Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/103

Rh NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. 91 NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. school of design, which is well attended ; an industrial school for girls, a charity school for boys, and National, British, and Sunday schools in connection with the Church of England and various sects. The mechanics' institute, Milton-street, Mansfield-road, was established in 1837, and contains a lecture-hall, class-rooms, library, and museum of natural history and science. There is also an artisan's library in Thurland-street, containing several thousand volumes. The cemetery is on the Derby-road, and contains about 12 acres, with a chapel. It was opened in 1837. There is also a cemetery be- longing exclusively to the Church of England, on the edge of the forest, about 16 acres in size; and another, near the General Cemetery, belonging to the Society of Friends. There are several old almshouses and other charitable institutions. Plnmtre's hospital was founded 1392 by John Plumtre, and was rebuilt in 1823. It provides residence for thirteen aged widows, and gives relief to a few out-pensioners. Collin's hospital was endowed by Mr. Abel Collin in 1704, for twenty-four men and women, who are provided with rooms, coals, and a weekly allowance. Willoughby's hospital was founded in 1525, for nineteen inmates. Other hospitals and almshouses are Labray's hospital, for six frame- work knitters, founded 1700 ; Wartnaby's and the War- sergate hospitals ; Wooley's Bedehouse and St. Nicholas White Rents, for six inmates each ; Handley's hospital, for twelve persons ; Lambley's and Patten's almshouses, for twenty-two burgesses or widows of burgesses ; Bilby's almshouses, for eight aged persons, and G. Westrope's almshouses. The General hospital, on Standard Hill, was built in 1781 by subscription, and has since been enlarged. The land surrounding it was given by the corporation and the Duke of Newcastle. The institution for the blind of the midland counties stands in Clarendon and Chaucer streets, overlooking the arboretum, on land given by Mr. Samuel Fox. The county lunatic asylum was built in 1812 on the Southwell-road, and can take in about 150 patients. The dispensary, in Broad-street, was opened in 1843. The workhouse, which can receive 1,000 persons, is in York-street. There are also public baths and washhouses. The principal estates in the neighbourhood are Wollaton Hall, belonging to Lord Middleton ; Clifton Grove, to Sir R. J. Clifton, Bart. ; Wilford Hall, to H. Smith, Esq. ; and Colwich Hall, to J Musters, Esq. The Rev. Gilbert Wakefield was a native of Nottingham, as were Henry Kirke White, who wrote a description of Clifton Grove and other poems, and Philip James Bailey, author of " Festus." The Midland and Great Northern railways both have stations here ; the former at West Croft, the latter at East Croft. The Grantham canal and the Nottingham, Cromford, and Grewash canal pass through the town. The newspapers published here are the Nottingham Re- view, Journal, and Guardian, and the Nottingham and Newark Mercury. Markets are held on Wednesday and Saturday for corn and cattle, and fairs on the Friday after January 13th for cattle, the 7th and 8th of March for cheese, cattle, &c., the Thursday before Easter for horses, and the 2nd October, " goose fair," for geese, cloth, cattle, cheese, &c. Races are run annually in July, on a circular course of 1 mile 454 yards, on the N.E. side of the town. There are two cricket-grounds one near the racecourse and the other at Trentbridge. NOTTINGHAMSHIRE, an inland co. of England, bounded on the N. by Yorkshire, on the N.E. and E. by Inshire, on the S. by Leicestershire, and on the W. by Derbyshire. Its length from Stanford to the top of Misson Carr is 51 miles, and its greatest breadth 26, while the average breadth is 18, and its circuit 145 miles, comprising an area of 526,076 statute acres. It lies between 40' and 1 20' W. long., and 52 47' and 53 30' N. lat. Nottinghamshire was originally inhabited by the British tribe of the Corilani, who have lelt :i few remains of their occu- pation, as the camps at Oxon, and Barton, or Brent's Hill, and some tumuli at Worksop. Under the Romans it formed part of the province