Parish Miscellanea.

A.D. 868—1900.

A.D. 868— It is recorded that the Danes marched through Arnold to attack Nottingham.

A.D. 1169.—William Fitz Ralf, Sheriff of Nottingham, accounted for five marks received from the men of Arnhale for the aid (or rate) for marrying the King's daughter. (Pipe Roll, 22.)

A.D. 1200.—Gervasius de Ernhale witnessed a deed, and again in year 1221. The Charter Roll dated Jan. 14th, 1230, states that Hugh de Nevill gave Gervase, son of Richard de Arnhale, 31/2 bovates of land, 2 tofts and a tillage in Arnhale to be held by him and his assigns, etc.

A.D. 1280.—"The Jury before Galf. de Nevill and Henry de Perepont, Justices of the Assize at the Inquisition at Blidworth found that John de Nevill held pleas in the Courts of Arnall concerning trespass made of the vert in his wood of Arnall which is within the bounds of the forest, and made attachments for the same and suffered not his dogs to be expidated and not by his own proper authority, but as his ancestors did from the time of Hugh de Nevill the Justices who held pleas for the king concerning the Forest etc." (Thoroton).

A.D. 1290.—The Bishop of Bath impleaded Sampson de Strelley and others for cutting the woods at Arnall, who pleaded that the Bishop had nothing in that manor.

A.D. 1299.—On a complaint made by Will de Colwyk that Robert de Arnhale and others had broke a mill pond and weir of his at Great Colewyk, cut down trees, etc., and beat his men on the road to Sneynton.    (Patent Rolls.)

A.D.—1307.—The Rector of the Church at Arnall cut and took 20 okes whilst the manor was in the King's hands. William de Arnall took 16 and Ralph de Arnall 6.

A.D. 1311.—Grant made from Hugh de Dolgate of Arnale and his wife Isabella to Hugh de Wolaton of Nottingham of a shop in the Saturday market.

A.D. 1316.—There is in the British Museum a catalogue of wax impressions and sulphur casts of seals and heraldic descriptions one of which is of John de Crumwell, Arnold Manor, 1316.

A.D. 1319.—Grant to Hugh de Neville, in aid of the expences of his journey with the King to Scotland, of licence to make a clearing 20 feet in width around his wood in Arnhale which is within the metes and forest of Shirwode, and to fell trees growing in the clearing, and make his profit thereof, and to have free ingress and egress from the nearest King's highways to the said wood to carry away the trees.    (Patent Rolls.)

A.D. 1327.—There were about 240 acres of land in Bramcote subject to the Court at Arnold, and this land was shortly before 1327 confirmed by Herbert de Brampcote as given to the Holy Trinity and the monks at Lenton Priory, leaving to his heirs the curse of Almighty God and his own if they should ever attempt to go against his grant.

A.D. 1346.—Pardon granted for good service in France to Richard Fleecher. (Patent Roll.)

A.D. 1338.—Grant to Richard de Wylughby—who has lent the King (Edwd. III.) £200—of the rent of £10, which the men of Arnhale pay for the farm of their town, to be received by him until the said sum be repaid.

A.D. 1392.—William Glade of Arnold takes part in the legal process against the Lord of Colwick for obstructing the course of the River Trent in order to turn his mill water wheel. William swears the River Trent is a great river of the realm for passage of ships, etc., from the Castle to the Humber, etc. (Borough Records.)

A.D. 1395.—The presentments of the Nottm. Mickleton Jury in this year show that William de Arnold (with others) was charged with being "common forestallers and gatherers of coal, selling it excessively high to the serious damage of the whole people because they make it too dear."

A.D. 1396.—Nottingham traders objected in this year to Roger, servant to Roger de Arnold, holding an open booth in the Women's Market, seeing that he was not a burgess, and the petty constables further complained that Roger "sold candles without cotton and was a common regater of all cheeses, butter, and such victuals." (A regater was one who bought to sell again at a higher price, which was then treated as a public offence.)

A.D. 1484.—Sir Ralph de Arnold, knight, witnesses a deed conveying a gift of lands to God and the Church of the Blessed Mary of Shelford and the Canons there serving God.

A.D. 1494.—Item in Nottm. Boro' Records:—"Payd to Bolsore of Arnall iij lode Bulders xvd." (Probably 3 cartloads of stones, fifteen pence.)

A.D. 1508.—By an Inquisition taken at Nottingham on the Thursday after Palm Sunday, before Sir William Perpoint and others, concerning intrusion or huntings in the King's forest, or chaces, it appears that Sir Wm. Hastings, knight, was seized in the manors of Lambley and Arnold.

