THE GENERAL CEMETERY and the CHURCH (ROCK) CEMETERY Compiled on Behalf of the Social World of Nottingham’S Green Spaces Project Team by Dr Judith Mills

The Social World of Nottingham’s Historic Green Spaces

Church (Rock) The Forest Cemetery)

Waterloo Promenade

The Arboretum Elm Avenue, Corporation Oaks & Robin Hood’s General Chase Cemetery

Bath Street Cricket Ground

The Meadows Cricket Ground Queen’s Walk

Fredrick Jackson’s Map, c ͘1882, reproduced courtesy of Manuscripts and Special Collections, University of Nottingham

THE GENERAL CEMETERY AND THE CHURCH (ROCK) CEMETERY Compiled on behalf of the Social World of Nottingham’s Green Spaces project team by Dr Judith Mills

FOREWORD

In 2013-14, the University of Nottingham’s project The Social World of Nottingham’s Historic Green Spaces saw a small group of academics collaborate with Friends, history and heritage groups as well as individuals interested in the city’s green spaces and the City Council which owns the spaces, to research the creation and development of Nottingham’s oldest parks and open spaces ͘ This was followed in 2016 by a Public Engagement project that resulted in a number of events including a play based on the research, a month-long exhibition, workshops for children, a website and some published articles. Conversations with representatives from some of the groups involved suggested that they would find it useful to have a simple listing of the sequence of events around the creation and development of the parks and open spaces. The results of these conversations are a set of reports - Fact Files - which summarise information about the spaces created as a result of the 1845 Enclosure Act. Sometimes the quantity of information is considerable, and sometimes it is quite scanty. As well as listing the facts, the reports also aim to illustrate some of the concerns and issues that surround the creation of the green spaces and give a flavour of contemporary attitudes to health, recreation and leisure which underlie their conception. At the end of each report is a list of sources and suggestions for further reading for anyone who would like to take their interest further. There are five reports The Arboretum The Forest The Public Walks The Smaller Parks/Former Cricket Grounds The General Cemetery and the Church (Rock) Cemetery They are summaries of research carried out during 2013-14, and are concerned mainly with the period 1845-1914. Judith Mills

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

None of this work would have been possible without the support of the Green Spaces Project team, led by Professor John Beckett and the Parks and Open Spaces teams of the City Council. The contribution of and collaboration with the Friends of the Arboretum, Friends of the Forest, Mapperley and Sherwood History group and the other volunteers was also invaluable to the project as a whole. Also invaluable was the support of the staff at Nottinghamshire Archives and Nottingham Local Studies where many of the original documents are stored and cared for. All photographs and images in this report are courtesy of Picture the Past (https://picturethepast.org.uk/) and Nottingham City Council, unless otherwise stated.

THE CEMETERIES

Contents page

Introduction: The 1845 Enclosure Act 1 The local and national historical context - before Enclosure 2 The Cholera Burial Ground and General Cemetery 2 Special Conditions in the Enclosure Act 3 The Dissenters’ Cemetery 3 Managing the cemetery 4 Buildings in the Dissenters’ Cemetery 4 Planting and layout 5 Church (Rock) Cemetery Finding a location 5 Edwin Patchitt and Creating the Church Cemetery 6 1852: Completed work 7 1852: Unfinished work 8 Planting 8 Burials 8 The Cottage 10 Access 10 The Chapel and other Works 10 Sanitary Committee and Medical Officer’s Reports 11

Inner-city burial grounds 12 Sources and Suggestions for Further Reading 14

Tomb of Edwin Patchitt, architect of the Church Cemetery. Died 1888 Photo: David Severn

THE GENERAL CEMETERY AND

THE CHURCH (ROCK) CEMETERY

Church (Rock) Cemetery

Nonconformists’ Cemetery

Quaker Burial Ground

iii

Introduction: The 1845 Enclosure Act At the beginning of the 19th century the boundaries of Nottingham were (roughly) from Castle Road in the west to just the other side of Huntingdon Street in the east. The southern border was the river Trent and Gregory Boulevard now approximates the northern boundary.

