The Lace Market is a historic quarter-mile square area in the centre of

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

, England. It was once the centre of the world's

lace Lace is a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread in an open weblike pattern, made by machine or by hand. Generally, lace is split into two main categories, needlelace and bobbin lace, although there are other types of lace, such as knitted o ...

industry and was an area of salesrooms and

warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the rural–urban fringe, out ...

s for storing, displaying and selling the lace. It is now designated as a

conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...

and accommodates a variety of bars, restaurants and shops. It also hosts the Lace Market Theatre, the National Justice Museum and the Nottingham Contemporary arts centre. The area is served by

Nottingham Express Transit Nottingham Express Transit (NET) is a tram system in Nottingham, England. The concept of a modern tramway to reduce road congestion and promote urban renewal was formally identified during the late 1980s while detailed planning was undertake ...

's Lace Market tram stop on Fletcher Gate.

History

Origins

The Lace Market is located on a hill that was the site of the original

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

settlement of Nottingham. It boasts the oldest Christian foundation in the city, predating the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

. St Mary's Church, on High Pavement is believed to be the third church to have stood there but was itself completed in 1474 and is an excellent example of early English

Perpendicular architecture Perpendicular Gothic (also Perpendicular, Rectilinear, or Third Pointed) architecture was the third and final style of English Gothic architecture developed in the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages, typified by large windows, four-ce ...

. The Saxon settlement was originally surrounded by a substantial defensive ditch and rampart, which fell out of use following the Norman Conquest and was filled by the time of the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

(1086). Following the Norman Conquest the Saxon settlement developed into the ''English borough'', which housed a Town Hall and Law Courts. At the same time the ''French borough'' developed around the Norman castle on the hill opposite. Eventually the focus of the city became the Old Market Square, situated between the two boroughs, leaving the site of the Saxon settlement to concentrate on the lace industry.Scott C. Lomax (17 October 2013). Nottingham: The Buried Past of a Historic City Revealed. Pen and Sword. pp. 83–. .

The lace industry

The area's name, and much of its character, derives from it becoming the heart of the world's

industry during the days of the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

. This transformation followed on from the invention of the

stocking frame A stocking frame was a mechanical knitting machine used in the textiles industry. It was invented by William Lee of Calverton near Nottingham in 1589. Its use, known traditionally as framework knitting, was the first major stage in the mechanis ...

in 1589 by William Lee, who probably came from the nearby village of Calverton. Although Lee emigrated to France, the stocking knitting trade became centred on Nottingham in the mid-18th century, boosted by the supply of yarn from

Richard Arkwright Sir Richard Arkwright (23 December 1732 – 3 August 1792) was an English inventor and a leading entrepreneur during the early Industrial Revolution. He is credited as the driving force behind the development of the spinning frame, known as ...

Derwent Valley Mills Derwent Valley Mills is a World Heritage Site along the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England, designated in December 2001. It is administered by the Derwent Valley Mills Partnership. The modern factory, or 'mill', fact ...

. In time, the Nottingham stocking knitters discovered how to adapt their machines to knit lace. The

Bobbinet Bobbinet tulle or genuine tulle is a specific type of tulle which has been made in the United Kingdom since the invention of the bobbinet machine. John Heathcoat coined the term "bobbin net", or bobbinet as it is spelled today, to distinguish thi ...

machines were invented in 1808 by

John Heathcoat John Heathcoat (7 August 1783 – 18 January 1861) was an English inventor and politician. During his apprenticeship he made an improvement to the warp-weighted loom, so as to produce mitts of a lace-like appearance. He set up his own business ...

, John Levers adapted this to create the

Leavers machine Leaver or Leavers may refer to: * Glossary of Brexit terms#Leaver, Leaver, a supporter of Brexit * Surname ** Brett Leaver (born 1970), New Zealand field hockey player ** Charles Owen Leaver Riley (1854–1929), first Anglican archbishop of Perth ...

in 1813, and John Livesey adapted it into the curtain machine in 1846. These developments eventually gave the Lace Market its name, although it was never a

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market *Marketing, the act of sat ...

in the sense of having stalls, but comprised salesrooms and

s for storing, displaying and selling the lace. The local hosiery industry employed 25,000 mostly female workers at its peak in the 1890s. The lace would be finished on the top floors of the large

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

brick-built warehouses, which are recognisable by their large windows, and then displayed in the downstairs showrooms to buyers from the fashion and domestic furnishing businesses.

Decline and regeneration

Like many large British cities, Nottingham was affected by the decline of traditional industries. Lace declined as technology changed and the working population fell below 5,000 in the 1970s with many of the factories becoming derelict and the area falling into decline. The Lace Market has since undergone a renaissance and become a flagship for the city's post industrial regeneration. This change started in 1969, with the designation of the area as the city's first

. In 1978,

Nottingham City Council Nottingham City Council is the local authority for the city of Nottingham, in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands region of England. Nottingham has had a council from medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous ...

led the Operation Clean Up programme offering public grants to building owners to refurbish their historic buildings. Nearly all of the old warehouses that were once run down have now been cleaned and renovated and have found new uses such as luxury apartments, high-spec offices and academic buildings. Several PR and design agencies, as well as technology companies, have made the Lace Market their home.

Landmarks

Most of the area is typical

, with densely packed 4–7 storey red-brick building lined streets. Iron railings, old gas lamps and red phone boxes give the visitor a sense of going back in time. The Adams Building (now part of the City campus of Nottingham College) was designed by

Thomas Chambers Hine Thomas Chambers Hine (31 May 1813 – 6 February 1899) was an architect based in Nottingham. Background He was born in Covent Garden into a prosperous middle-class family, the eldest son of Jonathan Hine (1780–1862), a hosiery manufacturer and ...

and was built for Thomas Adams, a notable Quaker who did much to improve the typical Victorian working conditions in his factories. Another fine piece of Victorian architecture in the area is a warehouse designed by Watson Fothergill, a prolific local architect responsible for some 100 buildings in the area between 1870 and 1906. His work in the

Gothic revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

and Old English

vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...

styles was very popular in

Victorian times In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed th ...

, and means that many shops, banks, houses and even churches are enlivened by

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Optical microscope#Objective turret (revolver or revolving nose piece), Objective turre ...

gargoyle In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed Grotesque (architecture), grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from ...

mock Tudor Tudor Revival architecture, also known as mock Tudor in the UK, first manifested in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture, in rea ...

beams and other distinctive features. To the south of the area, many of the buildings are older, especially on

High Pavement High Pavement is a street in the Lace Market district of the city of Nottingham in Nottinghamshire, England. It is one of the earliest streets in the city, and many of its buildings are listed. It runs east from the Weekday Cross to the east ...

, which is a handsome Georgian street that is home to St Mary's Church and the National Justice Museum . The museum is located in the old law courts and County Gaol (jail) – or County Goal as the

stonemason Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone as the primary material. Stonemasonry is the craft of shaping and arranging stones, often together with mortar and even the ancient lime mortar ...

accidentally inscribed it, a blunder still visible today above the entrance. There has been a court on the site since 1375, with the present Georgian building being used since 1780.

References

External links

Map of Nottingham's conservation areas
showing boundaries of, and listed buildings within, the Lace Market {{coord, 52.952, -1.143, region:GB, display=title History of Nottinghamshire Areas of Nottingham Garment districts Lace Conservation areas in Nottinghamshire