CHAPTER
TWENTY-TWO
THE GUILD HALL stands at the foot of the High
pavement, opposite the Weekday Cross. It is a brick building, faced with
stucco, and has a projecting front, supported by ten wooden pillars of the
Tuscan order, forming a piazza. This structure was rebuilt soon after 1744, and
since that date many alterations have been effected.
The Hall, thirty-nine feet long and thirty-two
feet broad, is approached by a flight of steps at the west end. Here the Town
Assizes, Sessions, Courts, Corporation elections, and Council meetings are
held. On the east side of the hall is a Council chamber which serves also for a
Grand Jury room; it is adorned with portraits of Sir Thomas WHITE, George COLDHAM,
esquire, (late town clerk,) and other local worthies. This apartment is about
to be enlarged. In the Guild-hall the burgesses were formerly chosen to
represent the town in parliament. Under it was a prison – for debtors above and
felons below. It was rebuilt in 1791, but is now disused. HOWARD relates some
fearful facts connected with this prison.
It is supposed that the prison at the rear of
the Shire Hall was founded in the reign of Alfred; the hall in 1618. In 1750
the gable end towards the street was used as a hay-loft. Though within the
town, this hall is not included within the county of the town, having been
excepted by the charter of Henry VI. and all subsequent charters. In former
times the election of knights of the shire to represent the county in
parliament took place here. The original hall, a quaint little building with an
entrance composed of three arches, was built about 1618; it was a stone
building and measured 27 ½ feet in front and 54 feet deep. The courts faced
each other, the judge of the Common Pleas looking towards the south and the
judge of the Kings Bench towards the west. The ruins of a large panelled table
was found in the hall by Dr. DEERING, upon which twenty-three coats of arms
were painted along with the names of the county gentlemen who contributed to
the building of the hall.
Miserable as is the appearance of the present
building the old one was infinitely worse. The stone-work was patched up with
brick for many years prior to its removal, and the desolate and miserable
aspect of the edifice caused an indignant judge on one occasion to fine the
county in £2,000 for the insult offered to the crown by introducing him to such
a rat-hole. The prison was rebuilt in 1791.
The present hall was erected in 1770, on the
sites of the old structure and the houses formerly inhabited by Sergeant BOUN
and Sir Thomas HUTCHINSON. It is a substantial stone building; the exterior
heavy and repulsive, the interior dark and inconvenient. The Crown court at the
assizes is held in the hall on the east side of the passage. Lately is has been
lightened and materially improved in other aspects. The Nisi Prius court is
opposite. The hall measures in front 117 feet. In the grand jury room are
full-length portraits of George III. and Queen Charlotte, and a marble bust by
Chantrey of William SHERBROOKE, esquire, of Oxton, for some time chairman of
the Quarter sessions. The County assizes, County court, Quarter sessions, Petty
sessions, Bankruptcy court, &c., are held in this building. County executions
take place in front of the hall, notwithstanding the extreme inconvenience and
danger arising from the narrow thoroughfare. At the execution of a murderer
named SAVILLE in 1844 twelve lives were lost.
In this prison two sisters, Mrs. ROWE and Mrs.
BUSH, suffered twelve years’ imprisonment on a point of conscience. They
belonged to a religious sect which sprung up towards the end of the last
century at Calverton. They married in their own way, instead of regarding the
rites of the established church. The overseers of the parish to which they
belonged desired the women to affiliate their children – a request with which
they would not comply; hence their incarceration in jail. Mrs. BUSH was dragged
in a delicate state of health through the snow to Southwell, where she was
confined, and afterwards she was taken to Nottingham, where she was soon joined
by her sister.
The metropolitan of the see of York,
perceiving that harsh measures were of no avail, connived at the escape of the
prisoners in 1798. There is a curious record of pardon in the Tower of London
granted to Cecily RIDGWAY, who, refusing to plead guilty of murdering her
husband at the Nottingham assizes in 1357, was remanded back to prison, and
there remained forty days without sustenance, for which miraculous preservation
she obtained pardon.
The jail for Nottingham and Derbyshire was at
Nottingham till the twenty-third of Henry VIII. The High Sheriff of Nottingham
and Derby used to hold his “courts and terms at Nottingham till the reign of
Henry III., when they were removed, as well as the assizes for both counties,
to Derby.” In the reign of Edward I. the assizes were again held at Nottingham.
