Sherwood Rise. The earliest development here was about 1840, in the building of the four narrow avenues in Radford parish (see "Radford" page 37). Subsequently Mr. Danks and others built at the top of the hill, and in 1881 the Duke of Newcastle sold 24 acres of the land on the northern side of the road, which had for many years been used as allotment gardens, (in which the Blacks Head gardens were a famous resort). Hucknall Road was thereupon widened to 50 ft., it ought to have been 60 ft. Bolsover Gardens may be mentioned as having been planned by Mr. Leman, for joint recreation coupled with a joint contribution by occupiers. In 1895 the Great Central Railway came with its tunnel and stations.
Annexation. Since the parish of Basford was annexed to Nottingham it has supplied a number of Mayors' and Sheriffs' who have had their residence or place of business in the old parish; of Mayors—Messrs. W. G. Ward (died in office), E. Gripper, E. Goldschmidt, L. Lindley, A. Pyatt, E.N.Elborne (1901), A. Cleaver 1905); of Sheriffs— Messrs. J. P. Ford (1882), Sir J. Robinson (1888), A. Pyatt, W. H. Carey (1907), F. N. Hobson (1910, died in office).
Gardens. The forest land having been brought into cultivation after the Inclosure, very many allotment gardens were made in various parts of the parish by the Duke of Newcastle, Ichabod Wright, and others. These were celebrated for their productiveness. There were in the olden times gardens by the Leen, to some of which irrigation could be applied. There were and still are some on the Flats, in the direction of Bobbers Mill, Dobb Park, Nottingham Road, Hucknall Road, Winchester Street, etc. Many gardens on Sherwood Rise, Red Lane, and elsewhere have been destroyed for building purposes, but those left deserve to be encouraged as helps to families, promoting domestic convenience, cultivating a love of the beautiful in nature, etc., and these are better "at home" than a mile away.
Town Planning. The Daybrook valley appears at the time of writing likely to be the first district locally to have the benefit of Town Planning, or in other words of foresight exercised and arrangements with owners made in regard to future developments in building areas. The need for this was shown in the building of New Basford, for it had no access to Nottingham on the north-east, or to Radford Road on the west, or carriage access on the south, but must be approached by North Gate, and with narrow streets and great factories overshadowing small cottages. Sir Samuel George Johnson did an excellent work about 1877-80, in the negotiations for the Boulevards running from Carrington Police Station to the Castle Rock. What is now proposed is for a wide Boulevard from near Daybrook, extending through the valley to Nottingham Road, at Old Basford, and another road from the top of Edwards' Lane, by the Prison, and Basford Cemetery, with the allocation of certain areas for definite purposes, such as school sites, open spaces, factories, etc., not more than twenty-four houses per acre to be built; roads not being main roads may be half the usual width, but with sixty feet between buildings. This scheme has certain drawbacks, but is a great improvement on the ideas entertained by the Corporation when about 1880 they built at Basford a great block of model (?) dwellings -a factory-house, barracks—which nobody would occupy, and they were pulled down. God Almighty has given us the land to live on, and dress, and till, and we want spreading out upon it, with frequent, rapid and cheap transit.
Schools. "The establishment of character must always be one of the main aims of Elementary Education, and every part of the school life has some influence in this regard, whether for good or for evil." "The good moral training which a school should give cannot be left to chance." So says the "Code," and to it we add the moral training is better when it is sustained by the religious motive.
We are now studying a district where many of the teachers are alive to the greatness of their mission, where "cram" is not in vogue, and examinations are not in sight, but where the methods employed develop ingenuity, observation, resourcefulness, handiness; where girls are taught how to make articles of clothing, and all the other domestic arts that make a girl an angel in the home; where local history is taught before general history, the locality before foreign parts, nature before books, and infants hands are used before their heads are expanded.
The school accommodation in the district is: Carrington Church School 198, (this was formerly the Infants School); the Old National School now being used as an Institute; Mapperley (St. Jude's School) in St. Mary's parish 225; Council Schools, Carrington 1192; Haydn Road 474; Sherwood 188.
There are 5 Sunday Schools in connection with the Nottingham Sunday School Union, having 147 teachers, and 1085 scholars.
