CHAPTER ELEVEN
The
Trent, after watering the counties of Stafford and Derby – after welcoming to
its bosom Isaac WALTON’s Dove, the romantic Derwent, and many tributaries from
the peak and the plain, swells proudly along the rich meadows of
Nottinghamshire, bending respectfully as it approaches the venerable borough,
and sweeping with a graceful curve, like a silver crescent, round the southern
side of the city of caves. The Trent is the longest river in England, and
stands fourth in respect of size. An old saying in Latin ran thus:
“Limpida sylva focum Triginta dat
mihi piscem.”
“Sherwood my hearth, and Trent, my
fish supplies.”
Michael
DRAYTON alludes to the Trent in his vast topographical poem, and its name
occurs in the writings of SHAKESPEARE, MILTON, SCOTT, BAILEY, and a host of
minor poets. The river was navigable before the Conquest. It is said:
“The
silver Trent within itself enseems – Thirty kinds of fish and thirty different
streams.”
When PEVEREL gave the fishing of Nottingham to
Lenton Priory, there was much sorrow and anger in the town. Long after
PEVEREL’s power had ceased to be exercised, the right of fishing in the Trent
reverted from the fat monks of Lenton to its original owners, and within the
liberties of the town all the Piscatorial profession have since been on an
equality. In former days fishing was a regular calling in the town. The houses
of the fishery lay outside the wall, in the fosse or ditch, now a street called
Fisher gate.
At the Trent bridge the river is sixty-one
feet four inches higher than at its union with the Humber. The town was
originally paved with boulders from the bed of the Trent. One of the most
interesting features in the Trent scenery around Nottingham in Wilford Ferry.
There, on the 30th of July, 1784, the boat was upset with eleven
market people on board, six of whom were drowned.
In 1110, the Trent, at Nottingham, was dried
up on a certain day from one o’clock, a.m., till three in the afternoon. In
1683 there was a great ice-flood, which
tore away part of the bridge. In 1728 and 1736 the Trent was flooded, and again
in November, 1770; on the last occasion twenty tons of rock fell from Malin
hill into the abyss below and the water was several feet deep in the houses in
Narrow marsh. In January, 1774, the intensity of the frost suspended the
navigation of the Trent, and the river was ice-bound for five days. On December
24th, 1790, in a great flood, Samuel MARSHALL, of Broad marsh, perished
near Lady bay, in attempting to extricate some sheep in “Holme grounds.”
On Sabbath, February 7th, 1795, a
rapid thaw succeeding a seven-weeks’ frost caused perhaps the greatest flood
that ever deluged the vale of the Trent. Newly buildt houses in the Meadow
plats were partly swept away, and the mail, due on Tuesday, did not arrive
until Friday morning. The inhabitants of Narrow marsh were made prisoners in
their houses during two days and nights. The water, at its greatest altitude,
was two feet ten inches higher than on any previous occasion. Flocks of sheep
and many cattle were carried away, and the ten arch bridge was rendered
useless.
Floods of a remarkable character occurred in
1804; on January 28th, 1809; February 10th, 1814;
December 26th, 1821; October 13th, 1824; July, 1828;
February 9th, 1831; November 28th, 1836; July, 1839; and
November, 1852.
The flood of 1852 reached the culminating
point at 8:35, p.m., on Saturday, the 13th November, at which time
it was fourteen feet nine inches above the mean level of the Trent at its
ordinary water. The water remained stationary five hours, and from that period
commenced to ebb at the rate of about five-eights of an inch per hour. The
meadows were inundated; the lines of railway to Leicester and Derby, became
impassable; the houses on the Poplar and on the Leen side were flooded; the
fires at the factories in the meadows were extinguished, and a considerable
amount of property was destroyed. Those who witnessed the flood of 1795 averred
that on that occasion the water extended more than half-a-mile further on the
lane between Ruddington and Wilford, than was the case in 1852.
Once upon a time the Leen meandered pleasantly
along to the Trent, amid green banks swathed in wild-flowers, the only exception
being on the space extending from Turncalf alley to the Flood road, where lay
that group of tan-yards, the effluvium from which, it is conjectured, preserved
the town from the plague. William PEVEREL diverted the Leen from Lenton
eastward, causing it to run in the channel passing under Nottingham castle, and
close by the town. About twenty years ago the whole of the stream, from Castle
row past the old Leen mill, was arched over at great expense.
At the foot of the Coppices there is a spring,
which flows townward, uniting with another by the way. At the point of junction
the spring used to be walled round, a rim ladle being chained to the wall for
the comfort of thirsty travellers. These rivulets, when united, form the Beck,
a tiny stream which washes the eastern extremity of the town, and flows into
the Leen.
