sir Richard Arkwright, and others.

The other civic buildings are the county jail and hall, a commodious but not elegant structure; the house of correction, which stands on the site of a convent of the hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem; the town hall and town jail, where the borough assizes and sessions, and the mayor’s and sheriff’s courts, are held; the assembly-room, a very elegant building, just erected and fitted up with much taste; and the free grammar school, in which about a hundred boys are gratuitously instructed in Greek and Latin.

The edifices for religious worship are in about the same proportion to the number of the inhabitants as is seen in other places which have increased with similar rapidity. St Mary’s is usually denominated the mother church of the town, from its priority of erection. It resembles a cathedral more than a parish church in its extent, its architecture, and its decorations, and is the most striking object in the place, when viewed from what is called the high pavement. It stands on an elevated spot, and is said to be nearly seventy feet above the level of the meadows near the town. The date of the erection is unknown, but is said to have been in the fifteenth century. It is in the form of a cross, and has a handsome square tower, in which there [7:16:281]is a musical peal of ten bells. The length of the structure in the inside is 216 feet, the breadth in the centre ninety-seven, at the west end or principal entrance sixty-seven, and in the chancel twenty-nine feet. The height of the tower is 126 feet, and that of the side aisles sixty feet. The porch on the south side is a very ancient piece of workmanship, on the fluting of the pediment of which were sculptured red and white roses, some traces of which may even yet be discovered. In the west gallery there is an excellent organ of great power, supported by two Tuscan columns, over which is a picture of David playing on his harp. There are in this church many monumental inscriptions on tombs of the family of the Earls of Clare, and one of an Earl of Meath, and the mausoleum of the family of the Wrights.

Besides the mother church, there are provided for the adherents of the established worship the following edifices, all of them capacious, and appropriately finished, viz. St James’, St Nicholas’, St Paul’s, and St Peter’s. The chapels of various sects are numerous, amounting to twenty, but some of them are very small. They are classed thus: Independents; Baptists, two subdivisions; Wesleyan Methodists, three subdivisions; and one each for Unitarians, Roman Catholics, Quakers, Huntingtonians, and Ingham-ites or Sabellians.

The charitable institutions depending on endowed foundations or on voluntary contributions are numerous. The General Hospital, built in 1781, contains about two acres of land, given partly by the Duke of Newcastle, and partly by the corporation. It is supported chiefly by subscriptions, and usually contains about 120 patients; whilst between five and six hundred are out-patients, receiving medical advice and assistance. The General Lunatic Asylum is a modern and spacious brick building, erected in 1810, at an expense of nearly L.20,000. There are extensive courts, gardens, and places for recreation, and the whole economy of the place is constructed in such a manner as may best contribute to the recovery or the welfare of the miserable inhabitants. Labray’s and Lambley’s Hospitals are small asylums for aged widows; and Collins’ Hospital is a splendid charity, founded by one of the Smith family of the town, of which Lord Carrington is the present head. It consists of twenty-four small but convenient dwellings for ìsmany poor widows, each of whom receives four shillings weekly, and two tons and a half of coal every year. From the same endowment Carrington Street Hospital has lately occn built, where twenty poor persons are comfortably accommodated. Plumtree Hospital, founded by a family of that name, since transplanted into Kent, in the year 1392, out twice repaired since, viz. in 1650 and 1751, has been - ebuilt under an act of parliament passed in 1823. Thirteen aged widows are provided with comfortable dwellings vithin the house, and allowed six shillings weekly, whilst hirty others, called out-pensioners, receive ten pounds a •ear. Willoughby’s Hospital contains nineteen tenements, he inhabitants of which receive a small pension. Woo-ey’s Alms are dwellings for six poor persons; and Bilby’s Llmshouses for eight persons, who have each a loaf weekly, nd two tons of coal at Christmas. Warser’s Gate Hos-ital gives apartments to six, and Hanley’s to twelve poor ⅛ ersons.

The other public edifices that deserve notice are the !arracks, built in 1792, a handsome building, with well-con-rived apartments for officers and for the privates, and suit-ble stabling for three troops of horse; the Riding School; small theatre, never long opened nor much attended; ιe water-works, in two parts of the town; the gas-works; id the bridge over the river Trent after that stream has -en augmented by the waters of the Dove and the Derent.

The population of this town in 1801 amounted to 28,861, in 1811 to 34,253, in 1821 to 40,415, and in 1831 to 50,680. This great increase, arising from the progressive extension of its manufacturing industry, is not, however, confined within the limits of the town, but is exhibited in the villages either contiguous to it and forming its suburbs, or at a few miles distance. Thus Snenton, which conjoins the town, contained in 1801 but 558, and in 1831 it had 3605 inhabitants; Radford, a parish within a mile of Nottingham, had in 1801 but 2269, and in 1831, 9806 persons; Lenton, another parish, in 1801 had 893 inhabitants, and in 1831, 3077. There are other parishes near to it, in which a similar progress has been making, so that Nottingham, with its dependencies, maybe estimated, supposing that the increase since 1831 has been at the same rate as in the previous periods, to have more than 70,000 individuals. According to the account of Mr Rickman, the males above twenty years of age employed in the stocking and lace trade are, in Nottingham 4740, in Radford 1300, in Lenton 300, at Snenton 430, and at Beeston 300.

