Sneinton and Me 4 - The Building Boom of the 1820s and its effect on Sneinton due to Failure to Enclose Nottingham's Fields

• For a period of twenty years Nottingham's only spatial expansion consisted of a north-easterly advance into the parish of Sneinton.

In his examination of building activity in England in the nineteenth century EH Cooney bases his estimates upon the importation of lath wood - oak or fir cut to size for laths for roofing and plastering - which can safely be said, unlike other commodities, to have been used exclusively for building purposes (1). He considers that brick production, being subject to the effects of speculation, can be an untrustworthy indicator. As far as the period considered here is concerned, however, his estimates based on lath wood imports give results which confirm estimates based on Shannon's index of brick production (2). Both these indicators show that during the period 1815 to 1849 peaks and troughs occurred in building activity roughly every ten years. Major peaks occurred in 1825 and 1836.

The local press gives evidence of a high degree of building activity in Nottingham during the mid-twenties. J and S Walker, builders, of Chapel Bar advertised in May 1825: 

'The present state of the trade in Nottingham rendering more bricklayers necessary, 30 or 40 good hands from a distance may be directed to regular employment...' The advertisement was directed to journeyman bricklayers (3). 

John Taft advised that his Stapleford brickyard was '… stopped from being a sale yard at present' in order to protect his regular customers and those with orders at the time outstanding (4). Chapman reports that brick prices rose from 30s to £3 per thousand mid decade (5) and land in the town was fetching 36s per square yard.

Fig.1  H M Wood's Map 1825

Examination of H M Wood's map of 1825, and Staveley and Wood's of 1828-9, indicates that building must have continued at a great rate after 1825 (Fig.1, Fig.2) – perhaps indicating that the abnormally prosperous conditions in the lace trade and the home-based nature of its organisation produced a plateau of building activity rather than the peak experienced by the country as a whole. The brickyard at Mapperley was only developed for brick production after 1825. (6)

Fig.2  Staveley and Wood's Map
 1829-31

The increase in building in the town itself as shown by comparison of the two maps is very considerable. There is a general increase in the density of building in the town, almost every area showing signs of additional building in the 1828-9 map. The block surrounding St Peter's church, bounded on the North side by Timber Hill and Poultry and on the South by Low Pavement, is shown by comparison of the maps of 1825 and 1828-9 to have been filled during that period with a warren of courts and alleys. 

Fig.3  1825 - H M Wood's Map

Similarly, the block bounded to the North by Carlton Street, to the East by Stoney Street, to the South by Low Pavement and the West by Bridlesmith Gate has been packed during those years to a very high density indeed. (Fig.3, Fig.4)

Fig. 4  1829 - Staveley and Wood's Map

Indicative of both the high demand for premises and the effect of the non-enclosure of the fields is the drastic increase in the number of courts between 1825 and 1829. Nottingham had its courts before the late 20s of course. There are, on Wood's map of 1825, a number of them dotted about: behind and to the North of Long Row for instance (the area reported by Chapman to have been congested with working class dwellings by 1784 – see above), and to the North of Rick's Gardens and in the vicinity of Plumptre Street there are fully enclosed courts, and there are a fair number of three-sided courts, for instance to the East of Rick's Gardens. But on Staveley and Wood's map of 1828-9 it is difficult to find a block which does not consist of courts. Open spaces and gardens have been filled in by houses arranged around courtyards; and this is clearly the period when the 'notorious Nottingham practice' of blocking the open end of a courtyard with an extra dwelling grew. The practice meant the existence of numerous dwellings whose only out-facing side faced into a completely enclosed yard whose only access was by a tunnel entry of about 30-36 inches (76-91cm) width.

The map below shows clearly the effect of the housing boom and the failure to enclose the fields upon the spatial development of the urban area and upon the growth of New Sneinton. This colour shows the building line of the year 1820 along the North-eastern and Eastern sides of the town. This colour shows that while the line had not advanced any further outwards, some deep breaks in the line, such as those to the East and to the West of Richmond Hill, and in the vicinity of Pipe Street, had become infilled, making the line rather smoother. This colour shows that the building line had remained completely static during the following four years along almost its entire length, except where it came into contact with Sneinton parish. And here, a considerable advance had taken place, the line pushing out along Carlton Road and including a new block of buildings bounded by Carlton Road, gardens a little to the North of North Street, Haywood Street, and Sneinton Road. In addition, there was another block of houses at the junction of Sneinton Road and Windmill Lane, around Notintone Place. This colour shows that by 1841 the building line had continued to remain static except along that portion adjacent to Sneinton, where further considerable advance had been made. The blocks at the Carlton Road end of of Sneinton Road and at the Windmill Hill Lane end had been joined into one large block which had then advanced further into the gardens of Sneinton. In addition again, a new block had appeared at the junction of Long Hedge Lane (now Gordon Road) and Clarence Street.

Thus for a period of twenty years, Nottingham's only spatial expansion consisted of a North-easterly advance into the parish of Sneinton. Progress was arrested along he rest of the building line, and the other growing areas were centred upon villages some distance from the town. It is, therefore, more proper to speak of the building of the New Sneinton area as being a continuation of the growth of Nottingham than to speak of it as a phase of growth occurring in a village due to conditions in the town. New Sneinton was, at this time, half a mile or so from the village of Old Sneinton.

Base map: Staveley and Wood - surveyed 1829, published 1831

The building lines are based on:

1820 - H Wild's Map

1825 - H M Wood's Map*

1829 - Staveley and Smith's Map

1841 - Dearden's Map

*Wood's Map needs handling with care because it lags behind the rate of building in the town (above, passim).

Detail from Dearden's
Map 1841

'Brunswick Circus'

Detail from Dearden's map, showing the area between Carlton Road and Long Hedge Lane (later Gordon Road)

This is not, in fact, the layout of the eventual development. There was, instead of Brunswick Circus, Clarence Crescent and a different arrangement of the streets. The actual development can be seen on any of the large scale OS maps later in the century. (And I can remember it.)

This factory - unpowered - in the Clarence Street area, was revealed during demolition in the 1970s.

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Notes

1/ 'Long Waves in Building in the British Economy of the Nineteenth Century' in Econ. History Review 2nd series, vol.8 no.2 p.257 

2/ Ibid. p.258

3/ Nottingham Journal 7th May 1825

4/ op.cit 30th April 1825

5/  op.cit p.150 (Revision)

6/ Nottingham Journal 29th January 1825 and subsequent issues.

From Nottingham City Library, Local Studies Dept:

H Wild's Map 1820

H M Wood's Map 1825

Dearden's Map 1841

Wood's Gas Bill Map 1841

Staveley and Wood's Map, surveyed 1828-9, published 1831: High resolution download available at:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nottingham_Map_1831_by_Staveley_and_Wood.jpg

Photo of old factory: WhysWhys