The Tinker’s Leen is a small rivulet which
flows through the meadows in an easterly direction: it is the product of the
surplus water of the canal and the drainings of the meadows. Passing under the
canal at the seven arches it unites with the Leen. The corporation in 1809
erected stone bridges across the Tinker’s Leen.
SPRINGS
There is a noted spring in Trough Close, near Mapperley
hill, issuing from a rock; Beycroft Spring and Rag Spring are near the road
leading from the town to St. Ann’s Well; a Spa is a close “over against” the
Castle rock was destroyed in 1811; there is a spring under an arch of the Trent
bridge, and a Chalybeate Spring near the engine-house of the Leen.
WATERWORKS
The river water was wont in former days to be
brought up for the use of the townspeople in carts and pails. At length, in
1696, a water engine was originated by a company of proprietors. The
undertaking was divided into thirty-two shares; and, after many difficulties
had been overcome, the scheme resulted successfully. A large reservoir was made
in the Butt Dyke, on the side of the ancient postern, near the General
Hospital. A pond in the park lying close to the river was rented to keep the
engines at work. In 1827 this, the Old Waterworks Company, erected new works at
Scottom, in Basford parish. The Northern Waterworks were formed in 1826 at the
top of Sherwood street. The Trent Waterworks, near the Tent bridge, were
finished in 1831, the company having been founded in 1825.
About the year 1700 there were more than three
hundred wells in Nottingham, public and private; thirty years later not more
than two hundred were in use. About sixty years ago the corporation erected
eight public pumps. Before water was laid on in the houses the labouring class
were chiefly supplied by carriers at the rate of one farthing a bucket, and if
the water had to be carried any distance up a court a halfpenny a bucket was in
some instances charged. In general it was sold at about three gallons for a
farthing.
BRIDGES
Trent Bridge, according to RAPIN, was built by
Edward the Elder in 924. DEERING states the bridge was composed of wood prior
to the tremendous flood of 1683, the piers only being of stone. The inundation
having demolished a part of the structure, it was entirely rebuilt of stone, at
the expense of the corporation. The bridge, after the flood of 1795, was nine
years being rebuilt. Formerly it afforded an extremely narrow, irregular, and
inconvenient passage; and, even now, it cannot boast of being in any of these
respects much improved.
A chapel was anciently situated at the north
end of the bridge. It is said that during the last half century the present
structure has undergone alterations and repairs no less than twenty times. In
January, 1853, Sir William CUBITT prepared plans of a proposed new bridge,
which can be erected without the removal of the now feeble and decayed fabric
until its successor is completed. Presuming that solid rock is to be found
within twenty-five feet of summer water level, Sir William is of opinion that a
complete bridge and approaches may be built either of stone or cast iron, for a
sum not less than £25,000 or more than £35,000.
The original Leen Bridge, connecting the town
and the meadows, was probably built by PEVEREL. It had twenty arches, and
crossed the river between Narrow marsh and Fisher gate, and was commonly called
the town bridge. In 1724 the structure was demolished, and a new bridge of
three arches was built. The principal wharves and warehouses are on the Leen
side in Canal street, Island street, &c.
The Flood Road, which connects the Trent and
the Leen bridges, extends across the intervening low and swampy meadowland,
having under it a long range of arches and culverts for the purpose of
affording the water a free passage during the floods. The road is from fifteen
to twenty yards broad. A hundred years ago it bore a widely different aspect
from that which is now presents. Then the road between the Leen and the Trent
bridge led round two pools, save at high water, when wooden bridges carried the
passengers across. When the road round the pools, however, again became dry,
chains were fastened across the bridges: hence the one farthest from the town
was called “the Chainy pool,” the other, about 140 yards nearer, being known as
“the Chainy flash.” In 1766, both the pool bridges were rebuilt by the town.
From this date up till 1790, there was a side
bridge where the seven arches now stand. The ten arch bridge was erected about
1790; the present structure of seven arches, in 1796, after the great flood on
1795. During the removal of the ten arch bridge one of the arches sprang and
three workmen were killed. On the 21st of July, 1809, the foundation
of nine culverts was laid; these are connected with the seven arch bridge by a
stone parapet, as is the chainy-pool arch, rebuilt at the same time. The
largest of the chainy-pools in the last century afforded capital sport for the
angler; but after it was intersected by the canal the romance and the fish fled
together.
The Trent Lock Bridge, built in 1842, is a
narrow iron structure near the Lock, erected for the convenience of the hawling
horses in conducting the boats from the Nottingham to the Grantham canal, or
vice-versa.
