Sneinton Dragon

The Sneinton Dragon stands at the junction of Manvers Street and Sneinton Hermitage in Nottingham. It was unveiled on 21 November 2006

Made from stainless steel it is 7 feet tall and its wingspan is 15 feet.

Local craftsman Robert Stubley spent 3 month sculpting the piece after residents of Sneinton were asked by the Renewal Trust what they would like to see as a piece of public art to represent their area.

The Original Sneinton Dragon

In 1914 Robert Mellors wrote about Sneinton:

For more than half a century there has existed in certain parts of Nottingham a monster who has devoured in the first year of their lives a large number of infants, and, what is worse, probably an equal number who have survived have dragged out a pitiable existence in weakness, small in stature, deformed, or anaemic, with diseases, lack of energy, unable to maintain themselves, and therefore dependent on others or the public charge; and, worse still, some have had a natural tendency to vice or crime.

…

Who is this monster, and what is his name ? His name is SLUM.

Robert Mellors, Old Nottingham suburbs: then and now, 1914.

It was not until the 1930s that the slums of Sneinton were cleared to be replaced by new housing and the wholesale market

I recently rediscovered some photographs I took in about 1993 of Front Street in Arnold.

Today I took pictures from the same positions (as near as I could get) to show how much Arnold has changed in the last 15 years.

This picture shows the junction of Worrall Avenue and Front Street, just after the demolition of Suttons Farm – the last farmhouse on Front Street to go.

And the same view today:

The view down Front Street from Arnold market in about 1993.

Today it looks like this:

Looking down towards King George V playing fields. Arnold market is on the left.

And today:

On 1st October 1908 Bartons ran their first scheduled service from Long Eaton to Nottingham Goose Fair.

To mark the centenary Bartons are organizing a number of events:

• A centenary show to be held in the Company’s historic Chilwell garage buildings, on the evenings of 30th September and 1st October 2008.
• A re-enactment of the first journey from Long Eaton to Nottingham in Fleet No. 1, Bartons’ veteran Daimler Char-a-banc on the 1st of October 2008.
• Historic Barton vehicles to carry the Lord Mayor of Nottingham and his civic guests to the Goose Fair Thursday 2nd October.
• A Heritage Open Day on Saturday the 4th of October at the former Chilwell headquarters to allow the return of past employees, vehicles, enthusiasts, passengers and local people to this historic site.

Full details can be found on Bartons Centenary Site

Once again, alas, I shall be working on the dates in question so I won’t get a chance to take part – oh the joys of working 5 Saturdays out of 6.

The future of 41 Pilcher Gate is looking a little brighter:

A PROJECT to restore a 17th Century town house in the Lace Market has been given the go ahead.

The building at 41 Pilcher Gate has been derelict for up to 20 years.

Featuring a fine sweeping staircase, it is one of the last remaining run-down buildings in the Lace Market and is believed to be the oldest town house in Nottingham.

Nottingham City Council has now approved a £2m renovation to convert the listed building into six apartments and two offices surrounding a courtyard.

The project is a partnership between Metropolitan Housing Trust, architects Franklin Ellis, and developer and owner of the building, Bildurn. But they are seeking public money to complete the renovation.

Deborah Higgins, of Metropolitan Housing, said the flats would provide affordable housing and fill in “one of the last pieces of the Lace Market jigsaw”

This is Nottingham.

This is great news! One of Nottingham’s oldest buildings will be saved, the Lace Market area will be even more improved and affordable housing will be made available.

Victoria Clock Tower at Dusk, originally uploaded by ElStruthio.

Victoria clock tower is all that remains of Nottingham Victoria Train Station. It stands at the entrance to the Victoria shopping centre dwarfed by the Victoria flats and looking rather out-of-place amongst the 70s architecture.

Nottingham Victoria station opened in May 1900. The construction of the magnificent Renaissance style building had been a massive undertaking. It involved the clearing of 1300 houses, 24 public houses and the workhouse. After the area had been cleared some 600,000 cubic yards (460,000 m³) of sandstone was excavated.

Victoria Station in the early 1900s (src: Wikimedia Commons).

Within a mere 67 years, however, Victoria Station was at the end of its life. During the 1960s the whole Great Central Line was was run down by diverting services away from it and slowing down express trains. The trains were old and unreliable and the line did not benefit from British Rail’s new diesel locomotives. Passenger numbers fell and the closure in September 1967 was inevitable.

