NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. 
2(52 
out mixture, are defcribed as a fmall polled race, with 
grey faces and legs, the fleeces of which may run from 13 
to 18 to the tod of 28 pounds. The carcafl'es, when fat, 
weigh from feven to nine pounds a quarter; but, as the 
crolfes have been found to be great improvements both on 
the wool and carcafs, few farmers now rear this fpecies of 
fheep unmixed. 
Tenures here are in all the variety of freehold, copy- 
hold, and leafehold ; and there is alfo a very confiderable 
portion of church and collegiate lands. The freeholds 
are more extenfiVe than numerous; and, with refpeft to 
the copyholds, a great part of the fmall ones arp “ Bo¬ 
rough Engliih,” and defcend to the youngeft fon. The 
immediate occupants of the foil are moftly tenants-at-will; 
but, as their farms, in many inftances, have continued 
in one family for feveral generations, they feel a fort of 
hereditary fecurity, that prompts them to the fame courfe 
of improvement as if they were fecured by leafes. Gene¬ 
rally fpeaking, the farms may be charafterifed as fmall, 
few' of them exceeding 300I. per annum, and more being 
under iool. than above that fum ; many, indeed, efpe- 
cially in the clay-diftri£l, beingaslowas 20I. The larged 
farms are on the poor foreft-lands, which have been 
but lately brought into a fate of cultivation. Rents are 
univerfally paid in money; referving only fome few boons, 
as they are provincially called, i.e. obligations to perform 
fome carriage-work (chiefly of coals) for the landlord. 
Tithes are in fotne places taken in kind, but are more fre¬ 
quently compounded for, at a much lower rate than 
they would be valued at by any furveyor. In the new 
inclofures, land has univerfally been given in lieu of 
tithes; and all the lands which are either now, or have 
been formerly, church-lands, are entirely tithe-free. Ef- 
tates vary in extent from 12,000b a-year downwards to 
the fmalleft amount. The largeft, as is ufual in molt 
counties, are left to the care of ftewards ; but many con¬ 
fiderable as well as inferior yeomen occupy and farm their 
own properties. 
In a miner-alogical eftimate, Nottinghamfliire has no¬ 
thing particularly worthy of attention. No metals of 
any deicription have hitherto been difcovered within its 
boundaries. Coal and lime-ftone, however, are tolerably 
abundant, as well as marl and free-Aone. Both the coal 
and lime-ftone ftrata lie on the wtftern fide of the coun¬ 
ty. The former occupy a line of confiderable extent, 
but not more than a mile in breadth. The feams, how¬ 
ever, are very prolific ; and the coal, being of a good qua¬ 
lity, is conlequently wrought with great advantage to 
the proprietors. But the lame remark cannot be applied 
to the lime-ftone, which is for the molt part of an infe- 
rior.kind, and only fit for the purpofes of manure. At 
Mansfield, are fome excellent quarries of a yellowifh free¬ 
fone, well adapted for building and paving; and there 
is alfo at this place a red kind, capable of being formed 
into citterns and troughs. At Maplebeck is a bluifli ftone 
for building, which has the property of becoming white 
upon expohire fora fliort time to the adtion of the air. 
Beacon-hiil, near Newark, is remarkable for a kind of 
bluifli ftone for hearths, which takes to fine a polifh as 
frequently to be miftaken for marble; and at Linley is a 
coarte paving-ftone, much ufed in paving the ftreets of 
Nottingham. The quarries on this hill alfo produce vaft 
quantities of gypfum, alabafter, or platter as it is com¬ 
monly called by the inhabitants. The fame material is 
like-wile abundant in many other places, and in greater 
variety, and of a fuperior quality, to that found in almoft 
any other county in England. Marl is difcovered 
throughout the whole extent of the clay-diftridt; but, 
being no-vvhere ufed as a manure, except in one or two 
farms near the banks of the Trent, it is very little dug up. 
•Mr. Lowe indeed lays, that he is ignorant of any marl-pit 
opened within the county but that at Bank-wood, in the 
Trent Bank diflridf. 