Most of this area was farm land - some owned by the Borough Council but much in private hands. People lived and worked in the area surrounding the Market Place (now Market Square) and St Mary’s Church. The northern edge was Parliament Street with Broadmarsh marking the southern limit of the town. According to the website A Vision of Britain Through Time, in 1841 the population of Nottingham was 72,309 people, living in an area about 1 mile wide and ½-¾ mile high, with the odd off-shoot along Mansfield Road and Derby Road (GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, URL: http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/datavalue/20702 ). Inevitably, this densely packed population combined with poor Staveley and Wood Map, c.1832, sanitation led to high mortality rates, especially infant courtesy of Manuscripts and Special mortality and Nottingham was used as a case study in Collections, University of Nottingham the 1840 Government Report on the Health of Towns. Other Government Inquiries promoted gentle exercise and ‘rational recreation’ as a remedy to some of the social problems of the period An obvious solution was to build more houses on the fields surrounding the town but as well as many being in private hands, they were protected by ancient privileges held by the town’s Burgesses who, for example, had the right to graze cattle and sheep on the fields (whoever owned them) after the harvest had been collected. An Inclosure Act was required to overcome these rights - though today this is more commonly referred to as an Enclosure Act. Empowered by Government inquiries and a better understanding of how disease was transmitted, a group of Nottingham’s leading townsmen drew up an Enclosure Act which was - eventually - adopted by the Borough Council and presented to Parliament. It received Royal Assent on 30 June 1845. Two key clauses in the Act ensured that between 125 and 130 acres was set aside as recreational space to be used by the people of Nottingham. Although three Enclosure Commissioners were appointed to oversee the revocation of the burgesses’ rights, lay out the new roads and other infrastructure, and survey and sell building plots, it was the responsibility of the Borough Council to negotiate where the green spaces should be sited. Having agreed with the Commissioners on location, the Council then had to fence, lay-out, manage and develop them for public use. A number of sub-committees were set up: the Enclosure Committee (not to be confused with the Enclosure Commissioners), the Race Committee, the Arboretum Committee and so on. These eventually were united into the Public Parks Committee and then the Public Parks and Burial Grounds Committee. Today, they have become the Parks and Open Spaces service.

The local and national historical context - before Enclosure In the early 19th century, Nottingham’s population was growing rapidly despite a high mortality rate. The churchyards surrounding the parish churches of St. Mary’s, St. Peter’s and St Nicholas’s were already overcrowded, with little space available for new burials. Some smaller burial grounds had been created, e.g. on Mount Street and Barker Gate, but these were soon full, and were in any case surrounded by houses. The theory that epidemics were caused by miasma or bad air meant that living near a cemetery was not a popular choice. In 1855, in response to the 1853 Act of Parliament for Regulating Burials of the Dead, all the graveyards in the centre of Nottingham were closed. The Cholera Burial Ground and General Cemetery A cholera epidemic in 1832 led to Samuel Fox, a Quaker philanthropist, donating land on Bath Street which became the Cholera Burial ground, later called St Mary’s Burial Ground. In 1836 Parliament passed an Act of Parliament to establish a General Cemetery Company (1836) with powers to acquire land for the purpose of burials. Samuel Fox was one of the organisers and he also provided the land. A valuation made on behalf of the Council reads: We have valued the three Windmill Closes, situate in the Sand Field in the Parish of St Mary in the Town of Nottingham belonging to Samuel Fox of Nottingham, Grocer, containing respectively Three acres, two roods and five perches. Three acres two roods and seven perches and one Acre, one rood and seven perches adjoining on the West to Sion Hill [Canning Circus] and numbered respectively 43, 46 and 45 in the Corporation terrier, so far as regards the Common Rights thereon, and we are of opinion that the value of the said rights of Common in and upon the said three Closes, which contain together Eight acres, one rood and nineteen perches, is Two hundred and fifty one pounds one shilling and fourpence Dated this twelfth day of September 1836 [signed] Edd. Staveley Geo Sanderson The Corporation received £251 1s 4d to extinguish the common rights over the land and on 4 October 1836 the deed of ownership was transferred to the General Cemetery Company. In total 12 acres were acquired for £6,000 and the first interment took place on 9 February 1837. In 1840, a further three acres and two roods were added at a cost of £37 10s per acre for the common rights. The reason given for the extension was to provide affordable burial plots for the poorer classes: The sole object of the Company in their extending their ground is to provide room for separate graves for each poor family desiring to have one - the number of the poorer classes interred in the Cemetery have greatly exceeded the expectations originally formed. The part of the present ground allowed and fitted for the lowest scale of payment is nearly already filled and as the rest of the ground is near the Sand rock it cannot be excavated for a price which the poor can pay. The interest which the poorer classes take in having separate Graves is proved by the way in which those in the Cemetery have been adorned with flowers plants or other tokens of affection - this feeling deserves to be cultivated in all; and amongst the poorer classes it is particularly desirable to see that their remains are treated with reverence and respect ͙..

By 1841, the ‘Almshouses’ at Canning Circus, and also a ‘Mortuary Chapel’, had been built by the Company. The architect was Samuel S Rawlinson.

