On 7 May 1894 the Mayor of Nottingham, Alderman Frederick Pullman, formally opened Victoria Park in Bath Street. A leading figure in the Sneinton area, and proprietor of a successful drapery shop in nearby Sneinton Street, Pullman was well aware of the value to the community of an attractive open space in this far from wealthy part of the town. Never one of Nottingham’s more prominent amenities, Victoria Park’s origins deserve to be better known. The story does not begin, however, with Alderman Pullman presiding at its opening ceremony, but goes back for half a century further. In this short account we follow the day-to-day problems of the recreation ground through the period leading up to its transformation into Victoria Park. The surprising amount of official detail recording the routine affairs of this quite small open space in the latter part of the nineteenth century exemplifies the complexity and energy of municipal life in Victorian Nottingham.
The earliest mention of a recreation ground on the site was in the 1845 Enclosure Award Map, which named the open space as Meadow Platt Cricket Ground, and cited the Mayor, Aldermen & Burgesses of Nottingham as its owners. The Enclosure Award referred to it in these terms: ‘One other allotment or piece of land situate in the Clay Field… containing four acres and eighteen perches bounded towards the East by Recreation Road, towards the West by St Ann’s Cemetery, towards the North by allotment 95, and towards the South by Meadow Platt Road, and which said Allotment 91 now forms and is called the Meadow Platt Cricket Ground...’ Recreation Road was the thoroughfare known nowadays as Robin Hood Street: St Ann’s Cemetery is now the Bath Street Rest Garden: and Meadow Platt Road became Bath Street. Land for the cemetery was given by Samuel Fox, a Quaker, following the cholera outbreak of 1832. Consecrated as St Ann’s Cemetery in 1835, it was later officially named St Mary’s Cemetery, though often referred to locally as Fox’s Close.
The forerunner of Bath Street, formed alongside it in the early 1830s, was for obvious reasons originally named Burying Ground Lane. A man who wrote to the Nottinghamshire Guardian in 1925, however, recalled that in his youth the place was also known as Pipeclay Hill. In the early part of the nineteenth century Thomas Edwards’s clay pipe manufactory was only a short distance away, on the site later occupied by Sneinton Wholesale Market (now Sneinton Square.)
Following the Enclosure Act, the land to the north and east of Bath Street was fairly rapidly built up, and, having been a playground on the edge of open country, the Meadow Platt Cricket Ground assumed the character of an urban open space. Its status as a place for games and relaxation was confirmed by a couple of entries in the minute book of the Corporation’s Inclosure Committee during 1858. In May it was recorded that James Whittle, the town pinder, would receive a sum of money for, among other things, keeping in order the cricket grounds in the Meadows and Bath Street: and in November that the Mayor, Alderman Heymann, wished, at his own expense, to ‘put up a Drinking Fountain in the Bath Street Cricket Ground’.
The story can be picked up almost two decades later, when, in November 1876, the Public Works and Recreation Grounds Committee of the Town Council was attempting to improve the ground. A proposal to plant a further row of trees was, however, withdrawn. The following May saw the Committee decide that no one be allowed to play cricket in ‘Bath Street Recreation Ground’ within 30 yards of a public highway. We do not know what danger to road users had been caused by flying balls, but there had evidently been some complaints. An indicator was to be put in the ground so that ‘the policeman shall be able to distinguish whether persons playing are within prescribed mark’. This is the first of a number of minutes to disclose that the recreation ground suffered its public order problems.
