A SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF 

 NOTTINGHAM AND DISTRICT 



I. 



THE CITY OF NOTTINGHAM 



i. THE GROWTH OF MODERN NOTTINGHAM 



BY 



J. D. CHAMBERS, B.A., Ph.D. 



The recorded history of Nottingham begins with the Anglian settlement 

 on St Mary's Hill. The record consists of the name itself — Snotingaham, 

 the homestead of the Snotings; but there are evidences in the rock on 

 which it stands of the presence of man from neohthic times. Its soft sand- 

 stone, which lent itself to easy excavation, was an attraction to man from 

 early to modern times — though not to the Romans — and its command of a 

 crossing of the Trent was destined to make it a high stake in the game of 

 national poHtics. The references in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to the 

 disputed possession of the settlement by AngUan and Dane testify to the 

 strategic significance of the site. Edward the Elder having fortified the 

 old settlement, built a second burh here, on the opposite side of the river, 

 and the Conqueror took an early opportunity of securing the town and 

 erecting a castle. The site which he chose was the present Castle Rock, 

 to the wes tof the older Anglo-Danish burh and overlooking it. It marked 

 his intention to keep what he had won. 



The geographical conditions which gave to Nottingham in time of war 

 a special strategical importance, made of it in time of peace a busy 

 centre of exchange for a wide area. From all directions, by land and 

 water, trade flowed to its gates; from Hull and the eastern towns via 

 the Trent, from Derbyshire and the west by the Derwent and Trent; 

 valuable mineral deposits also assisted the growth of the town and as 

 early as 1155 it became a centre for dyeing cloth and by 1348 there was 

 a local coal trade. Nottingham alabaster was known from Italy to 

 Iceland and as many as fifty-eight alabaster heads of John the Baptist 

 ■were sent to London in one consignment. 



Thus, side by side with the alarums and exciu-sions of war there de- 



