Had wanted to join a labour history walk celebrating Nottingham women but it clashed with other events.
Meanwhile the Canal Trust have erected 2 signs to the stories of 2 wharfs along the Nottingham Beeston canal as it runs through The Meadows.
[PHOTOS TO FOLLOW]
… or locations in Nottingham city centre of note during the revolt of June 1817 …
celebrated in a walk around town led by former headteacher Roger Tanner.
This “edition” of walk no. 1 was supported by 31 people (and a dog); and included –
– from the Old Market Square, (pointed out where) would-be revolutionaries had been arrested and brought in on wagons, paraded and duffed up before being taken to the gaol at Shire Hall;
– from Lower Parliament Street, outside the location of one of the then pubs, where 3 of the ringleaders of the revolt in Nottingham had planned the rebellion – all being government agents, but reporting to different government arms and in ignorance of each other’s undercover government role; whatever, it all led to more troops being barracked in Nottingham than were in Europe fighting Napoleon at the time;
– from the base of High Cross Street, how the Luddites wore fake army uniforms to protectors raiser who destroyed weaving frames;
– from the base of Malin Hill (near London Road Island), views of the locations of the then homes of the leaders of the revolt, within one or two block of each other.
– from outside Shire Hall, a reminder of how prisoners in the county gaol could soon die from poor care and minuscule rations of just bread and water;
and more.
Ellen Wilkinson – not well enough known and not well enough celebrated.
The play at Nottingham Playhouse seeks to help rectify that.
The most senior women member of Clem Attlee’s cabinet.
(Guardian review.)
Her achievements kinda overshadowed by her role in organising the Jarrow March – the 50th anniversary of which we celebrated in Nottingham in 1986. (Currently looking for the photos to share.)
A talk reminding us how leaders of working people in Nottingham grappled with how to get their interests advanced in a city run by Tories and Whigs who owned property and industry, and stopped the expansion of the city to meet housing demands; and how deep the poverty was during recessions.
Stories drawn from the 2 speakers who’d written a pamphlet published just before the lockdown.
Stories of an age of physical violence during General Elections, especially by a group referred to as the Clifton Lambs, supporting the Tory MP, a statue to whom stands on Victoria Embankment, near the colliery he owned and not far away from the housing estate that carries his name.
TO BE COMPLETED
Ran into this 3 part video history series after seeing a travel vlog.
Written and presented by Michael, of Nottsflix, and published in 2018 and 2019, this is a pretty impressive effort if, as claimed, this was his first attempt. It tries to be light-hearted.
I’m not an historian so can’t know is everything is right, but it seemed pretty compelling to me.
A history of the Broadmarsh shopping centre, starting with what Broad Marsh itself was, how it was known to be a monastery, how it was taken over for various trades, how living conditions came to be so intolerable despite the wealth being generated in the city, why the shopping centre came about and why it has the brutalist architecture (albeit, 3rd wave, muted brutalist architecture).
Michael has also found letters from the protestors against the shopping centre being built, although seems a little unclear as why the council was so keen (suggesting something dark and underhand).
Not sure. One of the losses that at one stage the early and much more ambitious proposals for regeneration wanted to re-instate was the previous city streets plan for that area (although that was also compromised by Maid Marian Way. That optimistic time was first publicly promoted I think in 1997, but the scale of the proposals was huge, and the then owner Westfield, had other projects, e.g. Derby’s shopping centre, that were easier to do and so done first.
Meanwhile – look the videos up –
The Shopping Centre with Too Much History | Broadmarsh #1 | Nottsflix History (November 2018)
The Shopping Centre with A Dark Past | Broadmarsh #2 | Nottsflix History (March 2019)
The Shopping Centre Rises | Broadmarsh #3 | Nottsflix History (August 2019)
Cllr Mohammed Saghir, the Lord Mayor, and workers from a local cheese shop mark the Great Nottingham Cheese Riots that took place 250 years (and 10 days) ago, and which saw the then Mayor bowled over by a barrel-shaped cheese.
