sneinton « Views of Nottingham

The 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

Peggers Revisited

August 30, 2008 at 8:11 pm | In Buildings, Derelict and Demolished | 1 Comment
Tags: peggers inn, public house, Sculpture, sneinton, southwell street

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:

Peggers Inn

August 26, 2008 at 9:40 pm | In Buildings, Derelict and Demolished | 3 Comments
Tags: murder, peggers inn, public house, sneinton, southwell street

Peggers Inn

Peggers Inn was originally called The Fox and Grapes and known locally as Pretty Windows.

It stands on Southwell Street on the edge of the old Sneinton wholesale fruit and veg market and was permitted to open early to cater for the market workers who finished work in the early hours of the morning.

In 1963 it was the scene of a gruesome murder when the landlord, George Wilson, was stabbed 13 times. The crime remains unsolved despite the investigation being, at the time, Nottingham’s largest police operation and even the involvement of Scotland Yard.

Peggers Inn closed a couple of years ago after the fruit and veg market moved to Lenton

The East Midland Photographic Record has pictures of the pub taken in 1934, 1963 and 1988

UPDATE: I’ve added some more photos in Peggers Revisited