A.D. 1544.—The Church Registers begin.

A.D. 1566.—Items from Wollaton Hall M.SS.:—"Extracts from the executors bookes of foren receptes and paymentes." Items payd for two stone and dim of picke (pitch) the IXth of Faybruary, for to marke the flockes at Arnalde, Basforde and Wollaton at xviij the stone iijs. ixd.

Inventory of sheep: with Robert Raynor, shepherd at Arnalde, sixteen score of wethers, etc.

A.D. 1522.—A list of servants which did belong to Sir Francis Willughby and his lady and their wages for quarter of a year includes to shepherd of Arnol, 10s. 4d.

A.D. 1573.—Wages  paid  at  Christmas—John  Cawverd Xs.
shepperd at Arr(nold) Xs. iiijd.

A.D. 1574.— Shepperd Arnolde xs. iiijd.

A.D. 1637.—Jasper Badcock—"In the name of God, Amen. I Jasper Badcock the younger of Arnold in the County of Nottingham, yeoman, being weeke and feeble in body now make my last will and Testament in manner and form following:—1st, I give my body to be buried in the church or churchyard of Arnold. 2nd, For all my goods and chattells I give unto Dorothy Badcock my widow, during her natural life and after her decease to Elizabeth, the wife of John Coates." The will is marked by J. Badcock and Wm. Attenborrow, and signed by Winifred Dodswell and Henry Coates.

A.D 1637.—Gervase Melford's Will.—"I, Gervase Melford, of Arnold in the County of Nottingham, being weeke in body but of sound and good memory, make my last Will and Testament in manner and form following:—1st, I bequeath my soul, saved by the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, to Almighty God, and my body to be buried in the churchyard of the parish of Arnold aforesaid." He left his messuage or tenement to his wife Margaret, excepting the kitchen which he had already leased to his daughter-in-law, Valentine Sales. £20 was bequeathed to Dorothy, wife of Dr. Lee, of Warsop, and 5 shillings each to brother Robert Melford's two daughters. A special bequest was made also of his brass pot. Peter Coates and Edward Newham witnessed this will. (Peter Coates was vicar of Arnold in 1632.)

Richard Beanbridge, labourer, left to his daughter 4 pewter mugs, a heifer calf, and he bequeathed another heifer calf together with a parcel of rye and oates to his son.

A.D. 1641.—Ann Widdosonne made her will.

A.D. 1703.—Hy. Sherbrooke, Esq., of Arnold, High Sheriff of Notts.

A.D. 1727.—Real value of the church living in this year— £24 11s. 8d.

A.D. 1734.—Thos. Porter, of Arnold, High Sheriff of Notts.

A.D. 1753.—W. Roberts and W. Sandham hanged on Gallows Hill. They induced an Arnold man to enlist (though unfit for the army) hoping to get his 20/- "smart" money from him. In this they failed, so they beat him, and Roberts cut off one of his little fingers, and for this both were executed.

A.D. 1764.—In this year a correspondent of the "Nottingham Journal" writes:—"An application to Parliament is proposed for a turnpike from Nottingham to Mansfield." (See page 23.)

A.D. 1765.— Kitty Hudson, born at Arnold, when six years old was taken to live with her grandfather, Mr. White, sexton of St. Mary's, Nottingham. Mr. White's servant encouraged Kitty when sweeping the church to pick up pins and needles for a reward of toffee. Kitty placed the pins or needles in her mouth, the practice of which habit destroyed her teeth, and when she was 18 years old she had to be taken to the Nottingham General Hospital (which had been opened the year previous, 1782) in consequence of numbness of limbs and sleeplessness. Needles were found in her arms, legs, feet, breasts, stomach, and indeed all over her body. She was discharged cured in 1785, and was married six months later to a young Arnold man named Goddard, who, she said, "had sweethearted her from a child." She had 19 children, 18 of whom died in infancy. Kitty was tall, stout, and of masculine appearance, and carried the Arnold post a number of years, walking twice a day from Arnold to Nottingham, with the letters in a leathern bag slung over her shoulder by a strap. She wore a small bonnet, a man's 'spencer' of drab cloth, a coarse woollen petticoat, worsted stockings, and strong shoes.

A.D. 1766.—James Bromage and Wm. Wainer (ex-gentlemen's servants, and the latter a stockinger) were hanged for several highway robberies, including one on Mr. Robt. Hall, of Durham, whom they accosted and plundered near Red Hill. They were allowed to lie down in their graves in St. Mary's Churchyard to see if they would fit, and then walked to Gallows Hill in their shrouds.

