INDUSTRIES 



drawn at the latter date from the Red Hill 

 Quarry, whence, we are told, quantities of gyp- 

 sum were sent in lumps to the London colour- 

 men, also some of the white kind, ground, and 

 packed in hogsheads, 25 whilst the 'fine columns 

 in the hall at Kedleston ' are not from Chellas- 

 ton, but from this same source. 26 



At the present time, the county of Notting- 

 ham is responsible for nearly one-half of the 

 whole output of the United Kingdom. In 

 1907 the total tonnage mined was 235,517 

 tons, of which the county of Nottingham pro- 

 duced 101,147 tons, valued at ^53,507, 73,765 

 tons being from the mines, and 27,382 tons 

 from the quarries. 27 Gypsum is put to many 

 and varied uses. In the lump form, as it is 

 brought out of the mine, all qualities of the 

 stone are very effective for rockery work, the 

 pure white quality being the material more 

 generally known as alabaster. Ground gypsum 



is known by other names, such as Terra Alba, 

 and Mineral White, and, as such, is largely used 

 by trades so widely divergent as those of bleach- 

 ing, the manufacture of paper, oil, paint and 

 grease, and chemical manures. Gypsum is also 

 very largely ground and manufactured into 

 plaster of Paris, and Keene's, Parian, and other 

 patent cements for the building and decorative 

 trades.* 8 



The quarrymen have distinctive names for the 

 more important veins, the smaller cake-like len- 

 ticular masses being known to them as 'knurrs 

 and fundlers,' whilst similar masses united by 

 strings of gypsum are called ' riders.' Two 

 methods of obtaining the mineral are in use. 

 In one case this is done by quarrying, in the 

 other by levels driven in from the quarry. The 

 former method is used at the Hawton quarries, 

 the latter at the deeper workings at Bowbridge 

 and Cropwell Bishop. 



GLASS AND POTTERY 



In 1693, according to Houghton, the 'glass- 

 pots,' that is, the crucibles for the glass- 

 makers, were made at Nottingham of Derbyshire 

 ('crouch') clay. 1 In 1696 there was one glass- 

 house in the town, where bottles were manu- 

 factured. 2 And Celia Fiennes 3 in her pleasant 

 Diary of about that date tells us that at Not- 

 tingham ' was a man that spun glass and made 

 several things in glass, birds and beasts. I 

 spun some of the glass and saw him make a 

 swan presently with divers coull'd (sic coloured) 

 glass ; he makes buttons which are very strong 

 and will not brcake.' By Defoe's time, we find 

 him writing of ' the glasshouses which, I think, 

 are of late much decayed.' 4 About twenty years 

 later, the industry had somewhat revived, for 

 there were ' a few at the east end of the town,' 

 where Glass Court in York Street, it is suggested, 

 marks the site of former kilns. 5 In 1747 three 

 persons engaged in this trade were entitled to 

 vote for common councilmen, namely, Robert 

 Verney, Henry Towel!, makers, and Jonas 

 Haberjon, founder, whilst in 1754 Henry 

 Hogg, glassmaker, figures on a poll-book. 6 

 In 1764 there were none, and the trade 



" Lewis, Topog. Diet, iii, 458. 



* y.C.H. Derb. \, 366. 



" Mines and Quarries, 1907, pt. iii, 194. In 1908 

 the total production was 82,280 tons from mines and 

 29,685 from quarries. 



18 Communicated by the courtesy of Mr. Anthony 

 (The Gotham Co. Ltd.). 



1 Jewitt, Ceramic Art, 240. Houghton's descrip- 

 tion, which occurs in his table of clays, is as follows : 

 ' With flat or thin sand, glittering with mica, Crouch 

 white clay of Derbyshire, of which the glass pots are 

 made at Nottingham ' ; Letters on Trade and Hus- 

 bandry, iii, no. 62. 



* Notts, and Derb. N. and Q. Feb. 1 896, p. 3 1 . 



was regarded as ' laid aside ' by the close 

 of the century. 7 There was a new be- 

 ginning, however, in 1815, when two glass- 

 houses were carrying on some trade, one being 

 at the east end of Sneinton Street, a ' very large ' 

 establishment, and the other at the end of Glass- 

 house Lane, between Charlotte and York 

 Streets. The industry was nevertheless con- 

 sidered as of ' no consequence.' 8 



Evidences of the early pottery and paving tile 

 industry at Nottingham are to be found, says 

 Mr. Jewitt, in the discovery of specimens of 

 this handicraft, in the shape of kilns, domestic 

 vessels, &c., which were excavated whilst digging 

 foundations for tiie New Methodist Connexion 

 Chapel in that town, 9 whilst similar discoveries 

 in 1897, when the Great Central Railway was 

 in course of construction, yielded examples of 

 equally ancient pottery, jugs for water and ale, 

 wine and stew jars, potters' kilns, and a potters' 

 wheel. The clay of which the specimens were 

 made was coarse, the vessels themselves being 

 reddish-brown in colour. 10 The Potters' Street 

 (Vicut Figuloruni) marks the quarter occupied 



' Through Engl. on a Side Saddle, 56. 



4 Defoe, Tour, iii, 1 8. In the Nottingham Mercury of 

 19 Feb. 1719 appeared the following advertisement : 

 ' Whereas John Bark, Salter and Richard Reeve, 

 Glassfounder (late servant to Mr. Bretnal) have 

 taken the Glasshouse lately Mr. Christopher Wood's 

 deceased in Nottingham any gentleman or others 

 that have occasion for any sort of glass bottles, flint 

 glasses, viols, or anything belonging to the glass trade 

 may be furnished with the said goods at reasonable 

 rates.' 



1 N. and Q. loc. cit. 6 Ibid. 



1 Tour in Midlands, 63. ' Blackner, Hist. Nott. 2 5 I . 



9 Jewitt, Ceramic Art, 240. 



10 Thoroton Sac. Trans, viii, 49. 



333 