called Flavia Casariensii. They had stations at Brough (Crocolana), VOL. ill. East Bridgeford (Margidtmum} Willoughby (Veromctum], and between Thorpe and Farndon (Ad Pontem). These were connected by the Fosse Way and its branches, traces of which may be seen near Verometum. At Winnyhill, near Mansfield, there are remains of a Roman villa, and there are other remains at Holly Hill, Hexgrave, Hemlock Stone, near Wollaston, and at Creswell Crags, near Worksop. Subsequently Notting- hamshire belonged successively to Northumbria and Mercia. In 867 the sons of Regnar Lodbrog overran it, and in 878 it was ceded to them by Alfred, and was not recovered till the reign of Edmund (941). William the Conqueror granted the district to his nephew, William Peverell, who built Nottingham Castle. When the survey of England was taken for Domesday Book, five wapentakes N. of the Trent belonged to Nottingham, but at present there are only three. In addition to the historical events mentioned under Nottingham, nothing occurred in the county before the civil war worthy of men- tion, except the death of John at Newark, 17th October, 1216, and the defeat of Lambert Simnel by Henry VII. at East Stoke in 1487. After the raising of the royal standard at Nottingham in 1642, the town fell into the hands of the opposite party, but Newark continued in the power of the king, being occupied by a force under Sir John Henderson. In 1044 it was besieged by Lord Willoughby, and Sir John Meldrum, but the besieging army was routed and driven across the Trent by Prince Rupert. In the winter of 1645 it was again besieged, but did not surrender till May, 1046, when Charles was brought thither by the Scotch, to whom he had given himself up at Southwell. The county was disturbed by riots in 1812 and 1816, owing to the introduction of machinery into the stocking trade. Of ecclesiastical esta- blishments there were formerly priories at Mattersey and Thurgarton ; abbeys at Beauvale, Newstead, Worksop, Rufford, Welbeck, and Radford ; and collegiate churches at Nottingham and Southwell. Of these, Newstead, an Augustiniau abbey, founded 1170, has remains of the chapel, a beautiful specimen of early English, but the place is chiefly interesting as having been the residence of the late Lord Byron. Mansfield, Balderton, Newark, and Hovringham churches are partly Norman ; and those at Hawton, Upton, St. Peter, near Southwell, Coddington, Blythe, and Bingham are early English. The primate's house at Southwell ; Thurland Hall at Nottingham ; and the old mansions at Rampton, belonging to the family of the Eyres ; Odsark, belonging to the Cliftons ; Wiverton, to the Chaworths ; Shelford, to the Stanhopes; Haughton, and Bilsthorpe are worthy of inspection. There are castles at Nottingham and Newark, both of which were destroyed for military purposes after the civil wars. Nottinghamshire is mostly undulating country, and in the vales of Belvoir and Trent abso- lutely flat. The southern part between the Soar and the Smite is called the Wolds, consisting of moor and pasture, watered by the Fairham Brook and other tribu- taries of the Trent, and is mostly level, with the excep- tion of the hills near Lcake. The western side, between Nottingham and Worlssop, is more rugged, and there is a range of hills running nearly the whole distance between these places. The highest point is at Sutton- in-Ashfield, near Mansfield, about 600 feet high. A spur from the range at Kirkby-in-Ashfield is called Robin Hood's hills. N.W. of Mansfield are the Birk- lands woods and the Rufford moors, remains of Sher- wood Forest, where many trees may still be seen which were probably standing in Robin Hood's time, one of which is called Robin Hood's Larder, or the Shambles Oak, and another, the Parliament Oak, is said to bo the spot where King John first received the news of his brother Richard's release from captivity. The Major Oak in Birklands is generally said to be the largest tree in the Forest, though it is by no means the oldest. The northern part of the county again becomes fiat, with the exception of a single hill at Gringley. The principal river is the Trent, which enters the county near tlio S.W. corner, and flows N.W. through Nottingham and Newark to North Clifton, whence, as far as a short dis- ci