Special Conditions in the Enclosure Act Unlike the recreational spaces provided by the Enclosure Act, some special conditions were made in respect of cemeteries. Of the 125-130 acres set aside for public use, between eight and twelve acres were to be ‘͙used and appropriated as and for a public Cemetery or Burial Ground, or Public Cemeteries or Burial Grounds ͙’. The area was to be split evenly one Half Part of such cemetery or cemeteries shall be appropriated for Burials according to the Rites of the Church of England, and the other Half Part for the Interment of Persons dissenting from that Church, or not buried according to its Rites. An important, but often overlooked, statement in the Act prohibited any new burial grounds being within Three hundred Yards of any House erected or in the course of Erection at the Time of making the Allotment for a Cemetery, except with the Consent of the Lessee, Owner, and Occupier thereof in Writing The details of the Act were written into the Minute Book kept by the Inclosure Commissions. A note in the margin against this clause reads ‘Be careful not to tell Dunn that may interfere with cemetery’. Various additions were made to the cemeteries as a result of the 1845 Inclosure Act. Four acres were added to the General Cemetery, and a further four acres attached to this cemetery were made available as a separate space for the burial of nonconformists (alternatively known as dissenters). The General Cemetery now covered an area of 20 acres. By 1923 more than 150,000 burials had taken place in the General Cemetery, but an inspection revealed that it did not conform to Home Office guidelines, and in 1927 it was closed for new burials. Since 1956 the cemetery has been owned by Nottingham City Council. A separate space was also made available in 1845 for what came to be known as the Rock, or Church Cemetery next to the Forest, bordering Mansfield Road and Forest Road East.

The Dissenters/Nonconformists’ Cemetery There is very little information about the creation or layout of this small cemetery. The Council agreed in 1847 that a piece of Land containing four acres situate in the Sand Field on the north east side of the present public Cemetery and extending thence in a north easterly direction to the nearest Carriage road to be formed between the Cemetery and the intended Arboretum and so as to terminate if practicable opposite the Arboretum and to be appropriated for the interment of persons dissenting from the Church of England or not buried according to its rites. The cemetery now faces part of Nottingham Trent University, originally the School of Design, which was partially incorporated into the Arboretum. The Council Minutes of 1875 recommends ‘that such piece of Land be now added to the Arboretum subject to the Erection thereon of the School of Design as approved by the Council’. In 1865 an additional mortuary chapel (demolished 1958) was added for nonconformist burial services. In 1847 Samuel Fox exchanged a piece of land on the east side of the Cemetery for a piece of equivalent value in the Sandfield, providing it was used as a Quaker burial ground. Ordnance survey maps from 1875-1946 show an area approximately 40m x 60m adjacent to Clarendon Street (opposite the Institute for the Blind) as ‘Friends Burial Ground’. Later maps list this as ‘Friends House’. It was not part of the General Cemetery.

Managing the cemetery 1848 The Corporation appointed a Board of Trustees: James Smith Baldwin, Long Row, Tailor Jonathan Newham Dunn, Bookseller* Booth Eddison, Surgeon Richard Enfield of Bramcote, Gentleman John Cooper Harrison, Bridlesmith Gate Samuel Hazzledine, South Parade, Grocer John Howitt, Chamber Street, Printer and Stationer John Newton of Mount Hooton, Gentleman John Frost Sutton, Printer William Taylor, Narrow Marsh, Baker George Brentnal Trueman, Halifax Place, Lace manufacturer William Vickers the younger, Lace manufacturer Arthur Wells, Solicitor In addition, three laymen were to be nominated by their respective Congregations *It is possible this is the ‘Dunn’ referred to in the marginal note mentioned above about the restrictions on location. The Trustees were responsible for • Setting burial fees and publishing annual accounts • Appointing staff • Laying out and planting the grounds • Borrowing money to pay for layout and staffing Burial fees were intended to pay off the bank loan and staffing costs. If they exceeded costs, then fees were to be reduced. 1927 A similar Board of Trustees is listed as invitees to the dedication of the Cross of Sacrifice; though it is possible that day-to-day management had been handed over to the General Cemetery Company which owned the burial ground until 1953 when it went into voluntary liquidation.

Buildings in the Dissenters/Nonconformists’ Cemetery • Entrance and lodge: The entrance to the Nonconformists’ cemetery was through the gates on Waverly Street, opposite the Arboretum, rather than the grander entrance to the General Cemetery off Canning Terrace. It was next to a newly built lodge, which was demolished in the 1950s.

• Mortuary Chapel. Ordnance Survey maps drawn up before 1946 show that there was a Mortuary Chapel and other buildings approximately 100m from the Waverley Street entrance; presumably for non-conformist services. (The same maps show a mortuary chapel in the original part of the cemetery, approximately 300m from the Canning Terrace entrance.) • Cross of Sacrifice: a ceremony to mark the erection of the Cross of Sacrifice. The Cross of Sacrifice was a War Memorial designed in 1918 by Sir Reginald Blomfield for the Imperial War Graves Commission. Such crosses were erected in cemeteries which had 40 or more war graves.

Planting and layout An article in the Nottingham Review, June 1851, praised the beauty of the General Cemetery for its

• Vast assortment of choice kinds of trees. • Pleasing variety of flower plants in the borders. • Boundary walls adorned with rich dark ivy. • Tomb and gravestones which are ‘eloquent tokens of affection’. • Winding paths which lead the wanderer to fall into a ‘meditative reverie’. • The ‘trees clad with emerald verdure, sheltering the flowers with crimson orbs’ in June. • The Chapel, described as a ‘massive structure’ with two columns to the front and two at the back, but in a dilapidated state. • Lodges like temples surrounded by trees and flowers. Plants mentioned include: Weeping ash; Elm; Hawthorn; Purple beech; Laburnum; Maiden hair; Broom; Damask and other roses

Photo: Paul Elliott

Church (Rock) Cemetery

Finding a location Although, ultimately, the Council was responsible for laying out and managing the Church Cemetery, the Inclosure Commissioners had to allocate an appropriate site. The condition within the Enclosure Act that prevented the creation of a cemetery within 300 yards of housing made this a difficult task. Householders or potential householders were consulted, and objections were received, resulting in a number of proposed sites being rejected. March 1846 First proposal: 8 acres in the Clayfield, 300 yards from St Ann’s Street on lowest part of Pease Hill (this would have been close to the Cholera burial ground, now St Anne’s Rest Garden) June 1846 Second proposal: 4 acres in the Clayfield, unspecified location August 1846 Third proposal: 4 acres on east side of Mansfield Road, near the Forest Oct 1857 Fourth proposal: 2 acres 3 roods 10 poles on east side of Mansfield Road, near the Forest AND 1 acre 30 poles somewhere in the Clayfield (to make a total of 4 acres). The decision had still not been made by January 1848 when the Nottingham Review circulated a copy of the official ‘Inclosure Map’ on behalf of the Commissioners. Dec 1848 Trustees appointed by the Corporation: Revd R H Almond Revd J H Brookes Revd H J Butler George Eddowes Esqre William Hannay Esqre Henry Smith Esqre Dr J C Williams MD Rev Charles Armstrong Rev Thomas Hart Rev William Howard Francis Penrose Davies Because of the problems in allocating land, it took several years before land on the west side of Mansfield Road, near the Forest was acquired with the agreement of adjacent residents. The Trustees then formed a public company, Nottingham Church Cemetery Company, and shares were sold with the aim of raising 5,000 guineas (£5,250) to buy additional land to create a ‘buffer zone’ around the area identified for burials. This included buying-out the windmill owners. The mills were sold-on by the company directors. From this point onwards, the Cemetery was no longer the responsibility of the Corporation, but the Sanitary Committee and Medical Officer were concerned with the state of burial grounds and the cemeteries were frequently mentioned in annual reports. (see below for examples). The Cemetery Company and its Directors were responsible for creating and developing the cemetery and its financial management. The difficulties they faced were explained at the Annual General Meeting in 1855, which was reported in great detail in the Nottinghamshire Guardian. The sequence of events was:

• It took until 1852 to sell all the shares and it was 1853 before the company owned the land. • In anticipation of raising the funding a fence wall and iron palisades had already been built, supervised by T C Hine. • Once the land was secured and funds raised, the cemetery company commissioned J F Wood of Mapperley and McPherson of Knap Hill to produce plans but neither were considered to be satisfactory, • Edwin Patchitt undertook to layout the grounds and supervise the work. • J F Wood was contracted to carry out much of the work.

Edwin Patchitt and Creating the Church Cemetery In 1855 much work remained to be done, including building a chapel and lodges, but the only way the company could afford to pay for these was by issuing debentures (unsecured bonds). In a letter published in conjunction with the directors’ report in the Nottinghamshire Guardian, Edwin Patchitt outlined what part of his plans had been completed and what remained to be done: 1852 Completed work

Excavating the site and reusing the spoil had allowed him to create banks and ‘private’ spaces.

Photos: David Severn

An avenue from the west entrance gate had been created by moving 20,000 tons of soil. This avenue has since been filled with graves and the entrance closed. This view looking east, partially parallels the original plan, though again the sides of the avenue have been filled with additional graves.

Re-use of the soil and cutting into the ground at the end produced a gradual incline and a decorative mound (removed in the 1870s).

1852 Unfinished work • Because of the financial problems of the company they did not have the money to build a chapel. It was agreed that £2,000 would be raised by selling debentures, in order to cover the costs • Additional burial space was to be created by completing work on the catacombs which were part of Patchitt’s original plan - these included o South-west of ‘the valley’ - two ‘large and lofty caverns’ to be converted to catacombs and mausolea. o North of the valley - extend the existing cave into a hollow on its west side to create a mausoleum with sepulchral changes. This would open to gallery with a range of catacombs. Eventually it would join up with the two large caves. o Southern boundary of the cemetery to be cut deeper for ordinary burials at the top and sepulchres underneath in a horse-shoe shape. • A central area at the end of the main avenue needed planting and ‘adopting’ for a monument of national or local interest. • Large space on north west of the avenue had been marked out for a chapel

The letter also gave Patchitt’s recommendations for the future management of the cemetery Planting Patchitt recommends • Cedars of Lebanon • Grass around the proposed church and the cottage • Weeping trees to mark vaults • Climbers around the Cottage (to disguise it) • Each quarter of the cemetery to be planted with different trees Burials Patchitt recommends • The directors should use every part of the burial ground and once interred, bodies should not be disturbed ‘superior’ monuments should be spread across the cemetery, not concentrated in a single place - no part of the cemetery should be set aside for cheap graves. Only tombs and monuments of a superior design approved by the Directors to be on either side of the avenue. Burials in vaults should follow a set pattern: o First coffin on the bedrock, then surrounded by earth and covered with flat stones o Second coffin on the stones and covered with earth and more stones o Etc. until the vault is full. o Until it is full, the Company will provide a numbered flat stone with a hole in the middle; the numbers corresponding to an alphabetical list of burials. o When full, a weeping or other appropriate large tree will be planted in the hole to ensure it is not re-opened. o There should be no single graves as a waste of space. o Vaults ‘in common’ could be formed by digging under the walks and borders Ordinary headstones should be not be allowed; cenotaph or monumental figure were suitable.

The Danks family burial ‘enclosure’

Photos David Severn

The Cottage This was an existing building which the company considered pulling down, but kept

• To store tools • To receive bodies from poor families that had nowhere to keep a corpse separate until it was buried. Patchitt mentions families living in one room where a family member might have to share a bed with the corpse.

Access Patchitt thought it was a good idea to limit access because of the loose nature of the soil but selling tickets would not be permitted. He suggested that • all directors, shareholders and owners of burial plots and family of a buried person be allowed an ‘order’ that will admit the bearer and party at any time. • Tickets should be supplied to people attending a funeral but ‘all and sundry’ should not be allowed to come into the cemetery.

The Chapel and other works Subsequent AGMs, reported in Nottingham newspapers, include updates on both the Company and the progress of work, in particular on the Chapel. Aug 1878 Nottingham Evening Post The Cemetery company was insolvent, and the bank no longer honoured the company’s cheques. A new set of directors had been appointed and were taking the blame for the inactivity/mismanagement of the previous group. Further debentures had to be issued to cover debts.

• The chapel was being built to a design by Mr Godwin of Westminster, though strikes were holding up the work. The plans had been approved by Hodgson Fowler. Shareholders complained that a Nottingham architect had not been used and the tendering process mishandled. The first plan was too small, and the building was being enlarged. • The Lodge: An additional room had been added to the lodge as a board room. Shareholders stated that the lodge foundations were rotten, and it was ‘tumbledown, so this room was a waste of money’. • Road and paths had not been metalled. The directors thought they were better than they had been before. • Catacombs: Shareholders complained that no work had been done on the proposed catacombs. The estimated cost for making them useable was £1500- £2,000. Edwin Patchitt said that unemployed labour was being used at no cost to create the catacombs, but £1000 would be needed to make them useable. • Mound at the of St Mary’s Walk (presumably name given to the main avenue). Shareholders protested about the sale of the soil which was consecrated ground. Directors said the area was needed for more burials, but graves could not be created within the mound, so it had to be moved, and some of the soil had been used to create a turning space for carriages near the chapel. 1881 The AGM was held in the new Chapel. It was reported that the Company was in a healthy position.