By the mid-1870s the playground had acquired a new source of custom, with the opening of Victoria Buildings on the opposite side of Bath Street. As described in a previous issue of the Newsletter, the buildings were from the outset plagued by unruly and anti-social behaviour. It is perhaps significant that the Nottinghamshire Guardian correspondent already mentioned recalled in 1925 that Bath Street Cricket Ground was, in those early days, ‘a huge sandy area with some swings, but given up generally to a number of rough characters’. 1878 saw the first mention of another cause for concern, the drainage of the recreation ground. New iron grates were installed to take away surface water, one of them near the police lodge. This building stood at the angle of Bath Street and Robin Hood Street, on the spot later occupied by a betting shop, and now by a monumental mason. As indicated by the reference to the playing of cricket, the constable resident at the lodge was expected to keep a sharp eye on the activities of those using the ground. The decade ended with modest improvements; new trees were to be planted, at a cost of no more than £20, and new swings put up, in places to be selected by Councillor Browne. It was decided that up to £50 might be spent on these. The Committee succeeded in keeping within their budget, as their annual report showed: trees planted around the ground at a cost of ‘about £20’, and eight sets of swings for £48.16.0.
The minute books for the 1880s gave further glimpses of developments, and also of problems cropping up from time to time. Poor drainage continued to be a nuisance, and in 1882 it was found necessary to fill with rough cinders the gutter made by storm water at the back of the boundary wall. Games were still being played: ‘In dangerous proximity to the adjoining highways’, and the policeman occupying the lodge was requested to ensure that this practice was stopped. The following year saw money laid out on the provision of two stone steps for the entrance, and on iron posts to stand at their head. The posts, costing £12, had to be conveyed only a very short distance, being products of Cowen & Co. of the Beck Foundry in Brook Street. Meanwhile, Arthur Brown, Borough Engineer, was asked to advise the Committee of the methods he would propose for improving the recreation ground.
The next upheaval was caused by the arrival of the Beck Valley Storm Water Culvert. This was one of the public works constructed to improve the drainage of a Nottingham still subject to outbreaks of water-borne diseases. These were rife in areas of the town where the sewerage systems were ineffectual. The Beck Stream flowed underground from St Ann’s Well, down the course of St Ann’s Well Road, then along Brook Street and Manvers Street. Although it had, from the time it was culverted, been a sewer, it was hopelessly inadequate. St Ann’s Well Road was subject to frequent flooding, and there was a crying need of a replacement sewer.
The Beck Valley Culvert was therefore planned to follow the course of the stream from near the junction of St Ann’s Well Road and what we now call Ransom Road, to the bottom of St Ann’s Well Road, then to bear off to the east under the site of the present-day St Catharine’s church, the adjacent burial ground, and Bath Street Cricket Ground. It then crossed Bath Street, and went beneath Sneinton Market; its outfall to the River Trent is at the end of Trent Lane in Sneinton.
The first mention of the consequent engineering works in the minute books was when Mr. Barry, of Foster and Barry, contractors for the culvert, attended the Public Parks Committee meeting of November 21 1883, asking to rent about a thousand square yards of the cricket ground, for the erection of stores for materials needed during the course of the works. It was resolved that this land be let to Foster & Barry for 50 guineas. This work was to provide the recreation ground with a feature which survives to this day, and which puzzles many passers-by. It is the curious little stone tower standing close to the boundary wall with the old cemetery. Constructed of handsome architectural brickwork, it was until comparatively recent years smothered in ivy. It is believed that the tower was originally an access shaft to the Beck Culvert tunnel during its construction. It became, however, a ventilation shaft for the culvert, foul air being carried up the shaft, and out through a grille at the top.
Meanwhile, day-to-day matters continued much as usual in the recreation ground. In April 1884 the Committee received a letter from a Mr. George Reed, who complained of the danger to foot passengers from stones being thrown out from the ‘Robin Hood Street Cricket Ground’. The Committee, no doubt thoroughly sick of hearing about such misbehaviour, declared that they could do nothing about it, and that it was a matter for the police. A little later that year, on July 16, it was recorded that, in response to repeated complaints on the subject, the Chief Constable had indeed decided to stop men from playing cricket in the ground. Children and youths would still be allowed - as an upper age limit of thirteen was to be set, however, it seems that a very restrictive definition of ‘youths’ was in force.