The following video shows the demolition of Victoria Railway Station.

The Arnold Eagle, Nottingham

This brick mosaic of an eagle is at the junction of Arnold’s High Street, Front Street and Nottingham Road and it can only be truly appreciated from above

The first written reference to Arnold is in the Domesday Book where it was called Ernhale.

Ernhale was translated to mean “place of eagles” and the eagle has become the town’s symbol.

In actual fact the terrain is unlikely to have ever been suitable for eagles and one theory is that the name derives from hern (or heron) and hale meaning corner i.e. the corner of the forest where herons were abundant

Severn’s (Lace Centre), Castle Road, Nottingham

This Medieval merchant’s oak framed house originally stood on Middle Pavement. In 1969, when the area was cleared to build the Broadmarsh shopping centre, it was dismantled and rebuilt on Castle Road near Nottingham Castle. Unfortunately many other fine buildings in the area were lost.

In 1735 John and James Severn used the building to start a wine importing business. Over the years the building was altered and extended, but only the medieval part was saved.

In 1929 J. Holland Walker said in ‘An itinerary of Nottingham‘:

perhaps the quaintest object in it [Middle Pavement] is the curious little yard which leads off the western side to the rear of Messrs. Severn’s wine and spirit stores, for by some curious freak of chance this has remained almost unaltered for centuries and still presents an ancient inn yard such as must have existed in plenty throughout the town when Nottingham was little more than a country market town.

It is now the Nottingham Lace Centre, showing the history of and selling Nottingham lace

Picture the past has a photograph of Severn’s in its original location.

 

Nottingham Express Offices,

The Nottingham Express offices on Parliament Street built by Nottingham architect Watson Fothergill – the man behind many of Nottingham’s distinctive Victorian buildings.

The original building was completed in 1876 and had three floors. The building was extended in 1899 towards King Street and a fourth floor added.

On the left is the Coach and Horses Public House and to the right is the magnificent Elite Building

The Nottingham Express was a Liberal newspaper and the three heads above the ornate doorway are Liberal statesmen Richard Cobden, William Gladstone and John Bright

Inside the entrance are two rows of tiles that were originally on the Parliament Street frontage. The first row depicts Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, while the second row shows Lords Palmerston and John Russell

This fantastic building is a perfect example of the preservation of Nottingham’s heritage. For many years it was neglected and it could so easily have been bulldozed and lost forever, as with many of Nottingham’s other important buildings. Instead it was rebuilt behind the original cleaned and restored facade thus saving it for future generations to enjoy.

 

Nottingham Castle

The Union Jack at a famous Nottingham landmark has been stolen and the flagpole damaged.

Nottingham Castle staff have appealed for information about the theft and vandalism on the landmark’s South Terrace.

The damage to the pulley system of the pole means that no flag will fly in the grounds for the near future, general manager Dave Green said.

He described it as an “immense disappointment”.

BBC NEWS | England | Nottinghamshire | Castle flag is stolen by vandals.

Nottingham Castle is no stranger to vandalism. The original medieval castle, built by William The Conqueror in 1067, was used by Charles I during the English Civil War and was demolished after his execution to prevent it being used for such a purpose again.

In 1831 the new castle was attacked by a mob who were angry at the Duke of Newcastle’s opposition to parliamentary reform. The castle was set on fire and gutted. It remained derelict for 45 years until it was converted into a museum and art gallery in 1875 – the first municipal art gallery outside London.

This time, of course, it’s just mindless knuckle-draggers having a bit of a laugh (huh, huh, huh).

Through A Pretty Window

I went back to Peggers Inn in Sneinton the other day and took a few more pictures.

The first one shows the view through one of the windows (complete with reflections of nearby buildings). I was quite surprised how clean it looks considering that it has been closed for a couple of years.

The following four pictures show some of the decorative detail above the back windows. The first is a reminder of the pub’s original name – The Fox and Grapes. The others, I’m guessing, are Dionysus the greek god of wine, vegetation, pleasure and festivity (the Romans called him Bacchus). Dionysus was represented as an old man with a full beard or a young effeminate man and both depictions appear on Peggers

And a touch of irony: