Outgang Lane. Outgang Lane was for five hundred years the name of the road from the village to the forest. It is referred to in 1488 as "the Outgoinges of Radford and Lenton leading toward the Linges on the northern side." The Lings was the place where the ling, the heather, grew Nottingham Forest is a modern name. The old name of "Outgang" should have been retained. The Stocks stood at the bottom of this road.
Bloomsgrove. Bloomsgrove was a grove of blooms, and from the top of the hill there was a lovely view over the valley, where the cattle grazed, to the rising slope crowned with the lordly towers of Wollaton Hall, with Aspley and its woods nestling at the foot of the slope. Turning off from the top of Ilkeston Road was a stile, with a footpath leading to Old Radford Church, by Bloomsgrove, with its gardens, which gardens continued for many years, and were worked by Old Richards, a pensioner who had been Artillery driver, and was wounded in the Peninsular war. Here are now the great works of Messrs. W. Hollins & Co. for cotton spinning, dyeing, and Angola goods, and the engineering works of Messrs. Manlove and Alliott. There is a Congregational Chapel, and an Institute (see W. Goddard, page 54).
Bottom Buildings. Bottom Buildings is the name of the cluster of streets—Windmill, Parker, Lea, and Brassey streets—which formerly stood in the fields. Here are a boot factory, and United Methodist, Baptist, and Wesleyan Chapels.
The district is not an inviting one, but it is worth recording that a successful attempt has been made to retain very small houses, put into a better sanitary condition than is usual. The owners of some of the houses in Windmill and Parker Streets found their property had been almost ruined, and had become the haunts of filth and vice, and was largely empty. The houses have been repaired, sinks with water supply have been fixed, meat safes, window flower boxes, modern sanitary conveniences, have been provided, and, what is the most important point of all. the houses are let only to decent people, and the ladies working with Miss H. Carey at the Social Guild exercise a benevolent oversight.
Friezeland. Friezeland is a hamlet that was built on a small hill, and exposed on two sides to the winds of the valley. It was probably so named after a district in the north-east of Holland, but "Prospect Place" was by its friends thought to be a better name. There is a Baptist Chapel here, built in 1868.
Kensington. Kensington Palace was built by the Earl of Nottingham, and Queen Victoria was born there. It is possible that the builder of "The Jolly Higglers" on Ilkeston Road, and the streets and houses north of it, out out of gushing loyalty named the hamlet "Kensington;" or did he hope to rival the London suburb! This seems to be possible, for in the Directory of 1825 New Radford appears as "Islington, or New Radford."
The Woodhouse. The Woodhouse tells by its name its ancient use. The houses belong to the Colliery Company, and there is a Primitive chapel. Between there and the Leen is the district of the old Marsh, where are the railway station, a church mission hall, engine waste works, a laundry, Babbington coal line and wharf (marked by the initials of its founder, Thomas North), council schools, a children's football ground, the canal, the destructor, and the gas works.
HYSON GREEN.
FROM the days of Adam the district now called Hyson Green was wild, uncultivated, sandy waste, with gorse bushes and ling, or heather, and tufts of grass When on the night of October 19th, 1330, King Edward III. walked with a posse of men on what we call Radford Road, to apprehend Roger Mortimer, in Nottingham Castle, it was a part of Sherwood Forest waste, but probably not woody (see Deering, p. 174, and "In and About Notts.," page 64). It was afterwards a part of the "Linges," where the heather grew. A hundred years ago it was called "High Sands" (Captain Barker's "Walks round Nottingham," page 241), to distinguish it from the low sands of Radford. There is one little sample of the forest, or waste, still left at the junction of Mount Hooton and Bentinck Roads, except that now grass mostly covers the loose sand. To stub up the gorse and bushes, to get the hillocks into cultivation, and fence round, probably cost more than the previous value of the land.
The site on which the houses now stand was, after the inclosure of 1798, cultivated in ordinary fields and gardens. There was an ancient house where Pepper Street now stands. and the first modern house was built by Mr. Elliott, a joiner, about 1802 There has been much controversy as to the village name, but it appears probable that it was spelt "Ison." It is said that John Ison had gardens and built two houses, and painted on them "Ison Green." The tea garden and bowling green at the "Cricket Players" public-house was established by Mr. John Pepper about 1824, and became a place of public resort.
In any case, "Hyson" was very soon preferred, and it differed little in sound from High Sands, and "Ison" as the name of the street was changed.
The houses in Pleasant row, Lenton street, Saville row, Lindsay street, and Pepper street have a special interest from the fact that they were built about 1820 by societies of workmen—stocking-makers and warp hands—who paid by instalments, it is said, £70 each, and used the upper rooms as workshops, and secured long gardens in front, being a great improvement upon the cribb'd, cabin'd, and confin d courts and yards of New Radford; with the mistake, however, of not having enclosed back yards For many years there were only two factories, one built and occupied by the Abbott's, and the other by Sydney Smith. The streets were lighted with gas in 1869. A very large number of houses were built by Mr. J. R. Morrison about 1880. He died in 1886.
The Church. The Church of St. Paul's was built in 1843-4, the Rev. R. P. Blakeney, B.A , being the first Incumbent, and it was enlarged when the Rev. D. Carver was Vicar—who continued forty years—and the chancel aud schools were added. The central east end window, with a picture of the Good Shepherd, is a memorial window to him, erected by subscription. St. Stephen's was built in 1898, chiefly with the money received from the railway companies for the church of St. Stephen's which stood where the Victoria Station now stands.
The chapels are—Congregational (1822, the present one was built in 1899 and cost £4,200), Baptist (1884), United Methodists (Archer street and Boulevard), Primitives, and the Salvation Army, but these are chiefly larger successors of smaller buildings that had done service for three generations. There is also a Roman Catholic church and schools.
The General Dispensary (a branch under the direction of the Committee of the Broad Street Institution) is a useful benevolent agency, at which more than 6,000 patients are, in the course of a year, attended to, and nearly an equal number of visits are paid to the homes of the patients.
Other public buildings are—the Grand Theatre, a Picture Palace, a Handicraft Centre, Free Reading Room, Police and fire engine station, Burnaby hall, etc.
There are factories for lace, lithographic printing, brass work, gas meters, bobbin and carriage works, etc.
Mill-in-the-Hole. The old Mill still keeps on grinding flour, with the ancient house by its side, and near this is the eastern end of the red cliff, from which the name of Radford springs, and which cliff has resisted the the force of the waters anciently rushing down the valley Lace dressing rooms and Soap works are here.
Scotholme. Scotholme was the house, grounds, and plantation of Mr. J. Fisher, standing on a hill, now removed, and the name is given to a district in which are large Council schools.
Sherwood Rise. Sherwood Rise was, about 1840, to have been the site of the Union Workhouse, and ten acres of land was bought for the purpose, but it was considered a hardship to the poor to be taken across the wild, exposed forest, and for this and other reasons, the workhouse was built in York street, and four narrow avenues led to the residences of a number of gentlemen. A Baptist chapel is in course of erection. The Norris almshouses are here.