A.D. 1776.—Thos. Sleight, Junr., held 19 acres.

Jan. 13th.—Great snowstorm. Two men walking from Nottingham to Papplewick succumbed to the cold just after they had passed Red Hill. In the morning one was found dead and the other insensible, clasping the trunk of a tree with icicles at his finger tips: he recovered.

A servant girl at the Peacock Inn, near St. Peter's Church, Nottingham, when riding outside the coach, attempted, when the vehicle was stopped by the snow, to walk to Nottingham from near The Hut, at Newstead. She failed and lay down to die. Mr. Turner came along on horseback, covered her with his great coat and conveyed her to Red Hill. She recovered.

A.D. 1777.—Bestwood Park, owned by the Duke of St. Albans, was brought into cultivation at this period.

A.D. 1779.—June 10th, Mr. Need, master hosier, and partner with

Mr. Arkwright, incurred the wrath of the framework knitters because he gave evidence before a Parliamentary Committee, "that the workmen were sufficiently remunerated; the more children a workman had, the better was his condition in life; that frame-rent reduction would ruin owners and drive them from the trade." The Bill for the benefit of the workmen was rejected, and nearly all Nottingham rose in a ferment. The mob demolished every window, door, shutter and tile of Mr. Need's house on Low Pavement, and on the following day attempted to set his mill on fire; then a portion of the malcontents marched to Arnold and attacked his country house, destroyed the furniture, broke the staircase, and smashed the roof in. June 23rd.—The rioters on this day destroyed 300 of Mr. Need's frames at Arnold. A.D. 1783.—Wrestling was in great vogue in this district and in this year died Mr. John Trigge, of Arnold, who was, in his day, one of the principal promoters of this sport hereabouts. He gave a prize of five guineas annually for competition.

A.D. 1789.—2280 acres of Sherwood Forest enclosed—700 of these acres (afterwards sold to J. Whittaker, of Ramsdale, Esquire), were allotted to the impropriator, who is subject to the repairs of the church chancel. 24 acres were allotted to the crown (now belonging to Captain Welfitt, of Langwith Lodge). To mark the recovery of George III. from mental weakness five sheep were roasted at Arnold, and ale freely distributed, the gift of W. C. Sherbrooke, Esq., and other gentlemen. The bells rang, a number of men paraded the village with firearms, giving an occasional volley, and attended by a band of music and a flag on which was the King's portrait. At night the village was illuminated.

A.D. 1797.— The war famine induced Mr. Robert Davison, with others, to petition the King on behalf of the framework knitters.

A.D. 1800.—Messrs. Davison and Hawkesley were in this year engaged in grinding and carting corn free for the poor people of Arnold and Nottingham.

A.D. 1801.—Dickenson's History of Southwell (published in this year) stated that the property of the Sherbrookes in Oxton, "accumulating through many generations, was lately in the possession of Margaret, one of the daughters and co-heiresses of the late Henry Sherbrooke. She married Hy. Porter, of Arnold, who took the name of Sherbrooke and died without issue. There were two other daughters of the last mentioned Henry Sherbrooke, Elizabeth and Sarah, one of whom married Wm. Coape, of Arnold, and the other married Samuel Lowe, of Southwell."

A.D. 1803.—The parish rate at 3s. and 9d. in the £produced £860 16s. 10d. Wm. Sherbrooke, Esqre., High Sheriff of Notts.

A.D. 1813.—Bestwood Park land was being developed by Norfolk agriculturalists. A directory of this period records the occupancy of "the modern "Sherwood Lodge by Mr. Cope, and further refers to the cotton and worsted mills in the parish, remarking that "one very large mill is going to decay." Stocking manufacture was also one of the chief industries. Major Rooke had just traced the Roman Camp on Holly Hill and measured it 417 by 240 yards.

A.D. 1823.—Thos. Roe and Benjamin Miller were hanged in this year for attacking and robbing Samuel Marriott, a labourer, employed by Messrs. Simpson, Breck Hill farm. They struck him repeatedly with a bludgeon. The execution took place on Gallows Hill.

A.D. 1827.—The last execution took place on Gallows Hill. The gallows was a familiar object to all Arnold people travelling to Nottingham. It was formed of two tall oak posts supporting a crossbar at the top. Criminals were drawn under the bar in a cart which was drawn forward as soon as the noose had been fixed on the culprit's neck.

A.D. 1837.—Hy. Cope, Esqre., occupied Sherwood Lodge.

A.D. 1842.—Chartism rife. The movement had many active adherents in Arnold. A.D. 1844.—William Saville was hanged outside the County Hall for murdering his wife and three children in a plantation by the side of a footroad leading from Colwick to Carlton. He was a native of Arnold, but left early and was brought up at Blidworth and Bestwood as a farm laborer. Twelve people were crushed and trampled to death at the execution, and more than 100 injured, five of the latter dying from their injuries. Mary Stevenson, aged 23, widow, of Daybrook, was among the killed.

A.D. 1849.—A survey of the parish in this year describes it as containing 2,610 acres arable, 1,330 meadow and pasture, 294 wood and plantation. The remaining area consisted of roads and waste, etc. The prevailing hosiery manufactures then were cotton hose, stockings, gloves, etc.

A.D. 1863.—James Chambers, a teacher at Nottingham Blind Institution, rose in a balloon at Basford Park. The balloon collapsed over Arnold and fell in a field, Chambers being instantaneously killed.

The health and Vitality of Arnold.

During the last twenty years the death rate in Arnold has steadily declined; this change is no doubt due to improved sanitary conditions, especially scavenging, and to better housing accommodation. The sandy nature of the soil and the excellence and abundance of the water supply are conditions very favourable to health.

As in other Urban Districts the infant mortality has always been high, and, in spite of the improvements mentioned above, the infant death-rate has not decreased during the 25 years from 1886 to 1911. Accordingly the Council has recently appointed a Lady Health Visitor to visit the homes oi the people and give advice on infant feeding and general hygiene.

There are no records of any recent severe epidemic, though in 1888 there were a few cases of small-pox.

During the last twenty years the birth-rate has fallen from 34.14 to 25.69.

The subjoined tables and statistics may be of interest.

Population and Death-rate during the last 100 years.

Note.—The number of deaths up to and  including 1881 is gathered from the Burial Registers.

 

Population.

Number of Deaths.

Death-rate per 1000 of Population.

1801

2768

*92

33.23

1811

3042

62

20.38

1821

3572

76

21.27

1831

4054

83

20.51

1841

4509

98

21.73

1851

4704

101

21.45

1861

4642

96

20.68

1871

4634

108

23.3

1881

5745

110

19.14

1891

7769

157

20.2

1901

8757

111

12.67

1911

11147

131

11.68

*Of the 92 deaths in 1801, there were 28 which took place at "the Mill," referred to elsewhere in this History.

The Infant Death-rate per 1,000 births was 136 in the year 1886, and in the year 1911 it was 138. During the intervening period its highest was in 1897 when it reached 254, and its lowest was in 1894 when it stood at 122.

The term "infant" in these statistics means a child under the age of twelve months. Editorial Note.

Since the above was written the rate of infant mortality has happily decreased, the statistics of 1912 shewing an infantile death-rate of 89 per 1000 births, as against 138 per 1000 in 1911. This improvement is attributed by the Medical Officer partly to the efforts of the Lady Health Visitor and partly to the healthier weather conditions of 1912.

Place Names.

Breck Hill. Breck=a slope or thicket; then an opening—a break; locally a cleared place.

Butts, The, being on the south western side of the Church may have reference to the practice of archery which was compulsory by a law of Edward IV., every man being required to have a bow of his own height. The butts were often on the southern side of the church, and the practice was at feasts, and on Sunday afternoons.

Broadmere Lane, now St. Albans Road, suggests there was a large pond—a mere—possibly on the south side of the west end.

Coppice Farm refers to the time when the hill was a great wood.

Cockpit Hill seems to have reference to the so-called sports of one or two hundred years ago. The top of the hill is the site of ancient earthworks.

Cockliffe Hill should possibly be Cock Cliffe Hill, being opposite to Cockpit Hill, where possibly a gravel pit was used for cock fighting.

Cross Street—late Cross Lane—was the lane cutting across from the Church to Red Hill.

Daybrook. It has been suggested that the Day-brook had reference to storing the running water at night to be used for mill purposes during the day; but "Daybrook closes" is mentioned in 1715 (Orange, p. 805). Deer brook has been suggested but is improbable. In an old map attached to some 18th century deeds the brook that runs by Daybrook House is named the Dry Brook. Is it possible that this was corrupted into Dybrook (by slurring the 'r' in pronounciation,) and so became Daybrook? We might compare Killiesick. The stream in Killiesick Lane is one of the feeders of the Dry Brook.

Derry Mount is in the neighbourhood of "The Butts." It is possible that the name was appropriated from the "Siege of Derry"—Londonderry—in Ireland, when in 1689 the apprentices closed the gates against James II.

Dorket Head. This is the head or top of the mountain or hill pass.

Forest Farm, the farm in the Forest.

Furlong Street, a modern name, perhaps from the length of the street.

Hallams Lane, Hickling Lane, Thackeray Lane, so named after prominent residents there.

Lime Lane, probably from Lime trees formerly growing there.

Leapool. The pond in the pasture field.

Killiesick Lane. Sik or sike is an old English dialect word, meaning a small brook or streamlet, which sometimes is dry in the summer. Killiesick Lane therefore means probably the lane of the kiln brook, and may be compared with Kilbourne and Killies Lane, in Derbyshire. There is a Priestsick Lane at Sutton-in-Ashfield, and a Catsick Lane at Loughborough.

Plains, The, are not open level land, but rather a ridge.

Red Hill. The red or clay road.

Ramsdale. Rendered famous for its sheep and rams.

Rufford Road. The road to York and the north by Rufford.

Stockings Farm. It is thought to have reference to a farmer who also had a shop of stocking frames.

Swinnows—The Swinehouses. When the land was unenclosed and largely forest there would probably be pig hovels in the wood for shelter. Scout Lane suggests either vigilant outlook on the frontiers, or more probably a high rock or hill, so it may mean a steep or hilly lane. There were formerly two very steep portions, now reduced. Spout Lane has reference to a stream that ran from a spring in Mr. Frost's grounds, and through a spout and trough in the lane, now usually dry.

Watchwoods Farm probably has reference to watching a wood against poachers.

Washpond Lane leading to where sheep were washed.

Woollitas, a large field in which was constructed a pond for washing sheep.

Arnold Hall. "Old Hall Yard" is the only remnant of an ancient building which stood there, and was the residence of 'Squire Cope, or Coape, the father of Colonel Coape, of Sherwood Lodge, and was pulled down about one hundred years ago. A row of houses formed the outbuildings, and the gardens extended from, and included the site of, the Baptist Chapel in Front Street, to the Primitive Chapel in High Street. The farm buildings were on the eastern side of Front Street, and were in the field for many years belonging to Mr. Worrall, north of Ebenezer Chapel, across which there used to be a paved walk many feet in breadth, and two feet below the grass banks.

The Brook which ran down the Front Street was open, and became a receptacle of all manner of filth, and so became very prejudicial to the health of the inhabitants. It was covered over by a brick sewer about 1851, when Mr. Thomas Frost was the Overseer of Highways in the parish.

Sherwood Lodge. The principal house in Arnold is Sherwood Lodge, the residence of Sir Charles Seely, Bart., who has greatly enlarged it, and adorned its grounds with a great number of trees and shrubs, while a private chapel in the rear, and a school for the children near by, minister to the spiritual and educational requirements of local residents. It was built in 1790, about the time of the Inclosure of the Forest, and close to the Parish boundary, by Henry Coape, Esq., and has since had five or six successive occupiers, one for many years being the Rev. G. F. Holcombe.

Red Hill Old Farm House. The Farm House, now occupied by Mr. Gadsby, and owned by Sir Charles Seely, was at one time a coaching house—Red Hill Road being a part of the old North Road. It is not now known at what period, but the "Ram," at Nottingham, afterwards became the coaching-house in its place.

The Old Red Hill Arch, During the Waterloo year the hill road was lowered by a cutting—the work being done by the framework knitters of Arnold, who at the time were nearly destitute owing to the bad trade caused by the war, and a wet harvest. Money being scarce, they were paid in kind. The road was very wide, so that half of its width could be cut through, leaving an upper road (a right of way) branching off at the brow to a farm in Bestwood Park. To gain access to the farm, it was neccessary to build an arch over the proposed cutting; and it was commenced simultaneously with both ends of the excavation. The piers were the natural rock from which— the clay and shale having been removed to the depth of several feet—the arch was sprung, and turned over the unexcavated material. The last lot of rock and clay to be taken down was that under the arch—leaving it suspended. It was shaken by clay waggons, during the construction of the Bestwood Reservoir, and some years later fell into the roadway. The present structure has since taken its place. The old arch, with the present boundary wall between the upper and lower roads, was built from the waterstones of the cutting. Another pecular feature was the making of a solid foundation for the road on a soft clay bottom: trimmed gorse bushes were placed at right angles, then broken boulders over them, with a little soil on the top to bind all together.