A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



water power. 6 There were the following mills 

 in the county in 1794 : 



In Nottingham, those of Messrs. Dennison & 

 Co., Green & Co., J. James, Cox & Co. (stands 

 still), Hippinstall, Pearson & Co. (stands still), 

 Morley, and Harris. In Nottinghamshire, 

 Messrs. Stanford & Burnside, Hancock & Co., 

 Unwin & Heygate, and Stanton's, were leading 

 cotton-mill proprietors in Mansfield.* Some of 

 these establishments were very large, one 

 mill containing 2,400 spindles, and giving 

 employment to 160 persons, who were en- 

 gaged in carding, drawing, rowing, and machin- 

 ing. 7 At Papplewick and Linby were Robin- 

 son's Upper Mill, Old Mill, New Mill, Middle 

 Mill, Forge Mill, and Nither Mill. There 

 was a mill at Sutton in Ashfield owned by 

 Mr. Unwin, also a mule factory, and a company 

 of hosiers worked a mill at Radford. Mr. Thomas 

 Caunt owned one at Southwell, Fiskerton Mill 

 standing still. At Newark was the mill belong- 

 ing to Messrs. Handley, Sketchley & Co., Hard- 

 castle's mule factory in the same town standing 

 still. Messrs. Hall and White were at work at 

 Basford ; also Burdins' mill at Langworth. That 

 belonging to Messrs. Salmon & Clevell was 

 nearly finished, part of that at Bulwell owned by 

 Mr. Walsh being built but remaining unfinished. 

 Rod & Co. owned a mill at Worksop, possibly 

 that of which White writes in his History of 



Worksop that 'cotton spinning was attempted at 

 Worksop at the close of the 1 8th century, but 

 the enterprise failed, and the two mills erected 

 for the purpose were converted into mills for 

 sawing wood and grinding corn.' 8 There were 

 also mills at Gamston, Lowdham, and Gonal- 

 ston. 9 



In 1797 there was a mill at Nottingham 

 employing about 300 hands, chiefly women 

 and children, in the manufacture of cotton 

 thread for stockings, at wages averaging 

 from ii. to 51. weekly. 10 Willoughby's, the 

 first Nottingham Directory (1799) gives the 

 number of cotton manufacturers in the town at 

 that date as five. In 1825 there were fifteen 

 cotton merchants, seven twist cotton preparers, 

 and three cotton ball manufacturers in the 

 town. 11 In 1831 the stoppage of a large cotton 

 mill at Papplewick caused a marked decrease in 

 the population. 18 For sixty years, says Mr. 

 Potter Briscoe, the Leen stream was utilized as 

 motive power for several cotton mills, erected by 

 Mr. Robinson under lease, an area of 70 acres 

 being occupied as reservoirs and watercourses. 

 The most important part of the machinery was 

 a breast-wheel 44 ft. in diameter. On the ex- 

 piration of the lease in 1 840, and in consequence 

 of the growth of the Lancashire cotton trade, 

 the mills were taken down and the watercourses 

 filled up. 13 



HOSIERY 



'The English invention' ' of framework- 

 knitting, 2 which was to revolutionize the stock- 

 ing trade, 3 is attributed to William Lee of Wood- 

 borough, sometime curate of Calverton. 4 



6 Lowe, Agric. Notts. 54, Dennison's cotton mill 

 in Pennyfoot Lane, Nottingham, which contained 

 3,024 spindles and gave employment to 300 

 persons, was built in 1792, and destroyed by fire 28 

 Nov. 1802 ; Blackner, Hist. Nott. 248. Arkwright's 

 mill at Hockley was sold in 1809, and converted in 

 1810 into a worsted mill, with an engine of 14 horse 

 power by Messrs. Cole, Hudlestone & Phipps ; ibid. 

 250. 



6 Harrod, Hist. Mansfield, 5. The motive power 

 for these mills was supplied by the River Maun ; 

 Curtis, Hist. Notts. 171. It is of interest to recall the 

 fact that the cotton spinning trade is indebted for 

 two inventions, which have never been superseded, to 

 Mansfield operatives, Joseph Tootel having invented 

 the fluted or grooved rollers known as ' stretchers,' 

 whilst John Green invented the incline plane move- 

 ment of the spindle, and also the cone movement ; 

 Groves, Hist. Mansfield, 216. " Ibid. 



6 Holland, //;//. Worksop, 145. 



* Lowe, Agric. Notts. 126. 



10 Eden, State of the Poor, ii, 565. In 1805 Mr. 

 Samuel Cartledge produced a cotton yarn of fine 

 twist for lace ; Blackner, Hist. Nott. 2489. 



11 Glover, Dir. 1825. 



The story of Lee's disappointment and rebuff 

 at the hands of Queen Elizabeth, his removal to 

 Rouen, and his subsequent death, in exile and 

 chagrin, in 1610, has been repeatedly and ex- 



" Pop. Ret. 1831, p. 480. 

 13 Briscoe, Old Notts, 30. 

 1 Rowlett, Tech. Framework Knitting, 129. 

 * ' Framework-knitting, which works with a single 

 thread, like hand-knitting ' ; Rowlett, op. cit. 



3 ' About the time of the French refugee immigra- 

 tion the stocking manufacture,' says a pamphlet of the 

 day, ' took a new turn all over England from knitting 

 to weaving or frame-making, to the great loss of the 

 poor, who were quite struck out of work by these 

 being wrought on the frame' ; A Brief Deduction, 41. 

 The pair of hose which cost 5</. per pair at Notting- 

 ham in 1 5 19 were doubtless hand-knit; Rec. Boro. 

 Nott. iii, 354. From an Act of Parliament of the 

 reign of Edward VI (1563) we gather that the 

 articles produced by knitting at that date were ' hose, 

 petticoats, gloves, and slieves.' 



4 In 1589, says Mr. Rowlett, William Lee built 

 the first slurcock hand frame, and carried on the 

 hosiery manufacture at Calverton, near Nottingham ; 

 Rowlett, op. cit. Lee's frame, it is said, was very 

 simple, consisting of jacks only, and a 12 gauge ; 

 whilst it is worthy of note that in all its essential 

 features, his ideal is still in use for the class of work 

 for which he designed it ; Ency. Brit, xii, 299. 



352 