One highly respectable body made use of the recreation ground in June, when the Hockley Society of Primitive Methodists was allowed to hold a camp meeting on Whit Sunday. In addition to his concerns about the activities of over-age cricketers, the Chief Constable voiced apprehension over the state of the public seats; it was decided, however, that nothing would be done about these until the sewer works were completed. The swings, though, were repainted and put in proper repair.
Further high-minded Victorian activity was recorded in 1885, a Band of Hope Union demonstration being given permission to muster at several parks on May 18; Bath Street was one if these, together with the Meadows and the Forest. By July 1885 work on the Beck Culvert was finished, so Foster and Barry were requested to move the stores building put up by them eighteen months or so earlier. The Borough Engineer was again asked to prepare a scheme for improving the ground; presumably he had been obliged to wait until the disruption caused by the culverting had ceased.
If the Committee hoped that the cricket nuisance had been controlled, they must have been disappointed to receive in May 1886 a letter from a gentleman named as the Rev A.M.Greenhalgh (probably the Rev. A.G. Greenhalgh, curate of St Paul’s, George Street.) This gentleman drew their attention to acts of trespass in St Mary’s Cemetery (as it was now called), ‘from persons playing cricket on Bath Street Recreation Ground’. As before, the Committee averred that this was not their problem, recommending that Mr. Greenhalgh be referred to the Chief Constable.
By autumn, however, Bath Street was providing the Public Parks Committee
with more than enough to think about. On September 20 1886 Councillor Lees,
leading a deputation of local people, attended the monthly committee meeting.
Their first complaint concerned the rainwater or dust, which, depending on
the weather flowed or blew off the ground on to neighbouring streets. The
Committee, again seeking somebody else to be held responsible, decided that
owners of houses in Promenade be asked to undertake the necessary street works
to end this nuisance. The deputation also alerted the committee to:
‘The purposes to which, owing to its badly lighted state, the ground
was put, and also the damage done by boys to the trees in the ground’.
Quite what these mysterious goings-on were can only be surmised, but we may
suspect that the place was the setting for the sort of amorous activity, which
has generally characterized ill-lit parks. At all events, the Committee determined
to ask the Lighting Committee for a large lamp, placed on or near the recreation
ground; Councillor Lees stated that he would be willing to confer with the
appropriate authorities about the siting of this. The unfortunate Chief Constable
was again requested to pay special attention to the ground, to stop mischievous
damage to trees. Finally, the Borough Engineer was to be asked to think of
a way of stopping water from running off the ground and flooding the road
outside. 1886 ended with an order for the lamp to be put up and protected
from vandals.
In 1887 a new landscape gardener became responsible for the maintenance
of
Bath Street Cricket Ground. (An offi cial title for it seems never to have
been
fi xed upon, and I have repeated the variations of name as they occur in each
report or minute.) Hitherto Frettingham & Son, of Bromley House, Angel
Row, had looked after all public walks and recreation grounds in the Borough.
The number of these ever increasing, however, it was decided to split the
job
into three contracts. The one, which included Bath Street, went to W.Bardill
of Stapleford for an annual fee of £369. Frettinghams retained responsibility
for what must have been the most prestigious and challenging job of all, the
Arboretum, and were paid £750 for it.
The state of the Bath Street ground continued to cause concern, and in April
1888 the Borough Engineer was again requested to report on its condition,
and recommend what should be done. Early in the following year he was
instructed to go ahead with improvements to the drainage, for which £120
had been earmarked. In March 1889, though, when he laid his plan before
the Public Parks Committee, it was decided that consideration of it should
be
held over. A further postponement was agreed upon in July, and the decade
ended with the feeling that all was far from satisfactory at Bath Street,
and that something quite radical was needed to rectify matters.
The 1890s found the same old troubles besetting the recreation ground. In
February 1890 the Watch Committee were asked to ensure that the police gave
special attention to the way games were played there, in view of complaints
‘from inhabitants of neighbouring houses’. Bardill, meanwhile,
was ordered to
clean out the gullies adjoining the police lodge after every heavy fall of
rain.
Surface drainage was clearly still a serious problem, and in 1891 the Public
Parks Committee once more addressed the question of major improvements.
Interested local people were invited to submit suggestions about what was
needed, and in June Councillors Sharkey (who led the campaign for a
modernized park) and Gregory presented to the Committee a memorial signed
by 557 residents, begging that consideration be given to improving the site.
After an official inspection, the Public Parks Committee yet again threw
the problem at the Borough Engineer, who was directed to prepare a plan
and estimate for levelling and draining. This was quickly made ready, and
laid before the Committee in July; they, however, noting that the cost would
amount to £2,300, immediately stated that such expenditure was out of
the
question. At a full meeting of the Borough Council on October 5 1891,
Councillor Sharkey, seconded by Councillor Gregory, moved a resolution that:
‘It is desirable that a scheme should be devised for rendering the Bath
Street
Recreation Ground better available for the purposes of recreation, and that
a
Committee be appointed to devise such scheme, and to report to the Council’.
After more offi cial passing of this hot potato, the hapless Engineer was
once
more bidden to prepare a report on the levelling and draining of the ground,
asphalting it after levelling, and planting trees and shrubs along the north
and
west boundaries. At long last Arthur Brown’s labours were not to be
in vain,
and over the following year a redesigned park began to take shape.
In February 1892 the Public Parks Committee were shown four schemes for
an improved ground. One of these, submitted by local ward representatives,
suggested that the ground be lowered at one end by 7 or 8 feet, to reduce
the
fall in the surface level. A Bulwell stonewall would be built along the north
and west boundaries, and an effi cient system of drains put in to prevent
water
washing sand into adjacent streets during heavy rainfall. The cost of such
improvements was estimated at about £2,500. Two other schemes were less
expensive; one was for the whole ground to be roughly levelled and then
asphalted, at a cost of some £2,100, while another suggested that a
plantation
be formed at the north and west sides of the ground, after the sandstone rock
had been hacked up: this was expected to involve an outlay of around £1,000.
All three of these schemes were, however, rejected in favour of the Borough
Engineer’s plan. Brown proposed a wide shrubbery along the north and
west
sides, ornamental beds and walks in the turfed interior of the ground, and
a
large asphalted children’s play space, furnished with swings, near the
Bath
Street entrance. It was calculated that these works would cost £3,000.
The
Committee resolved to recommend Brown’s scheme to the full Town Council,
believing that this was the only effectual way forward if the Council was
‘desirous of making any permanent improvement in this ground’.
The Council agreed with this view, and its Finance Committee sought the
consent of the Local Government Board for a loan to pay for the works. The
Borough Engineer again discussed his plans with the Public Parks Committee,
who found that some last minute alterations were needed. They decided to
enclose the whole ground by an iron palisade fence, with entrance gates, which
would be closed at night. In the light of this decision, a footway was ordered
to be made across the ground, next to the burial ground wall; this was to
be
kept open at night for the convenience ‘of persons desirous of crossing
the
ground’ to get home by the shortest route. Just as the Engineer was
instructed
to obtain tenders from likely contractors, the pressing need for new works
was
was emphasised by a letter from the solicitors Wells and Hind, on behalf of
owners of adjacent properties, complaining yet again about the condition of
Bath Street Recreation Ground.
The tenders came in, with three separate contracts to be awarded. The lowest
estimate for the stonework was £203.7.0d by James Thomas of Park Wharf,
Lenton Boulevard (now Castle Boulevard). Raybould & Co. of Workington
submitted the lowest bid for the ironwork contract; their fi gure of £360
undercut several well-known local fi rms, including Walter Danks, Thomas
Danks, and G.R.Cowen & Co. of the nearby Beck Works. The Public Parks
Committee seem, however, to have smelt a rat, offering the job to Rayboulds
subject to satisfactory evidence of their ability to carry out the work in
‘a
good and workmanlike manner’. If this were not forthcoming, W.H.Raynor
of London Road, Nottingham, who had sent in a tender of £458.18.8d,
would
be given the contract. As for the third contract, for gardeners’ work,
William
Bardill, the man in possession, submitted a tender of £1,361.2.4d. This
was
substantially less than that of Thomas Toop of Hucknall Road, Carrington,
who priced the job at £1,608. The following month, December 1892, saw
a
letter from Rayboulds, declining to carry out the work ‘as per tender’,
and
asking if they might submit a revised one. The Committee would have none of
this, and resolved to accept Raynor’s tender instead. Mr J.H.Bardill
meanwhile
informed the Committee that his father had died, requesting that, as executor,
he be allowed to carry out the gardening contract.
