On Christmas Eve 1813 a freeze gripped Nottingham. Temperatures were recorded as low as minus 17 degrees centigrade on New Year’s Eve. The River Trent froze solid as did the Nottingham Canal. One wag is reported to have carved a double pigsty in the Market Square   and populated it with two live pigs. The simple pleasures that passed of entertainment in the Jane Austin era!

According to the UK Weatherworld website this 13 week period is the fourth coldest period in British weather ever recorded and we are hopefully not likely to see its like again.

“Winter 1813-14: 4th coldest on record, the CET for 21st December 1813- 20th March 1814 is -0.3C”

On this merciful note we wish you all of the greetings for the season
Alan & the Area 4 History Team

Sources: http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=6127&posts=8&mid=390863
A Nottinghamshire Christmas compiled by John Hudson

Photo: Paul Woodward

Carrington Police Station in 1932. Against the post, just behind the motorcyclist, is PC Ollie Wigg who later retired as Inspector. (Note the tram-lines on Mansfield Road) – Area 4 History team will endeavour to take a contemporary shot corresponding to this sterling photo by Paul Woodward. Looking at the image it seems very much a case of what goes around comes around, tram lines, ticket issuing road authority on motorcycles….

This image and caption is taken from http://www.nottscops.co.uk/ - a website dedicated to photographic nostalgia for police in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. Also from this site, although not strictly speaking Area 4, is this little downloadable pdf document entitled “Things Worth Knowing” – Definitions ofLegal Terms and Other Matter that every Policeman ought to know. This pamphlet was issued to police and is worth a glimpse just for the fantastic definition of “Indictment”. Download “Things Worth Knowing” here.

1. What did the “Frog and Onion “Pub on Berridge Road used to be called?
   a: The Forest Fielder
   b: The Jolly Fireman
   c: The Carlton
2. How many years has ASDA been in Hyson Green?
   a: 10 years
   b: 18 years
   c: 15 years
3. Which famous sauce was invented in Nottingham?
   a: Salad Cream
   b: HP Sauce
   c: Heinz Tomato Ketchup
4. What used to be on the site of the Boulevard Gardens (corner of Gregory Blvd and Radford Road) ?
   a: Nottingham’s first cinema
   b: A Blacksmiths Shop
   c: Nottingham’s first Chip Shop

Scroll forward 484 years to 1814 and the area has settled down with the name High Sands, as opposed to the low sands of Radford. Around this time the area also paraded under the name Ison. This play on High Sands was enhanced by a Mr. John Pepper built two houses and named them Ison Green. By 1824 Mr. Pepper had established a popular tea garden and bowling green and had opened “The Cricket Players” pub. Mr. Peppers mini empire is reported as being a public resort. Soon after that the area switched from High Sands and Ison to become the slightly more upmarket Hyson Green.

Sources: Old Nottingham Suburbs by R.Mellors pub 1914

The Hyson Green flats replaced some of the most awful slums in Nottingham. I remember the the old streets in the 1950’s were dreadful rows of filth, degradation and deprivation. Rats could be seen running around in broad daylight. However, the Hyson Green flats were just one of many attempts to improve the lives of those who lived in slums. There were also the Basford flats and the Balloon Wood flats. ALL of these housing developments had short lives and had to be destroyed due to the immense trouble they caused. The occupants were then moved to nicer areas with gardens and pleasant surroundings. I lived in one of the areas that took in these ex-flats migrants. It soon became quite obvious that it was not always the buildings that had created the problems, but the people who lived in them. Very soon these migrants from the flats were destroying the lovely areas to which they had been moved. (I am not saying that ALL of the people were like that; There are always decent people who get caught up in the system) But there were so many of these people who left their gardens untended and filled with them with rubbish and scrap cars etc., played loud music, let their offspring congregate in noisy gangs and generally had no regard for their neighbours. I knew several very nice people who lived in the Hyson Green flats, including ones from my own family, but it was “other residents” who made the place uninhabitable.

It is obvious that buildings can have a strong affect on our general feeling and well-being and people should not be herded into soul less concrete labyrinths. It is difficult to comprehend how anyone could have believed that the concrete jungle (Colditz, as it was often called), would be conducive to good social welfare, but it is ultimately the people that determine what an area will be like, not the buildings. Unfortunately the design of the flats and it’s numerous warrens, lent itself to abuse and gave easy opportunity for the growth of criminal activity, with its own unique problems for efficient policing.

According to local writer Al Needham, Goose Fair is now rubbish. He laments the vanishing of “mad stuff that you wouldn’t see anywhere else.” These include Gordon the Gnome who sat on a plastic toadstool and gave you magic beans all for 50p, or Scotland’s tallest man. He also talks about the loss of the boxing booth where the people who took part ”just wanted to have a scrap in front of their mates. You’d get some outstandingly barbaric entertainment for the price of a candy floss.” Or the vanishing of Mousetown which consisted of “a load of mice running about in a manky model village.”

According to Al, these attractions have been replaced with nothing more than a cheap Alton Towers. To read his full article follow this link. Link to BBC artical by Al Needham

Little did we know that he was also armed with a camera and snapped us back. Below is a rare shot of the Area 4 History team in action.

(Photo credits – top: George the Quizmaster – bottom: Tony Marshall)

From:  www.wilsonsalmanac.com/michaelmas.html

(You will have to scroll down to find the Goose Fair bit)

Many thanks to George of Park Avenue for forwarding this snippet

Goose fair is opened by Nottingham’s Lord Mayor every year at high noon. The opening ceremony features the ringing of two silver bells. This year (2008) the bells were rung by Councillor Mohammed Munir. 2008 is the 714th Goose Fair.

The bells were commissioned by the great showman Tom Norman (1860 – 1930). Norman was a licensed auctioneer who moved into showmanship, managing side shows as diverse as The Elephant Man, Phoebe the Strange Girl and Lord George Sanger’s Zoo. 

Norman commissioned the two silver bells sometime 1880 and 1915, as yet we have not managed to source the exact date. The bells were cast in Oldham at Mellor’s Owl Lamp Works. They were especially silver plated for Norman as he was known as ‘The Silver King’. Also unknown is the year in which the bells were first used as a focal point for the Goose Fair opening ceremony, however there is photographic evidence of the bells being rung as part of the 1920 opening ceremony in Nottingham’s market square.

References:
The Great Nottingham Goose Fair by Peter Wilkes pub 1989
http://www.nfa.dept.shef.ac.uk/history/shows/norman.html

Armed with fifteen minutes, Google and a good question Area 4 History invstigates.

This week we investigate the question, “Who is the sailor who appears on Player’s Navy Cut cigarette packets?”

Well, Player’s Cigarettes were one of two main employers in the area. Their ‘Navy Cut’ cigarettes were very popular choice, becoming the number one UK brand for a number of years. The term ‘Navy Cut’ refers to how RN sailors (19th and 20th centuary to 1953)  would wind twine around rolls of tobacco leaves allowing them to mature under compression, and then slice off the end shredding the tobacco.

The ‘Hero’ sailor used as a trade mark for the brand was modeled on Thomas Huntley Wood, a crewmember of HMS Edinburgh. The logos were developed for an advertising campaign in 1891 and trademarked in 1893.

References:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/query/0,,-185496,00.html
http://www.aandc.org/research/navy_cut_hero.html
http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/hms_edinburgh.htm