1891 AGM report • the directors wanted to pull down the chapel which was being used as a tool shed and workmen’s mess room and build a small chapel. • Roads had been worked on and this would continue • The hollow, called the ‘Punch Bowl’ was not finished • By altering pathways and using corner pieces more land had been freed up for burials. 1899 AGM report • Reserves now up to £2000 including an investment in a property in Bulwell • The mayor proposed the building of a crematorium in the cemetery - the directors agreed to consider this. 1906 AGM report • Profits down, due to two factors: the undeveloped part of the cemetery was now being laid out at a cost of £400 • Large number of low-cost burials, many of them children which was unusually high, though expected during the winter months. 1908 AGM report • Huge increase in infant mortality - 141 funerals for children under 7 - in low-cost graves. Available land being used up.

After this date the AGM reports are usually a single paragraph declaring the dividend paid to shareholders. There are no reports after 1939.

Sanitary Committee and Medical Officer’s reports The Sanitary Committee and Medical Officer regularly reported on the condition and capacity of the graveyards 1855 The Sanitary Committee reported on the closure of the town-centre graveyards. It was concerned that the parishes of St Peter and St Nicholas would not have access to any ‘parochial’ ground, though the General Cemetery would be available if required. Under the Burials Act, Councils could provide ‘extra-mural’ cemeteries but it was hoped that the Church cemetery would avoid this necessity.

1856 Sanitary Committee reported that The places of Interment within the old built part of the Town have been closed by an Order in Council issued by the Secretary of State for the Home department under the Acts for regulating burials beyond the Metropolis except for the Interment in Brick Vaults under certain restrictions. The Church Cemetery lately opened, the General Cemetery recently enlarged, the Four Acres of land adjoining thereto set part as the Dissenters Cemetery and the St Anne’s Parochial Cemetery within its hitherto unused portion of ground afford together for the present, ample provision for interment and will obviate the necessity of this Council appointing a Burial Board under the Act of Parliament in that behalf. 1895-6 The Medical Officer gave detailed reports on both cemeteries General Cemetery - opened 1837; 18 acres; 81,074 bodies;

There was a ‘general packing of graves as close together as possible (16 feet instead of regulation 36 feet)’ which produced conditions that ‘could only be tolerated in exceptionally good (light and porous) soil’. General Cemetery Company claimed they had space for 60-70,000 more burials giving average of 8,000 bodies per acre. The existing 15 acres contain approx. 5,400 bodies per acre. Church (Rock) Cemetery - opened 1856; 13.5 acres; registered burials 9,487; still has 8 acres of unused ground. With precautions to prevent over-crowding use is ‘not objectionable’. Adult grave spaces are 29 feet instead of regulation 36 feet.

Inner-city burial grounds In addition to the graveyards immediately surrounding the parish churches, there were a number of small burial grounds dotted around the town. These old burial grounds were not part of the Enclosure Act but were closed by Act of Parliament in 1855. The Council converted them to recreational spaces, in parallel with other green space development around the town, such as on Victoria Embankment (see Smaller Parks). 1875 The Public Walks and Recreation Committee recommended that gravestones in the disused burial grounds in Bellar Gate, Barker Gate and Carter Gate should be flattened, ‘forest-trees’ planted and some areas asphalted. 1878 The Burial Grounds Committee reported that the Local Government Board had authorised the Council to raise £500 to lay out and plant out Bellar Gate, Carter Gate and Barker Gate. Bellar Gate & Carter Gate were completed. Plans for Barker Gate were to construct asphalt walks enclosed with iron hurdles, erecting a brick wall and iron palisading on the side adjoining Maiden Lane, laying gravestones flat and providing lamp columns and gas piping. 1879 Trees removed from the site of a new road being constructed to north of the Forest had been planted in the disused burial grounds. They will be open to the public in a short time. 1884 Henrietta Carey, Hon Sec. Kyrle Society1 asked the corporation if it could supervise the disused burial grounds. They might be much improved by more constant supervision and become real Recreation Grounds and Meeting Places for the people living in the neighbourhood. 1885 Grace Tarbotton and Henrietta Carey, on behalf of the Kyrle Society, asked for permission to create a playground for children and a flower bed in Barker Gate.

1886 Kyrle Society • Proposed to put see-saws and other play equipment and seats in Walnut Tree Lane burial ground • To open up Mount Street ground on Sundays for people to walk or sit quietly - members of the committee to be present

1 The Kyrle Society was founded in 1875 by Miranda Hill, sister to Octavia Hill, both prominent social reformers. The aim was to provide art, books and open spaces to the working-class poor. There is correspondence between Henrietta Carey and John Ruskin in Nottinghamshire Archives which briefly mentions the Kyrle Society.