Inevitably, it now seems, there was further delay in starting the ground
improvements. This was caused by the Local Government Board withholding
consent to the necessary loan. The Town Clerk wrote to the Board, urging the
speedy granting of this consent, in order that work might be begun during
the
winter, and so help to fi nd employment for a number of the men currently
out
of work in Nottingham. Indeed, a deputation from Nottingham United Trades
Council attended the Committee meeting on February 20 1893, urging that
the town’s unemployment plight demanded a prompt start to the project.
The
Town Clerk had by now received a telegram from the Board, indicating that
consent for the loan would be given in due course, and it was resolved that,
under these circumstances, the job was to proceed at once.
Work went ahead throughout the year, Arthur Brown making necessary
amendments as it progressed; a shrubbery alongside the Bath Street boundary:
the swings resited in a more convenient position: and strong wire netting
fi xed to the iron boundary fences. It is not easy to imagine, at this remove
in time, just how much levelling of the ground was needed to turn it into
what we know as Victoria Park. Even now, when one instinctively thinks of
the park as a level expanse of ground, it comes as a surprise to look at the
site, and realise how much of a slope still exists. What conditions were like
before levelling and
draining can only be conjectured. In spite of everything, however, they must
have been good enough for the playing of cricket matches for half a century.
Early in 1894, it was decided that the remodelled Bath Street Recreation
Ground was to be opened during the fi rst week in May, and Thursday the
3rd was later fi xed upon. What subsequently caused the event to be moved
to
Monday the 7th, we do not know, but the local press of May 8 1894 was at last
able to report the opening of the new park.
The Nottingham Daily Guardian was fulsome in its praise: ‘The
transformation
of the old Bath Street playground, which had for years been an eyesore to
that particular portion of the Sneinton district, into tastefully laid out
walks,
grass lawns, and shrubberies, provision also being made for the children in
the matter of swings and other means of recreation, and which is henceforth
to be known by the title of ‘The Victoria Park’, is one that cannot
fail to
meet with the fullest appreciation, not only of the residents in the immediate
neighbourhood, but of the town generally’. The Guardian went on to describe
how the landscaping work, carried out by Bardills to Arthur Brown’s
designs,
would be a most acceptable improvement to the town’s amenities. As usual
on
such occasions, there was a numerous attendance of Borough notables. Not
only was the Mayor present, but others on hand included Alderman Lambert,
chairman of the Public Parks Committee, and a dozen members of the Town
Council. John Sharkey, who had both done much to press for the improvements
to the recreation ground, was also among those invited.
Mr Lambert recalled that the land had been allotted to the Corporation as
a
playground in the 1845 Enclosure Act, but pointed out that so much use had
been made of it that it soon became totally bare, not a single blade of grass
surviving. He paid tribute to Mr Sharkey, who, he said, deserved the credit
for
promoting the improvement scheme while a member of the Town Council.
Sharkey, a wine merchant, might well have refl ected that his diligence on
behalf of the community had done him precious little good, he having been
defeated by a Conservative opponent in the 1893 election for Byron Ward. Sharkey’s
fellow Liberal, F. W. Gregory, had, by contrast, been returned unopposed in
1892; Gregory was a pawnbroker and clothier of St Ann’s Well Road and
Long Row.