This small event is to be covered by the N Post and Notts TV, and featured the workers rolling cheese at the Mayor. Of course, the history is that the Mayor was on the side of those selling the cheese and it was the would-be customers who had stolen cheese they could no longer afford and then used it as a kind of weapon.
But at least this bit of coverage will remind people that an event took place, when people desperate for their future welfare stood up for themselves.
For the forgiving only, a straight-to-camera one-take commemoration of the Great Cheese Riots that took place in Nottingham 250 YEARS AGO TODAY.
Not authorative, so read it up if you want the true story.
I shot the video in Peck Lane.
A narrow lane, running north-south, just east of Exchange Walk, narrow, not particularly used but with a special place in Nottingham’s radical histreh.
Cos the story is that in this narrow lane, the Mayor of Nottingham was said to be bowled over by a barrel-shaped cheese during the first evening of the Great Cheese Riot of 1766.
This seems to be a cause of some hilarity, although Mayors have for some time been elected representatives. It also seems the Mayor was actually knocked over in the open square, which seems a bit more careless on the part of the Mayor.
Today I think a hundredweight of cheese would cost around £330 (based on £2.25 for 350g of extra mature cheddar from the Co-Op; ‘Measuring Worth’ suggests £1.20 then is the equivalent of £150 today, so either my calculations are wrong (very probable), or perhaps we should be having a riot of our own!)
On Thursday, 2nd October 1766 (first day of Goose Fair, then held in the Market Square) it was costing between £1.20 and £1.80 – judged too high by Nottingham residents who’d seen the cheeses being bought by traders from Lincolnshire.
A riot was started in the evening and cheeses were both stolen and rolled along streets as weapons.
After failing to quell the riot, civil authorities called in cavalry and infantry from Derby. There were disturbances in the Friday evening, and shots were fired into the crowds. It’s not clear how many were hurt, but one man died of his injuries (he appears to have been trying to protect cheese from being stolen – a case of death by ‘friendly fire’). Crowds were dispersed, but went out to Trent Bridge to take from a boat laden with cheese.
There were further disturbances on both the Saturday and the Monday.
My notes are based on the pamphlet written by Nottingham Radical History Group.
Whilst checking out where Nottingham victims of the Battle of Jutland lived, I saw old maps at the Local Studies Library, and was surprised to see what is now London Road island, marked as Red Lion Square. But why?
With the help of library staff today, saw this reference card.
A ridiculous attempt to rename the Narrow Marsh!
But why “Red Lion”? Sounds like a pub.
This 1987 clipping said the location of any pub called the “Red Lion” was unknown.
Staff have now reported that they’d found a reference to the Red Lion Inn, Plumptre Square, in an 1835 Trade Directory; Red Lion Street was named after the Inn, which was later demolished. Even when the Red Lion Square existed, locals prefered to refer to Plumptre Square.
Is the notion of “Southside” just a 21st century version of the “Red Lion area”?
With the exception that some take to the Queens Road and Crocus Street neighbourhood not being referred to as The Meadows, I wonder if Westcroft Meadows might ever come back?
Excellent value for a fiver. Shown around by “Friar Tuck”. Just a hint of the stories follows.
From the top of the cliff, reminder of why the Normans built the castle, the extent o the ground and where King Charles raised his standard; how it oversees the river Trent; but the town was actually started by the Saxons, under King Snot, on the other sandstone outcrop that is now the Lace Market.
The sandstone is so soft. First occupants – the Celts. King Richard, Prince John, the siege.
Edward II, Queen Isabella, Edward III and the gruesome end to Mortimer – once held in the cave which became known as Mortimer’s Hole.
Gruesome stories – see the mother holding on to her son.
How the tunnel was also a pigeon loft and a placement for cannons. How the castle was stripped of so much. Tales of the Civil War.
The tunnel as a service route from the River Leen, before it was re-directed. The castle being re-built as a Georgian palace. The burning down of the castle in 1831; and the gas explosion of 1906.
The ground entrance to the caves.
Other business at the base of the castle, including brewing. And the oldest pub in England – The Olde Trip to Jerusalem.
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