The rivers, which either take their rife in Nottingham- 
(hire or flow through it, are numerous; and a few of 
them are very confiderable ftreams.—The Trent enters 
this county in the vicinity of Thrumpton with a bold 
and rapid current; and, eroding it in a north-eafterly di¬ 
rection by Nottingham and Newark, where its ftream 
fweeps decidedly to the north, reaches Clifton, and be¬ 
comes the boundary between this county and that of Lin¬ 
coln for a diftance of more than twenty miles. It is na¬ 
vigable for large veflels as high as Gainfborough, eight- 
miles above Well-Stockwich, at which village it leaves 
Nottinghamfliire; and flat-bottomed fmall craft of thirty 
or forty tons burden may navigate its whole courfe 
through the county.—The Erwalh forms the boundary 
between the (hires of Nottingham and Derby, and falls 
into the Trent near Barton ; as does likewife the Soar, 
which, flowing from the fouth, divides this county from 
that of Leicefter.—The Mann and the Meaden, uniting 
their currents near Elkefley, after receiving feveral 
fmaller ftreams, form the Idle, which runs in a northerly 
diredion by Retford and Matterfey to Bawtry, where it 
turns to the eaft, and, traverflng Milfon-car, joins the 
Trent in the northern angle of the county.—The other 
rivers in Nottinghamfliire are the Wollen, the Workfop, 
the Dover, the Greet, and the Leen ; all which are de¬ 
fcribed under their proper heads. See alfo Canal Navi¬ 
gation, vol. iii. p. 679, 683, 687. 
Nottinghamfliire is politically divided into fix hundreds 
or wapentakes, which include eleven market-towns and 
160 parilhes. The towns are Nottingham, Newark, 
Mansfield, Bingham, Workfop, Tuxford, Ollerton, Eaft 
Retford, Bawtry, Blythe, and Southwell. Nottingham¬ 
fliire fends eight members to parliament; viz. two for 
the county, and two each for Nottingham, Retford, and 
Newark. The county is entirely under the influence of 
the nobility; and the duke of Portland, duke of New- 
caftle, earl Manvers, and lord Middleton, have for many 
years nominated the members. The duke of Norfolk, 
who poflefles the magnificent feat of Workfop-manor, 
and alfo the Shire Oaks ellate, formerly belonging to Mr. 
Hevvit, member for the county, mult command a power¬ 
ful interell. In addition to thefe, Mr. Sutton of Kelham, 
the Hon. and Rev. Mr. Lumley Savile of RufFord, Mr. 
Eyre of Grove, the Hon. Mr. Simpfoii of Babvvorth, and 
Mr. Chaworth of Anfley, have very extenfive properties 
in Nottinghamfliire. The nomination of its members js 
however tacitly acquiefced in : thefe are, in the prelent 
parliament, Lord W. H. Bentinck, brother to the duke 
of Portland, and admiral Frank Frank of Kirklington- 
hall, in this county. 
The ecclefiaftical government of this county is now 
under the fee of York ; but it had formerly, even fo late 
as the reign of Elizabeth, a biftiop of its own. At pre- 
fent it con fills of an archdeaconry, and four deaneries; 
Nottingham, Bingham, Newark, and Retford. Of the 
pariflies and chapelries, 182 are within the jurifdiClion of 
the archdeacon, 28 belong to the church of Southwell, 
and feven are under the patronage of the dean and chap¬ 
ter of York. 
Various places in this county communicate the follow¬ 
ing titles to the peerage: Granby, marquifate to Man¬ 
ners duke of Rutland; Mansfield, titles of countefs and 
baronefs to the wife of the Hon. R. F. Greville; Newark 
vifeounty and Holme-Pierrepoint barony to Pierrepoint 
earl Manvers; Nottingham county, earldom to Finch, earl 
of Winchelfea. Of Langar, title of baronefs to the wife 
of fir W. Waller, bart. of Upton ; Carrington, barony to 
Smith. 
The ancient and celebrated Foreft ofSherwood, or Shire- 
wood, is in Nottinghamfliire ; and is indeed fo extenfive as 
to comprehend a large portion of the county. Thoroton, 
in his Hiftory of Nottingham (hire, fays that itftretches into 
the hundredsofBroxton,Thurgarton,andBafletlaw; and 
meafures about twenty-five miles in length, by from (even 
to nine ill breadth ; an extent which feems to agree with 
its ancient boundaries, as dated in a perambulation made 
in the 16th year of Henry III. The period when this 
diftria 