• See-saws etc. and more seats in Upper Ground, Barker Gate. Ladies to supervise and play with the children. • The Society had received plants from Belvoir for the two grounds. 1889 Letter from John Frettingham and Son, suggesting planting in the disused burial grounds • Walls planted with ivy • Borders of suitable shrubs at front • Good grass verge • Grass verge by all palisading to prevent soil from falling through into the walk • Handsome shaped beds of suitable shrubs in advantageous positions surrounded by broad grass verges to define and keep shape • Single specimens of deciduous and Evergreen Trees • Flowerbeds formed with grass verge around • Grounds dug and walks cleaned and levelled • All centres planted with a mass of shrubs around lamp posts

1890 The Kyrle Society to manage Barker Gate, Carter Gate and Mount Street former burial grounds on behalf of Council.

Sources and Suggestions for further reading

Original Documents

Nottinghamshire Archives Borough Council Minute Books 1836-1876 Reference Nos. These are hand-written Minute Books and usually contain reports, or CA 3595 - 3636: summaries of reports, from the sub-committees, correspondence received, details of debates and often voting records. Borough Council Minute Books 1877-1915 reading room, After 1877, the official minutes were distributed in printed form, which shelf have been bound together into annual volumes. Sub-committee reports, in the main, were bound separately and references to these are minimal. Correspondence is sometimes referred to, but overall the minutes are summaries not detailed records. Borough Council - reports from subcommittees 1871 - 1915 CA TC 1/2/2 - 44 From about 1870, sub-committee reports were distributed in printed form for presentation to the Council. From about 1877, this became the norm. The reports have been bound together in large annual volumes and are separate from the Minutes of the Council meetings they were presented at, so some cross-referencing is needed. They are often very detailed and includes maps, plans, diagrams and lengthy reports. They are, therefore, far more detailed that the summaries written up in the earlier hand-written Minute Books. (Note: there are also copies of some of the annual volumes at the University of Nottingham, Manuscripts and Special Collections.) Extracts from the Borough Council records have also been published in Records of the Borough of Nottingham, IX (1836-1900)͘ See ‘Suggestions for further reading, below) Inclosure Commissioners Minute Books Vols 1-8 (1845-1847) Part of a series CA 7709-16 of Minute Books kept by the Inclosure Commissioners. These volumes include relevant extracts from the Enclosure Act and details of the negotiations with the Council as the ‘green spaces’ were identified Correspondence Files All correspondence to and from the Council passed through the Town CA TC 19/4/1 Clerk’s Office before being passed to the relevant sub-committee. Some CA TC 19/7/1 letters are therefore addressed to/from the Town Clerk and some from CA TC 70/1-3 Committees. CA TC 70/34-35 CA TC 100/1-2 Correspondence has been split into ‘received’ and ‘sent’ files and the dates CA TC 125/5 of individual files do not match, so some cross-referencing is needed to see CA TC 128/2-3 the full trail. Some correspondence has been split off into topic files.

Not all correspondence files have survived so some trails are incomplete, but the surviving documents give a great insight into day-to-day Council business.

Nottingham Local Studies Library As well as a collection of books on the history of Nottingham, the Local Studies Library has a large collection of ephemera, including: • Maps, including the map of Nottingham annotated by Moses Wood in 1848, Inclosure Commissioners proposed layout of New Nottingham, Ordinance Survey maps and many others • Architectural Drawings of the proposed development of Waterloo Crescent • Photographs - some are available on-line, but many are unpublished • Paintings and prints of 19th and early 20th century Nottingham • Programmes, e.g. band concerts, jubilee and coronation events • Broadsheet posters and other printed material • Catalogues and booklets, e.g. birds in the Arboretum aviary • 19th century newspapers - on microfilm

Manuscripts and Special Collections, University of Nottingham Manuscripts and Special Collections holds • Volumes of the printed Reports to Council (on shelf) • William Parson’s Diary (MS 489/3) • 19th century newspapers • Maps

On-line Sources Nottingham Green Spaces website. http://www.ng-spaces.org.uk/ which comprises articles about many of the themes outlined in this report, as well as descriptions of Project activities.

Newspapers Newspapers are a valuable source for 19th and 20th century history. They include commentaries on events, correspondence and often detailed accounts of Council meetings - including heckling and asides not recorded in the formal minutes. The main newspapers are available on-line through the British Newspaper Archive https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk// It is a subscription website, however, it can be accessed free-of-charge at local studies libraries and Nottinghamshire Archives. Local titles available on-line are

• The Nottingham Journal • Nottingham Evening Post • Nottinghamshire Guardian • Nottingham Review and General Advertiser

Nottingham Local Studies Library also holds microfilm copies of a range of other less well-known papers and magazines.