THE EXCHANGE occupies the east side of the
market place. The whole exterior of the building forms a square of 130 feet;
the south and west fronts are divided into shops; the north is appropriated to
the police office, the dwelling house of the Mayor’s sergeant at mace, the
artizans’ library, and the chief staircase to the grand hall; the other part of
the ground floor is formed into convenient shambles.
The old Exchange was erected in 1724, the
mayor, Marmaduke PENNEL, being the architect. The new Exchange, which cost the
corporation £2,400, was begun in August, 1814. On the night of November the 26th,
1836, a destructive fire took place by which the Exchange was considerably
injured. Over the centre window is an illuminated clock, erected by public
subscription. The pediment is crowned by a pedestal, on which stands the figure
of Astrea, the Goddess of Justice, in this case divested of her sword and
scales. A plain stone cornice runs on the pediment and wings, and at each
corner is a neat vase with a bold ornament running round. In the pediment the
town arms, with an oak branch on one side and an olive branch on the other, are
carved in stone. The large hall, lighted by a noble Venetian window, is
seventy-five feet long, thirty wide, and thirty high; it has an arched ceiling,
is fitted up in a rich and elegant style, and can accommodate four hundred persons
at dinner. The great public meetings of the town are held in it, as are also
tea parties, balls, assemblies, and exhibitions. Here also the shows of the
Horticultural Society take place.
THE HOUSE OF CORRECTION, which is appropriated
to the purposes of a town gaol, stands in St. John’s street, on the site of a
convent formerly occupied by Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem. Hence it is
sometimes called St. John’s prison. It presents an aspect of security and
strength, but is destitute of the least outward decoration. The entire area of
the prison is 10,000 square yards, and it is surrounded by a wall forty-five
feet high.
The “HONOR OF PEVEREL,” a court of pleas for
the recovery of small debts, was founded by the first PEVEREL. It comprised at
one period 127 towns and villages in Nottinghamshire, 120 in Derbyshire, and
several detached places in Yorkshire and Leicestershire, most of the latter
having been added after the original formation of the court.
The court was held in the chapel of St. James,
in Nottingham, until 1316, when Edward II. caused it to be removed to the
county hall. The following were stewards: William PEVEREL, the founder; Sir
William PEVEREL, his son: Ralph PAYNELL, or PAGNELL; John Earl of MORTEIGN and
Nottingham afterwards King John; Robert de VAVASSOUR; Hugh de STAPLEFORD; and
William ELAND, upon whom this bailiwick was conferred by Edward III.
Mrs. HUTCHINSON, in a choice morsel of her
great work, furnishes us with a description of one CHADWICK, a petty scheming
lawyer of that period, who was instrumental in resuscitating the PEVEREL court,
after it had lain for a time inoperative. In 1791 John SANDS, keeper of the
prison, opened the doors and let the prisoners escape, because there was no food
allowed for their support. The court was then removed to Lenton, where Mr.
WOMBWELL, in 1804, built a new coffee house and a prison: the one for the
transaction of business, the other for the confinement of luckless debtors. As
a court for the recovery of small debts, and damages for trespass, it continued
in existence till 1849, when it expired, these three surviving feudal courts –
the Palace, the Marshalsea, and the Peverel, - being abolished by Act of
Parliament. The last high steward was Lord MIDDLETON, but the business was done
by deputy.
At the present time, the BOROUGH POLICE cost
about £3,200 a year. The force is sixty strong, and is excellently organised
under the active superintendent, Mr. William REDDISH. In 1815 nine or ten
watchmen patrolled twenty streets of the town in the night time. Four of these
men were confined to the market place. In 1815 so many robberies were committed
in those streets where no constable was stationed, that the inhabitants
petitioned to be sworn in as special constables, constituted themselves into a
watch, each taking his turn in the streets during the night. In Bridlesmith
gate, there was a timepiece called the superintender, which, if the watchman
did not apply his key to it every half-hour, revealed the inattention of the
nocturnal guardian. Still earlier, in 1740, there were thirty constables to
watch the wards by day; at night the town was protected by four watchmen, who
were remiss in discharging their duty and seldom cried the hour more than
twice, when they went off somewhere to enjoy an easy nap. House and shops were
broken into and robbed, and loud complaints were the consequence. Three county
constables are stationed at Sneinton; two at Trent bridge; one at Old Radford;
and on at New Radford.
There used to be a PILLORY and CUCKSTOOL in
the market-place for the punishment of culprits. In 1731, Thomas TRIGGE, mayor,
caused a woman to be placed in the cuckstool for prostitution and left her to
the mercy of the mob. The poor creature lost her life; thereupon the mayor was
prosecuted, and the cuckstool taken down.
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