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After the Norman conquest Nottingham was bounded
by a ditch and later a wall running from the Castle, down Park Row
and along Upper and Lower Parliament Street to Plumptre Square,
and then followed the line of the cliff back to the castle.
The growth of Nottingham
Before the 16th century the population probably never exceeded 3000
people. Then it started to increase - by 1750 it was about 10,000
in the first census of 1801 it was almost 29,000 and by 1841 it
was over 50,000, packed into almost the same area that of the medieval
town.
Nottingham was surrounded by its open fields and could not expand
to any extent until the Enclosure Award of 1865.
Overcrowding
This overcrowding led to the appalling yards and alleys containing
6000 back-to-back houses in the town. The Government
in 1844 appointed a Commission to look into the state of great towns.
Thomas Hawkesley, Borough Water Engineer, testified to the Commission
that he considered Nottingham to be the worst town in England.
The worst areas were the Marsh; Narrow Marsh with its yards such
as Lees, Knob, Byron and Foundry and many others, and the Rookery,
the area between Parliament Street and Long Row. The worst was probably
Kingston Court, now under Debenham's shop. In this yard fever was
endemic but in 1854 the Corporation installed the first water closet
in Nottingham (communal, of course) and the fever subsided.
In the Marsh in 1883 the density of population was 300 to the acre,
compared with 19.4 overall in Nottingham.
In the middle of the century half the children born in the Marsh
died before they were five, and officially the death rate was 34
per thousand, though it was probably much higher for the births
and deaths of many children were never recorded.
Lack of sanitation
Apart from the overcrowding in the yards, the greatest problems
were water supply, originally from polluted wells, and sanitation.
We did not have an entirely pure water supply until 1880 when Zion
Hill Water Works on the Ropewalk finally closed.
It had been supplying 960,000 gallons of water per day; analysis
of its water in 1873 showed that it contained 31.5 grains of solid
effluent per gallon.
We were also taking water out of the Trent (unfiltered) after it
had collected the sewage from Birmingham, Burton on Trent, Derby
and Beeston; this water contained 44.57 grains of solid effluent
per gallon.
By 1850 most yards had a standpipe tap for use by the entire yard
and in hot weather the Fire Brigade was used to hose down the worst
enclosed yards.
Although water closets had been invented in the 16th century the
idea never took hold and garderobes continued to be used; there
is a very good example of a four-seater in the Bishop of Southwell's
garden!
In the towns ash pit privies, usually three or four per yard for
as many as 250 people, were the norm. If you were lucky you might
even get them emptied every ten years! The principle was that you
mixed the ashes in the pit with the effluent. Often the pits overflowed,
ran down the yards and into the living rooms of the houses. Intermingled
with the houses were the slaughter houses, knackers yards and manure
yards.
In the Marsh lived a number of men who were milk producers/ retailers.
They kept two cows in tiny yards adjacent to the living rooms and
lived on the sale of milk which was almost certainly infected with
brucillosis.
Nottingham did not have a Sanitary Department until 1867. When this
was started the Corporation began replacing the ash pit privies
with the tub closet system.
They first bought up a quantity of old paraffin barrels, cut them
in half and fitted lids and handles. Then the tub carts took the
empty ones out each day and collected the full ones. These were
emptied into barges at the Canal Street depot and the sewage then
taken to Gamston Bridge where it was sold to farmers for manuring
the fields.
Two houses in Sussex Street demolished about 1930 were so alive
with vermin that the demolition men walked off the site until they
had been fumigated.
Improvements started under the Sanitation and Nuisance Removal Acts
of 1844, 1846, 1848, 1855 etc., but above all with the work of our
great Borough Engineer, Marriott Ogle Tarbotton who held office
from 1859 to 1880.
Slum clearances
Work continued with the slum clearances of the 1920s and 1930s and
after WWII.
Nottingham has lost more than its fair share of fine old buildings
which were worthy of preservation. The Old Guildhall, Weekday Cross
in 1895; The Friary, Friar Lane in 1923: The Exchange and Shambles
in 1926; King John's Palace, two timber-framed houses/shops in Bridlesmith
Gate of about 1450 in c. 1946; Collin's Almshouses, Friar Lane in
1956 and the Oriental Cafe, Wheeler Gate, c.1958.
Nottingham's first hospital
In the late 18th century it was felt that something should be done
to relieve some of the suffering from disease in the town. A number
of wealthy men provided the money and the General Hospital was built.
Treatment was very primitive and until the late 1840s - operations
were carried out without anaesthetics.
Unrest
The town saw its share of riots and political disturbances. Luddite
frame smashing of the early 19th century, the Reform Bill riot of
1831 when the Castle was burned down and the battles in the Old
Market Square of the Nottingham Lambs who fought for their respective
political parties. The last great riot in the Square was in 1898
when a man was killed in a police baton charge.
Expansion
Gradually the town expanded. In 1845 the Enclosure Act was passed
to enclose the open fields surrounding the town. The award was made
20 years later allowing the Meadows, Sand and Clay Fields to be
used for building. In 1877 the surrounding villages were taken into
the town under the Borough Extension Act and further enlargements
were made this century. The wealthy moved out of the old town, mainly
from the area now called the Lace Market, into Nottingham Park and
Mapperley Park areas.
Nottingham became a city in 1897 by charter of Queen Victoria and
we were granted a Lord Mayor in 1928.
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