The Mayor, greeted with applause, spoke next; saying how pleased he was
that
this occasion should fall within his year of offi ce. Alderman Pullman observed
that he had known the area intimately for many years, and had always felt
that improvements were required at the recreation ground. He congratulated
all concerned in the remodelling, and declared the ground open, naming it
Victoria Park.
The Evening News added a few extra details. The ceremony had begun
with
members of the Corporation assembling outside the main entrance at half past
three, and in his speech Alderman Lambert had expressed the opinion that
the £3,000 expended on the improvements was money well spent. ‘He
hoped
the people in the neighbourhood would value the new ground and prevent
damage being done, and that order would be maintained... The inhabitants of
the neighbourhood ought to be thankful to Mr Sharkey for the persistence with
which he had advocated the laying out of the ground’. The Mayor added
his
own appreciation of John Sharkey, ‘for the interest he had taken in
the welfare
of that part of the town’, and hoped that people ‘would derive
considerable
benefi t from the improvement’.
The Evening News report imparted an air of excitement to the proceedings;
‘A
very large crowd, numbering several thousand persons, awaited the opening
of
the gates with evident interest, and as soon as the gates had been thrown
open
the grounds were thronged, the younger people making immediately for the
swings which were kept going all night.’ It is likely that the authorities
had been concerned about possible unruliness at the opening, but the occasion
passed without mishap, the Evening Post recording that the police
arrangements were ‘admirably carried out by Chief Superintendent Lamb’.
Victoria Park (Ordnance Survey, 1901)
A word ought to be said about the name chosen for the remodelled park. No mention of this appeared in the Council or Committee minutes before May 21 1894, and, indeed, the first that people knew of it seems to have been when they heard Alderman Pullman deliver his announcement at the opening. That it was a personal whim of Pullman's must be doubted, so it may be concluded that the Public Parks Committee, in consultation with other senior members of the Council, had hit upon the new name. The Queen's name was, of course, frequently bestowed upon public buildings, works, and streets, though she was by no means as universally venerated as we are now sometimes inclined to believe. In this case, however, it is very likely that the presence of Victoria Buildings on the other side of Bath Street suggested a suitable name for the greatly improved park. The rebuilt and enlarged public baths a few yards away, opened in the mid-1890s, also continued the Royal theme, giving the immediate locality three landmarks bear in the monarch's name.
So this part of Nottingham acquired its new pleasure ground. It satisfied a real need, for it should be remembered that a century or more ago Bath Street Rest Garden was still a cemetery, and not an accepted, or indeed a permitted place for leisure activities. Nor did the nearby King Edward Park yet exist; its present-day site in Carlton Road was occupied in 1894 by the gardens and grounds of the Lunatic Asylum, which would not close until the opening of Saxondale Hospital early in the 20th century. Close to Victoria Park was a large and densely packed population; the land between Bath Street and what is now Lower Parliament Street was crowded with back-to-back dwellings, as was the area which later became Sneinton Wholesale Market. The streets between Robin Hood Street, Alfred Street, and Carlton Road also contained many working-class homes.
Across St Ann's Well Road, opposite the end of Bath Street, was a further tract of streets and courts, later pulled down at various times to make way for Trumpet Street Power Station (whose buildings survive at this time of writing) and Huntingdon Street Bus Station. Beyond this area lay St Michael's Recreation Ground, the nearest recreation ground to Victoria Park, but with another teeming mass of residents on its doorstep, in the area soon to be demolished for the making of Victoria Station. On either side of Sneinton Road, and on the site of Parliament Street Bus Depot, was yet another warren of small streets and yards, many containing houses, which even then were becoming considered unfit for habitation.
In addition, both St Ann's Well Road and Robin Hood Street were flanked
by streets of terrace housing, which would last until the St Ann's redevelopment
of the 1960s and 1970s. The houses surviving near Victoria Park today, in
Promenade, Campbell Grove, Lamartine Street, and Plantagenet Street, exemplified
the very best housing conditions in the district. With such a crowded population,
crammed into what was, in so many places, seriously sub-standard housing,
it was not surprising that the recreation ground was the scene of outbreaks
of misbehaviour calling for the presence of the police.