Nottinghamshire History website: This contains extracts from books and articles in history magazines and journals, originally published at the end of the 19th and early-to-mid 20th centuries http://www.nottshistory.org.uk/default.htm

Nottinghamshire Bibliography: http://www.thorotonsociety.org.uk/bibliography.htm is a web-based means of accessing all bibliographical information for the history of the city and county. It lists published books, journal articles, unpublished theses/dissertations and ‘grey’ literature such as archaeological reports and local authority conservation appraisals. It is searchable by author, title, place and subject.

Nottinghamshire Insight Mapping: https://maps.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/insightmapping/# is an on- line collection of Ordinance Survey maps from 1875 to approximately 2008. Using the drop-down menus, sliders and zoom functions they can be overlaid on each other to reveal how areas have changed - or not - over time. The site also includes some aerial photography.

A Vision of Britain Through Time: http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/ brings together historical surveys of Britain to create a record of how the country and its localities have changed. It was created by Humphrey Southall and the Great Britain Historical GIS Project (Geographical Information System). It is based in the Department of Geography, University of Portsmouth.

Hansard https://hansard.parliament.uk/ the official reports of all Parliamentary debates for the last 200 years are available on this searchable site.

Published Books and Articles

All the books listed below should be easily available from Nottingham Local Studies Library or Nottinghamshire Archives. The list represents a selection of what is available. Nottingham’s Historic Green Space, edited by John Beckett and Paul Elliott - forthcoming A Centenary History of Nottingham, second edition (2006) edited by John Beckett, in particular the chapter ‘Municipal Reform and Parliamentary Enclosure’ British Urban Trees: A Social and Cultural History, c.1800-1914 (2016) by Paul Elliott

Old and New Nottingham (1853) by W H Wylie Old Nottingham (1968) by M I Thomis Nottingham Through 500 Years: A History of Town Government, second edition (1960) by Duncan Gray Records of the Borough of Nottingham, IX, 1836 - 1900, edited by Duncan Gray The Gardens, Parks and Walks of Nottingham and District (1926) by R Mellors Transactions of the Thoroton Society, published annually, relevant articles include: • Paul Elliott and Christine Drew, ‘Victorian gardening, horticulture and arboriculture in the Midlands: John Frederick Wood (1806-1865) of Nottingham and the 'Midland Florist and Suburban Horticulturist'', Vol 120 (2016)

• Judith Mills, 'The transformation of green space in old and new Nottingham', Vol 118 (2014) • J V Beckett and K Brand, ‘Enclosure, Improvement and the Rise of 'New Nottingham' 1845- 67’, Vol 98, (1984) Victorian Nottingham: a story in pictures - a series of books on Victorian Nottingham by Richard Iliffe and Wilfrid Baguley, published by Nottingham Historical Film Unit in 1973-77. Relevant chapters are: • The Forest, Vol 10 • The Arboretum, Vol 10 • Ballooning in Nottingham, Vol 10 • The Park, Vol 13 (includes an image of cricket being played in The Meadows and other images of The Meadows, before development) • Football, Vol 14 • Cricket, Vol 18 • Farewell Queen Victoria, Vol 20 (includes details of Jubilee Celebrations on The Forest) Nottingham Civic Society Newsletter publishes occasional articles, such as: • S Best, ‘A Lively Club - Exploring Nottingham’s General Cemetery’, No ͘80 (1989) • S Best ‘Noblest Sons and Daughters: Exploring the Church Cemetery, Nottingham’, No ͘89 (1992) • S Best, ‘Victoria park and Victorian Nottingham ͘From eyesore to grass lawns and shrubberies’, No 1͘ 23 (2004) The Nottinghamshire Historian, the twice-yearly publication of the Nottinghamshire Local History Association occasionally publishes relevant for example: • J E Heath, ‘Leisure Provision in Victorian Nottingham’, No. 28, 1982 • J L Noble, ‘Choirs, Cricket and Gardening: Some Leisure Activities in Victorian Nottingham’, No. 29, 1982

Other Nottingham Civic Society organises walks through the General and Church Cemeteries. See their website for more information. https://www.nottinghamcivicsociety.org.uk/ The Friends of the Forest organise an annual Inclosure Walk from Wilford Bridge, past most of the Enclosure parks and open spaces to The Forest. It usually happens on the first Sunday in July and is led by a different speaker every year.

Annual Inclosure Walk 2016 Photo: J Coope