The Church of England has several Sunday Schools vigorously conducted, and there are two branches of the Church of England Men's Society, acting among other objects for the care of ex-prisoners, and social purity.
There are seven Bands of Hope, working against alcohol and tobacco, to the maxim that "prevention is better than cure."
There are Companies of the Boys Brigade at St. Jude's, (5th company), and St. John's, (23rd company), and Boy Scout Troops called "Mapperley Park," and "Cavendish," all learning manliness, courtesy, and usefulness.
Mapperley Hall. Mapperley Hall is a hostel connected with University College, as a home from home for men, who are students there, and is intended chiefly for those who are preparing for, and intending to become teachers in elementary schools. The Hall, with about 18,000 yards of land, was purchased by the Corporation for £3,400, (very little more than the value of the land). It was opened in 1906, and here 86 students are housed under the care of Professor and Mrs. Henderson. There is a similar institution for women students in Raleigh Street.
Reading Room. A Free Public Reading room and Reference Library on Hucknall Road, was opened in 1889, in a building formerly used as a Chapel. In 1912, 96,190 people are reported as having made use of the room, and nearly 7,000 books were consulted.
Picture Places. The Picture House will of course be in evidence, but as at the time of writing there has not been one opened, the occasion is a fitting one to consider possible effects. Under suitable regulations the use of the cinematograph may be helpful to religious, moral, and general instruction, and be an instrument for promoting social culture. It may lessen the waste of money spent at public houses. Where however the buildings are so contructed that they are for lengthy periods dark or dimly lighted, and contain bad air through imperfect ventilation; if owing to flickering and quickly moving films the eyesight of delicate children is as much injured as by the reading of books with small type and bad print; if the pictures of the awful smash, the terrible accident, quickly followed by the ambulance, and the hospital treatment, causing undue excitement in young children when they ought to be in bed; and worse still, if Dick Turpin, and the burglar and pickpocket's methods are exhibited; if the policeman is fooled, and the law evaded by clever tricks; and if, which is unlikely, the incidents shewn are suggestive of immoral conditions not shewn, so that innocent and pure minds are injured, then by means of the cinematograph much mischief may be done, and it will take much work and time in the School and the Church to overcome it.
Red Cross. There was at Mapperley a short time ago a fine demonstration of helpfulness by a large number of young ladies who showed great resourcefulness in roller bandaging and first aid, sick nursing, bed making, and other efforts for promoting the comfort of wounded men. Such knowledge and skill are to be commended as alike useful in peace and war.
Cullen's almshouses, Mansfield Road, Sherwood.
Charitable Institutions. The Charitable Institutions include Pennholme, Sherwood, for ladies of reduced fortunes, consisting of six dwellings erected 1875, by Maria Christian, wife of S. Cartwright, Esq., J.P., of Leasowes, Staffordshire, herself a native of Nottingham; an allowance of 4/- per week is made. Miss Cullen's Memorial Homes, Carrington, consisting of twelve Almshouses, erected 1882, by Miss Elizabeth and Miss Marianne Cullen, of Park Valley, Nottingham, in memory of their brother James Cullen, who died in 1878; the occupants receive 5/- a month. Robinson's Almhouses,Sherwood, consisting of a block of twelve houses erected by Sir John Robinson in 1889, the occupants of which have 4/- per week.
Isolation Hospital. The City Isolation Hospital and Sanatorium at Bagthorpe, was built between 1889 and 1891, and opened in the latter year. The buildings stand within an enclosure of 12½ acres (25 acres being available) which has a gentle slope from N.E. to S.W. The principal diseases dealt with are diphtheria, enteric fever, scarlet fever, and tuberculosis ; but cases of other infectious complaints which it may be desirable to isolate, or treat in hospital, are admitted from time to time. The largest number of beds in occupation at any one time since the opening of the hospital has been 250 (in 1899). The average number of occupied beds is about 150.
The practice of nursing all classes of cases of all sorts of diseases on open verandahs in the fresh air, which was first introduced at Bagthorpe Hospital in 1897, has rendered the accommodation of the Hospital much more elastic than in cases where only closed wards are utilised. Patients can lie much closer together, without taking hurt from such propinquity, on open air verandahs, than in closed wards.