Unsurprisingly, such incidents were to continue. Within a year of the hopeful
and confident opening of the transformed Victoria Park, the Public Parks Committee
were again obliged to ask the Watch Committee ‘to have a constable stationed
at this Recreation Ground for the purpose of assisting the caretaker to keep
order, and prevent damage being done by unruly boys’. The Watch Committee
regretted that they were unable to spare a constable for this duty. Although
the park had changed, the neighbourhood, with all its attendant problems of
poverty and petty crime, had not.
It was remarked at the beginning of this short narrative that Corporation minutes and reports help an appreciation of the rich intricacy of municipal activity in Victorian Nottingham. As also hinted, they also banish the illusion of a time when nobody locked their front doors, when passers-by walked any street at night unmolested, and when children, under daily threat of flogging at home or school, invariably behaved themselves. As an examination of contemporary newspapers also bears out, many of Nottingham's inhabitants passed their lives without ever being aware that they lived through such a golden age.
The nineteenth century drew to its close with the Park still demanding the Committee's attention. In 1895 a Mr Saywell wrote to ask for compensation for an ‘alleged injury’ sustained by his son while playing there ‘on the trapeze.’ No responsibility was admitted, and Saywell went away empty-handed. Two years later it was found necessary to put up a notice banning dogs from the ground, while in 1898 it was decided to accept Bardill’s estimate of £21 for 150 new hollies, auacubas, and laurels, to replace dead and damaged plants. We are, therefore, able to leave the story of Victoria Park during Queen Victoria’s reign on a note of renewal and revival. Its progress in the twentieth century was similarly eventful, and it is hoped that an account of this will appear at a later date.
Victoria Park may soon acquire new devotees with the conversion to apartments of the large factory, which overlooks it from Robin Hood Street. This splendid building, built in 1869 for the silk throwster William Windley, but now usually called Bancroft’s Factory, is one of several noteworthy Victorian features which surround the Park, and make this unsung bit of Nottingham a valuable asset to the city.
Effectively forming the northern boundary of the open space, and just across the street from the former factory, lies Promenade. As mentioned earlier, this handsome long terrace of houses dates from the end of the 1850s. Also clearly visible from the Park are three significant buildings in Bath Street and Gedling Street. Evans & Jolley’s Bath Street Board School of 1873 (now part of New College, Nottingham) was the first purpose-built Board School in Nottingham. Next to it is Park View Court (Victoria Buildings,) of historical importance as a pioneering municipal attempt at the provision of affordable housing for poor workers - it was, in fact, originally intended for Corporation employees only. Designed by Bakewell & Bromley, and first occupied in 1877, the flats have undergone considerable, and very necessary modernisation. Nearby rises the tall tower known as the Bath Clock, the most eye-catching feature of Arthur Brown’s 1896 rebuilding of Gedling Street swimming baths, which had been here since 1850. Now Victoria Leisure Centre, its future has for some time been the subject of debate. Further down Gedling Street, and out of sight of Victoria Park, is the old Town Mission Ragged School, opened in 1859, and saved from seemingly terminal dilapidation to become the headquarters of the Nottinghamshire Trust for Nature Conservation.
Evans & Jolly, Bakewell & Bromley, Arthur Brown: all make Victoria Park and its environs well worth a visit for any enthusiast of Victorian Nottingham. One day we might even find out who was the architect of the Windley/Bancroft factory. This discovery, after years of fruitless searching, would allow both the writer of this article and the editor of the Newsletter to sleep a little more easily.
I am indebted to Nottinghamshire Archives Office for access to relevant
Corporation documents, and to Nottingham Local Studies Library for other material.
John Washbrook, of Nottingham City Council Environmental Services Department,
gave helpful valuable information on the Beck Valley Culvert, which is gratefully
acknowledged here.
Stephen Best
January/April/August 2004
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