< Previous | Contents | Next >
But we have travelled far from the "King's Head," for it was the historic spot upon which Tobias and Turpin first met in 1726. Tobias had come to Nottingham upon his lawful occasions. As a matter of fact, I think he was selling sheep and he stopped at the "Cock" which Mr. Mellard says was on High Pavement, probably the "Cock and Hoop," which stood where the County Police Station now stands, is the inn referred to, anyway it does not much matter where it was, at any rate Tobias was stopping there. In the course of the evening the landlord introduced Coney to Tobias, and after compliments which of course included the necessary number of drinks, Coney offered certain valuable trinkets for sale to Tobias, but Tobias had not yet fallen, and indignantly refused to purchase, for he says in his diary the origin of these matters was suspicious. However, Coney seems to have made some impression upon Tobias for five years later in 1731, Tobias was stopping at the "Blackamore's Head" and we find Coney calling for him and taking him down to be introduced to Turpin in person at "The King's Head" in Narrow Marsh. He did this late at night, and the comment in the diary, like Lord Burleigh's nod, speaks volumes, for Tobias records that he met Turpin late at night " for the horseman was to mount at dawn." They seem to have passed a convivial time together and they did not lack feminine company for Tobias goes on to remark "Bella was saucy and none too guarded in her overtures to me." Apart from any business transactions Tobias seems to have conceived a real affection for Turpin, for all through the published part of his diary we keep coming across accounts of difficulties and dangers undertaken and overcome by Tobias in his services to Turpin. This leads to all sorts of amusing adventures most of which are too long to quote here. Upon one occasion for example Turpin was hard pressed and wounded and took refuge in a secret place near Arnold. He got word to Coney of his trouble and Coney visited him and was instructed to get funds to assist in Turpin's escape from Tobias. Almost exhausted Coney crept into "The Eagle and Child" now Messrs. Hickling's Vaults in Chapel Bar, where he effected a change and disguise in his clothing and crept as quietly as he could to his den at the "Loggerheads," hoping against hope that he had escaped observation. However, it was not so. He was seen by what passed for the police in those days, and they decided to interrogate him and followed him down to the Marsh. Exhausted he had flung himself down in a heap in the upper story of the building when the messenger of the law knocked at the door. Martha answered the call and to give Coney time to escape she entered into a noisy altercation with the policeman and when they insisted upon entering she gave the final danger-signal by dropping a frying pan which she held in her hand twice. Warned by this urgent signal Coney crept out on to the roof and by a series of mysterious passages got away on to the neighbouring property and so eventually escaped and got word to Tobias. It is an amusing commentary upon the hygienic conditions in which this underworld dwelt that upon one occasion when Tobias purposed visiting "The Loggerheads" he sent a boy down an hour before his proposed visit with instructions that all the windows upon the ground floor were to be opened wide. We shall be continually coming across this disreputable gang in our walks through Nottingham, but it is perhaps a suitable place here to conclude the story of Bella. Tobias' wife died in 1733, six years before Turpin was hanged, and Tobias sent a message to Bella making her an offer to act as his housekeeper with six shillings a week pocket money, but the reply came through "Bella is now sickening of palsy and will be below ground soon."
It is a merciful provision of providence that the antidote grows near the bane, that there never is a bed of nettles without a bank of dock-leaves being close at hand to ease the poison. And here in Narrow Marsh the same wise provision prevailed for close to the "King's Head" with all its amusing, but degrading associations with the underworld of two-hundred years ago, is Crossland Place, which has from that date other memories and associations. It is a squalid place nowadays as, in fact is the whole of the Marsh area, but in 1757 Crossland Place was illuminated by a very great light, for it was here that John Wesley established one of the first permanent Methodist preaching stations in Nottingham. It was a humble beginning, but from it has sprung the enormous tree of Wesleyan Methodism throughout Nottingham. In July, 1757 there lived in Crossland Place a certain man called Matthew Bagshaw, apparently his house was merely a cottage, and a two-roomed cottage at that. On the 29th of July, John Wesley preached in the lower room of this house to so great a congregation that the people far more than filled the humble accommodation which the room could offer. In order that more folk could hear the great evangelist they were accommodated in the upper chamber and a hole was knocked through the floor in order that those situated upstairs should be able to see and hear Mr. Wesley as he stood and preached on the floor below. This humble accommodation remained as head-quarters of Wesleyanism in Nottingham until the erection of a chapel at the top of Pepper Street on the site which afterwards was occupied by Zion Chapel and which remained in use until the Octagon Chapel was erected in 1762. The Octagon stood about where No. 1 platform of the Victoria Station stands nowadays. Eventually the Wesleyans removed to Hockley Chapel, about 1782, and it was in that chapel in the year 1788 that Mr. Wesley preached his last sermon in Nottingham. It is interesting to notice that at the opening service of this chapel in 1783 both Mr. Wesley and Dr. Coke officiated. They both wore the robes of the ordinary Church of England clergymen and Dr. Coke read Matins in the morning and Evensong in the evening, while Mr. Wesley preached at both services. Wesley Chapel was not built until 1838.
Upon the split in the Wesleyan connection which commenced in the formation of the Primitive Methodists in 1741, and culminated in Nottingham in 1791 the Wesleyans were deprived of Hockley Chapel through the action of Rev. J. Moon. They made great efforts to establish another place of worship and met for some time in Beck Street. Subsequently they used the Octagon at such times as it was not being occupied by the Baptists who had bought it upon the erection of Hockley Chapel, and eventually through the great exertion of Mr. Tatham who traversed the whole country in search of subscriptions, they erected, about 1798, a place of worship in Halifax Place, which I believe is now the school room of the Wesleyan Chapel in Halifax Place.