INDUSTRIES 



in the Nottingham Free Library, entitled ' The 

 Country Man's Proposal,' by Richard Cooper, 

 which was printed and published by John Colyer 

 at Long Row early in the i8th century. 67 

 The art of printing, according to Deering, 

 was introduced into the town by William 

 Ayscough about 1710, when he started busi- 

 ness in a house on the west side of Bridle- 

 smithgate, midway between Pepper Street and 

 Peter Gate. 58 Colyer and Ayscough were re- 

 spectively patronized, we are told, by the Non- 

 conformists and the Episcopalians. 69 In 1716 

 Colyer began printing the first Nottingham news- 

 paper, The Notts Post, first in a house on Timber 

 Hill, afterwards occupied by Mr. Wilson, 

 draper, and afterwards at Long Row. 60 In 

 1732 George Ayscough, son of William Ays- 

 cough, began the Nottingham Courant. In 1757 

 Samuel Crcswell, of Nottingham, and John 

 Gregory of Leicester, started the Leicester and 

 Notts Journal, which was printed in Leicester 

 and published in Nottingham. In 1769 Mr. 

 Creswell bought the Courant from Ayscough, 

 and converted it into the Notts "Journal, which 

 was published in a house on the south side of the 

 Exchange. In 1772 George Burbage set up 

 the Nottingham Chronicle in Long Row, No. 14, 

 which was the second house west of the Crown 

 Inn. In 1775 Creswell and Burbage became 

 joint owners of the Journal, until the death of 

 the former, the paper eventually passing into the 

 possession of Mr. Stretton, who married Burbage's 

 daughter. In 1780 Henry Cox, writing-master, 

 started the Notts Gazette on Middle Pavement, 

 but this publication was given up in a year. In 

 1808 the Notts Review was started by Charles 

 Sutton in Bridlesmithgate. In 1813 a second 

 Notts Gazette was begun by William Tupman in 

 High Street. 



Lithographic and letterpress printing employ 

 a number of hands in the city of Nottingham, 

 show cards, wall posters, and illustrations for the 

 leading magazines and weekly papers being 

 largely and artistically produced. The leading 

 firms engaged in this industry are Thomas 

 Forman & Sons, Stafford & Co., Ltd., and Tom 

 Browne & Co., Ltd. 61 



Basket-work is a very ancient industry of the 

 county. John le Skepper 3 was carrying on his 

 occupation in Nottingham as early as I3O3, 63 

 Robert Cony being located in Fletcher Gate in 

 1534.** At a later date Deering writes of the 



" Notts, and Derb. N.ana" Q. Oct. 1897. 



68 Blackner, Hist. Nott. 96. 



69 N. and Q. ut supra. 



60 Blackner, loc. cit. 



61 Communicated by the courtesy of Messrs. Thos. 

 Forman & Sons. 



68 Skep a shallow basket, when used as a measure, 

 a bushel. 



83 Stevenson, Rec. Bom. of Nott. iv, 500. 

 04 Ibid. 442. 



basket-makers of Nottingham as ' making not 

 only common work, but being famed all over 

 England for the curiosity of their workmanship 

 in wicker-ware.' 66 



In 1894 Nottingham and Southwell were 

 largely engaged in the manufacture of basket- 

 ware, wicker chairs, and bamboo furniture, the 

 preparation of osiers during the summer giving 

 occupation to numbers of women. 60 



The making up of birch twigs into besoms 

 was a former industry chiefly carried on in the 

 winter in country districts. The ' twigging ' 

 was first let to the besom-makers at so much per 

 bottle (bundle), which was usually 4 ft. in girth. 

 After being cut the twigs were allowed to lie 

 till March, when they were stacked like corn, 

 and thatched. The shafts or staves cut from 

 the birch trees were sold to the brushmakers at 

 so much per 1,000, or per 100, being utilized 

 for brush heads, painters' brush handles, banisters, 

 spindles, and distaffs, whilst the shorter pieces were 

 worked up by the doggers and shoe-heel cutters. 6 ' 

 Willows were grown to furnish hurdles, flakes, 

 gates, and other farming implements. 68 



The liquorice, 69 formerly abundantly culti- 

 vated at Worksop, gave rise for many years to a 

 flourishing industry. ' In the west, near Work- 

 sop,' writes Speed, ' groweth plenty of liquorice, 

 very delicious and good.' 70 'England,' declares 

 Fuller, ' affordeth the best in the world for some 

 uses, this county (Nottingham) the first and best 

 in England.' 71 Sundry entries of ' licoras gar- 

 dens ' occur among Worksop leases, most of 

 these cultures being situated on the east margin 

 of the park, near the present Stack Walk. 72 The 

 last of these plantations were in the neighbour- 

 hood of Forest Lane, in the pleasure-ground 

 before Mr. Roe's house, and in some of the gar- 

 dens near the town. On the site of one, a gar- 

 dener left his name to the Brompton Stock. The 

 liquorice was not only sold in Worksop, but car- 

 ried to the neighbouring towns. An old woman 

 on a grey pony was a well-known vendor, the 

 bundles being brought into Mansfield once a week, 

 and bought by the children at \d. a stick. 73 



65 Deering, Notttngftamia, 96. 



66 Ann. Rep. Factories and Workshops, 1894, p. 217. 



67 Lowe, Agric. Notts. 103. The caverns known 

 as the Rock Houses at Mansfield were long tenanted 

 by a colony of besom-makers ; Groves, Hist. Mansfield, 

 108. Birch brooms from Newark were supplied to 

 the ducal household at Belvoir in 1611 at $s. per 

 dozen ; Rutland MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), 486. 



68 Lowe, op. cit., 123. 



69 Glycytrhiza vulgaris. ' One of the chief commo- 

 dities of the county,' according to Overton's rare map 

 of Notts, published in 1714. 



70 Speed, Theatre Great Brit. (1614), 65. 

 " Fuller, Worthies, ii, 205. 



"White, Worksop, 6l. 



73 Holland, Hist. Worksop, 6. Harrison's ' Survey ' 

 (1636) mentions a 'Licoras Garden' at Worksop in 

 the King's Close ; White, Du&ery Rec. 137. 



323 



