Nottinghamshire is a very compact, yet varied county. It had existed as an administrative unit for several hundred years before Robin Hood haunted Sherwood Forest, probably as early as the 9th century. Nottingham itself was first mentions in A.D. 867 when a marauding Danish army wintered there before wrestling this part of Mercia from Saxon control. Newark first appears as the ‘new work’, as distinct from the much older Roman forts guarding the Fosse Way, the property of Lady Godiva, wife of Earl Leofric of Mercia, in the early 11th century.
After Domesday Book, medieval Nottinghamshire comes more clearly into focus, with its growing trade, up and down the Trent, its developing towns at Mansfield, Retford and Worksop, with Newark now an important commercial centre and Nottingham itself a mercantile borough with a royal castle, town walls, a mayor and bailiffs. The county had its share of monastic houses and from a very early date had coal-pits as well as wool, cloth and hosiery industries. Mining took off in the 16th century, followed in the next by glass-making and earthenware manufacture. In the early 18th century the lace industry grew apace while Arkwright’s arrive in 1768 brought the cotton industry to the county.
The Luddites failed to stop the growth of industry and the 19th century saw the addition of John Player’s tobacco factory, Jesse Boot’s pharmaceutical business and the Humber and Raleigh cycle factories to Nottingham’s range of businesses. In the rest of the county brewing continued to grow, as did textiles, and, most of all, mining--a growth that has accelerated in the present century with a succession of modern power stations springing up along the banks of the Trent. Despite industrial development, agriculture still plays a vital role in the county’s economy.
This is a book written by a local historian, who has pulled together the diverse threads of Nottinghamshire’s past in an integrated fabric of narrative, profusely illustrated and readably presented. It will appeals not only to the many general readers in the county with an interest in his history, and its making--and to many of its increasing number of tourists and visitors.
Contents:
List of Plates
List of Maps
Preface
1. The Setting
2. Prehistoric Nottinghamshire
3. Roman Nottinghamshire
4. Mercia and the Danelaw
5. Domesday Nottinghamshire
6. Sherwood Forest
7. Medieval Towns and Trade
8. The Wars of the Roses
9. Monks, Nuns and Friars
10. A Divided County
11. Coal, Cotton and Ceramics
12. Dissent of Many Kinds
13. From Stages to Steam
14. Nottingham
15. Nineteenth-Century Nottinghamshire
16. Twentieth-Century Nottinghamshire
Bibliography
Index