The hospital buildings, excepting the administrative block of three stories, are of the single-storey pavilion type; and most of the blocks (there are eight altogether) are made up of two large and two small wards (for acute cases), with a central kitchen and day-room, and other necessary offices.
The sanatorium for phthisis, which constitutes a separate section of the institution, although within the same enclosure, and usually described as an integral part of the institution, contains sufficient ward—and shelter— space for some seventy to seventy-five patients, although only forty to fifty, beds are now utilised for tuberculosis. Since July 15th, 1912, when the sanatorium section of the Insurance Act came into operation, between thirty and forty beds have been continously utilized for insured tuberculous patients under an arrangement between the Corporation and the Insurance Committee.
I am indebted to Dr. Boobbyer for the foregoing description. The cost of the site, buildings, sewers, grounds, roads, etc., was £27,937.
Nottingham workhouse headquarters building.The Workhouse. When the Great Central Railway required the land where the Workhouse in York Street stood, and the building was sold, and pulled down in portions at a time, the inmates were removed for temporary purposes to empty factories (one being at Basford), until a new site could be obtained. The Inclosure Commissioners of Basford in 1797 allotted to the Vicar in lieu of tithes 131½ acres of land between Hucknall Road and Sunrise Hill. Of this 126a. 1r. 12p. was in 1885 purchased by the Corporation at £200 an acre, about half of it being purchased by the Guardians for the sum of £12,900. In 1908 a new Workhouse was built and opened for the accommodation of 1731 inmates, at a cost of £273,000, including sanatorium, test house, and furnishing, as well as the land. Towards this cost, the receipts from the old workhouse, and other items amounted to £38,513. In 1910 a house and land in Edwards Lane was purchased for a Children's Home, at a cost of £3,600.
The buildings may be properly described as a palace, and a town, with a church, and every kind of accommodation. There were on February 15th 1913, 1664 inmates, of whom there were in the Infirmary 645, Imbecile Wards 241, in the Infirm Wards and the body of the House 636, Test house 100, "Residence" 42—1664. This is exclusive of 838 Lunatics in the Asylum, of 231 children in Central Receiving, and Scattered Homes, and of 2344 persons who in the week received out-door relief. The expenditure in the year 1911-12 was £114,141.
The Test House is a building with tools and appliances for testing the bona fides of applicants as to their being willing to work but unable to get employment. The Children's Home or Residence is for infants, the older children being very wisely put out in scattered homes under the care of foster-mothers, and much care has to be shown in the selection, for a foster-mother who will properly look after ten or a dozen children, and will duly aid to develop every part of the child's nature is a God-send. The cases of desertion of wife and children are numerous and pitiful An extensive and costly provision has been made for the housing of the feeble-minded, and it is to be hoped that new legislation may not cause the cost to be thrown away in favour of other buildings.*
* It is desirable that persona interested in Poor Law administration should read "The First Report of the Commissioners for inquiring into the administration and operation of the Poor Laws in 1834." Reprinted 1894. Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Price 2/6. It reads like the description of a "Chamber of Horrors."
The Cedars. The Cedars at Woodthorpe is an Institution connected with the General Hospital, intended to aid the recovery of patients who are convalescent but want bracing up by a change of air, in a restful place. There were 644 patients who went there in 1912, and of these 686 returned home cured or benefited, and 8 went back to the hospital for further treatment.
Barracks. The land where the Prison stands was bought by the War Office many years ago for the purpose of erecting Barracks thereon. The old Barracks in the Park were built on leasehold land, and the lease expired in 1855, and they were pulled down between 1860 and 1870. An outcry was raised in the town against the building of barracks on the land in Hucknall Road as being likely to increase vice, and so the barracks were erected near Derby, and near Leicester. It would have been better for the efforts to have been directed towards the purification of the barrack rooms, better ventilation, increased temperance, a reasonable pay, and not the miserable rate of 4½d. a day for a cheap army—the permission to marry, better married couples quarters, etc. It was a mistake to act as Captain Starey used to put it: "There must be sewers, but put the grate against another's door, not ours." We had better cleanse, and trap the sewer.