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Nottinghamshire has often played a central role in terms of national historic events and developments.

Trade & commerce - evolution of fairs and markets: Nottingham’s Goose Fair is one of the largest travelling fairs in the country. It has existed since at least 1284 when it is recorded in a charter from Edward 1 to the borough. In mediaeval times it lasted 8 days and combined commerce with entertainment.

Early towns - Domesday Book 1086: Nottingham and Newark were both flourishing towns at the time of Domesday Book.  Occupying strategic positions on the route north through England, both towns were chosen by the Normans to build formidable castles.

Medieval farming: Laxton: Laxton is described as ‘The Last Open-Field Village in England.’ Its fields are still farmed by a medieval system of agriculture. Each farmer is allotted ‘strip’s of land in the fields each year by a manor court. These ‘strips’ were once ploughed by teams of oxen but today modern tractors are used.

The Stocking Frame: the Reverend William Lee of Calverton invented the stocking frame in 1589. It was operated by framework knitters, using a combination of hand and foot movements, to produce hose (stockings). It transformed the hosiery industry and was a key advance in the process of industrialisation in England. By 1812 there were 9,285 frames in Nottinghamshire.

The Civil War: Charles I raised his royal standard in Nottingham on 22 August 1642. This symbolic gesture signalled the start of the Civil War. The royalist town of Newark was under siege for several years by the Parliamentarians until it finally surrendered, under the King’s orders, in 1646.

The Luddites: following the Napoleonic Wars in the early 1800s there was a dramatic decline in hosiery prices. Some hosiers, who controlled the trade, responded by cutting wages and producing ‘cut-up’ which were just strips of cheap fabric rather than finished goods. Between 1811–1812 there was a series of attacks on the frames of some of the more unscrupulous hosiers. The attacks were carried out at night by anonymous ‘bandits’ in the name of Ned Ludd. He was a legendary Robin Hood-like figure who was said to have lived in Sherwood Forest. If he did exist his true identity was never revealed.

The Reform Riots of 1831: when news arrived in Nottingham that the Reform Bill had been rejected by the House of Lords it sparked off a major riot in the town. The angry mob set out to Nottingham Castle, a symbol of their feelings, as it was owned by the fourth Duke of Newcastle, a leading opponent of the Bill. The mob set fire to the castle and rampaged throughout the town.

Jesse Boot and ‘Health for a Shilling’: Jesse Boot, founder of Boots the Chemist was born in 1850, in Hockley, one of the poorest parts of Nottingham, where his father John had established a tiny herbalist’s shop. By 1914 Jesse had opened no less than 560 Boots’ branches all over the country, providing affordable medicines available to ‘all’.

‘Votes for Women’: Helen Watts: In February 1909 Helen Watts, daughter of the vicar of Lenton, was arrested, along with other suffragettes, for marching on Parliament. In later years she lectured widely to promote the rights of women.

Captain Albert Ball, flying ace: Albert Ball became a famous flying ace during the First World War. He shot down 43 enemy aeroplanes and an air balloon. He died in 1916 whilst flying over enemy lines in France and was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. There is a statue in his memory in the grounds of Nottingham Castle.

Bombing raids: World War Two: After the outbreak of the war in 1939, the entire county formed a Home Front. All kinds of air raid precautions were established, with the digging of shelters, distribution of gas masks, rationing, the formation of rescue squads and evacuation measures. Then on the 7 March 1941 there was a severe bombing raid on Newark and on the night of the 8-9 May 1941 Nottingham suffered its worst bombing raid, with 200 people killed.

The 1984 miners’ strike: This dispute, over pit closures, caused a major rift in the National Union of Mineworkers and eventually led to the formation of a separate union, the UDM in Nottinghamshire. The history of mining in Nottinghamshire goes back hundreds of years and mining features in several novels by local author D.H.Lawrence.

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