Carrington Bridge, completed in 1842, connects
the street of that name with the Queen’s road, by crossing the canal, and
affords an immediate approach to the Midland Railway station from the town. The
arch is 70 feet span, springing from stone abutments, and has a clear roadway
of 50 feet. It cost about £6,000, half of which was paid by the Midland
Railway.
CANALS
The Trent Canal was commenced in 1784, in order
to avoid twenty-one shoals which lie in little more than thirteen miles of the
course of the Trent. This excavation has a rise of twenty-eight feet, it begins
at the Langley mill junction, and crosses the Erewash navigation, near
Attenborough. On July 30th, 1793, the canal was formally opened.
The Grantham Canal, connected also with the
Trent, begins near Holme Pierrepont, and has a branch of three miles long
leading to Bingham. On the 4th of September, 1838, a public meeting
was held in the Exchange, at which a committee was appointed with the view of
taking the preliminary steps for the formation of a Ship Canal from Hull to
Nottingham. The scheme was never realised.
ROADS
Let us glance at the carriers who travelled to
and from Nottingham a hundred years ago, either with the long line of
pack-horses or the lumbering wagons, not mounted on springs. The first
conveyance to the great metropolis was commenced about 1725, and started from
Silk Mill yard, Parliament street: Richard SUTTON, collar and harness maker,
proprietor. In 1750 three wagons set out at half-past two o’clock on the
Tuesday mornings for London, returning each Friday night. The York carrier left
each Tuesday morning, half an hour after the departure of his metropolitan
brethren, and returned on Saturday. Besides the carriers to the neighbouring
towns that were not fewer than four hundred saddle-horses kept by the middle
and trading classes of the town, or about a horse to each twenty-nine
inhabitants.
On the 21st of May, 1791, Nottingham
witnessed the establishment of a hackney coach, by John LAMBERT and Co., “for
the accommodation of the ladies and gentlemen, tradesmen, and others of the
town of Nottingham, and the adjacent villages.” It contained six passengers,
and took its stand in the market place, every morning, at ten o’clock. The
fares were, to any place within the borough, 1s; to any of the churches with a
wedding party, 2s. 6d.; within three miles of the town, 3s. 6d.; per mile for a
longer space, 1s.; per hour waiting, 1s.
In 1770 the Nottingham stage coach started at
five o’clock on Tuesday morning for London; the passengers slept at
Northampton, and arrived in the metropolis at seven o’clock on Thursday
evening. The coaches went only twice a week, Sundays and Tuesdays. A coach that
travelled sixty miles a-day was termed a “a flying coach.” The fare was one
shilling for five miles, or twenty-five shillings from Nottingham to London.
The general mode of travelling was by hiring
horses at threepence per mile, and for the postboy conducting fourpence per
stage. Then arose, soon to pass away, the palmy days of the “Maypole,” and the
“Black Boy,” when the “Times,” and the “Express,” ran a roaring trade, when
jolly coaches rolled from the box into the bustling booking office, when the
merry sound of the guard’s bugle broke in at seasonable and unseasonable hours
upon the Row, making the denizens proud of their busy town by day, and
miserable at night.
RAILWAYS
When railway communication was first proposed
to be extended from the metropolis to the north it was intended to make
Nottingham the grand central station; the opportunity was neglected and Derby
was selected. The line between Nottingham and Derby, commenced in 1837, was
opened on the 30th of May 1839, the distance being fifteen miles and
three-quarters. The Midland Railway Station, opened in 1848, is situated in
Station street, in the meadows. It is a one-story building, and presents by no
means an imposing aspect, although it is well adapted for the purpose. It
covers as area of 600 feet by 94 feet; and the stone platforms, extending the
whole length of the station, are 21 feet wide. The roofs are divided into three
parts, the middle part being 94 feet wide, in two spans of 47 feet each. The
refreshment room belonging to the first department is 31 feet by 20 feet, and
has an enriched cornice and a large centre flower in the ceiling; but the
booking office is the principal room, being 50 feet by 30 feet, and having a
beautifully enriched cornice and two centre flowers in the ceiling. The
frontage of the offices is 180 feet and has a stone portico in the centre of 50
feet by 12 feet. The goods’ station, formerly the chief station at Nottingham,
is situated in the Queen’s road, Carrington street. This station house occupies
about 450 square yards; it belongs to the Grecian style of architecture. There
is a dock canal, 50 feet wide and 250 feet long, over which stands a large corn
warehouse built in 1851. Another railway station will probably be erected soon
in the East croft for the Ambergate Company, whose line, connected with the
Great Northern, provides a second route per railway to London, and thus ensures
for the town of Nottingham the benefit of a healthy competition instead of an
insolent monopoly.