The Trent, which is navigable up to the town, and the various canals which branch from that river, afford the means of easy communication with every part of the kingdom.

The chief accumulation of capital in the town and its vicinity has been from its manufactures. The most ancient, and still the most extensive, is that of stockings. The earliest introduction of that neat piece of machinery, the stocking-frame, at nearly the same period into Leicester and Nottingham, gave to those towns a superiority in fabrication, which has subsequently been maintained, and which has nearly superseded the domestic manufacture of knitting stockings. The stockings of the two towns, made either from wool, thread, cotton, or silk, are to be seen in every part of the world, and far excel in beauty and cheapness any that are made elsewhere in imitation of them.

The prosperity of Nottingham has, however, been advanced in a prodigious degree by a new manufacture executed by machinery, analogous to that of the stockingframe, but contrived with a greater portion of mechanical ingenuity. This article of commerce is known by the name of bobbin net. It generally resembles lace, and has in a great degree supplanted that pillow lace for which Flanders, France, and some counties of England were once highly celebrated.

Although this trade originated at Nottingham, yet the riotous disposition of the workmen called Luddites (which has been already noticed), who opposed all those improvements in machinery to which the extension of this trade has been indebted, caused many of the capitalists to remove their establishments to other and some very distant counties. Yet, notwithstanding such removals, and the rivals thereby created, the trade here has gone on increasing, and is still most extensive in and around Nottingham. Our limits do not admit of tracing the various steps of improvement with great minuteness. At first, only plain nets were made, then quillings were introduced, and afterwards figured or fancy patterns were produced. The two last are the highest priced, and the chief object of the manufacturers here. The number and description of the machines in January 1836 were thus dispersed :—In Nottinghamshire, 372 for plain nets, 1006 for quillings, and 784 for fancies; in Leicestershire 207 for plain, thirty-seven for quillings, ninety-nine for fancies; in Derbyshire 192 for plain, forty-nine for quilling, fourteen for fancies; in Devonshire, Somersetshire, and the Isle of Wight, 654 for plain, thirty for quilling, 103 for fancies. Total for plain 1425, for quillings 1122, for fancies 1000. The improvement made by the introduction of the quilling and fancy nets has caused additional capital to be invested in machinery, and the employment of from 1500 to 2000 additional [7:16:282]workmen; and the above statement shows that this benefit has principally fallen to the share of Nottingham.

The following calculation, made by Mr W. Felkin, will show, in a national point of view, the great value of this apparently minute branch of industry. That gentleman estimates that, in the year 1835, there were used in this trade 1.850,000 lbs. of sea-island cotton wool, valued at L. 185,000, and 25,000 lbs. of silk, valued at L.40,000. T he produce of these raw materials, and their disposal, are stated by the same person thus: Home consumption for nets, L.320,000; for quillings, L.2l0,000; for fancies, L.580,000; total, L.1,110,000. Foreign trade, for nets, L.340,000; for quillings, 282,000; for fancies, L.480,000; total, L. 1,102,000.

1he plain nets made in the other parts of the kingdom are mostly sent to Nottingham in the rough state, where they receive the finishing operations of gassing, bleaching, and dressing. The amount of these was, in the year 1835, L.328,000; so that this town, besides the profit upon the goods manufactured in and near it, gains a considerable share of the profit upon the goods made by their rivals.

The net wages earned by men vary from twelve to thirty-five shillings a week, according to the kind, the width, and the speed of the machines at which they are employed. Sixteen shillings is about the average. Wages to women vary from three to twelve shillings, as they may be occupied, but average about six shillings a week. Children are paid from one to four shillings, and can be useful as embroiderers, or in mending and winding. Mr Felkin says it is difficult to estimate how many persons altogether are employed in the various departments of this flourishing trade.

Besides the staple trades, there are, in and around the town, several large factories for spinning and weaving cotton goods.

Nottingham has been celebrated for its ale, the qualities of which have been the theme of song. It is still good, and very potent. Its excellence has been attributed by some to the good quality of the barley grown in the neighbourhood, by others to the purity of the water, and by many to the excellent cellars scooped out of the rock with which most of the good houses are furnished.

This town returns two members to the House of Commons. The freemen, who were formerly the sole electors, are still numerous, but are exceeded in number by the ten-pound voters.

By the municipal corporation reform law passed in 1835, this town is to continue a corporation, is divided into seven wards, and has a mayor, fourteen aldermen, and forty-two councillors, with twelve justices of the peace appointed by the crown.