ABSTRACT
Pavement, which remains the main route into the Lace Market. The castle hill was occupied by the Normans following 1066, hence the French town that grew up around its base, and for years the two towns glared at each other from their respective hills. By the 17th century the towns had merged and Nottingham (they had wisely dropped the ‘s’) had become a prosperous city. It was at this time that the invention of the stocking frame revolutionised the production of hosiery. The towns of the East Midlands became the centre of this new cottage industry and by 1799 there were 149 hosiery manufacturers in Nottingham and six lace-makers (lace-making being a time-consuming handcraft). However, in the face of fierce competition from the textile centres of Lancashire, the Nottingham hosiers were forced to diversify by converting their stocking frames to lacemaking. Increased production caused the price of lace to fall and it was incorporated into the fashions of the day. The Nottingham market boomed and by 1832 it had 186 lace-makers and just 70 hosiers. The lacemakers had started to concentrate on the hill around
the medieval church of St Mary’s which became known as the Lace Market. As with the Jewellery Quarter, the early trade was conducted in the merchants’ houses, while the actual lace-making was a cottage industry in the surrounding areas. This all changed with the invention of a series of lace-making machines. The first had been invented in 1813 by John Levers and then in 1846 John Livesey invented a lace curtain machine. As the patents fell in on these machines in the mid 19th century, the industry was transformed. Up until then Nottingham had remained a compact city. Unlike the other industrial cities, it was surrounded by undevelopable common pasture so that all its early growth had to take place within its walls (which is why its character is so different to other large British cities). Then in 1845 the Enclosure Act was passed, allowing the fields around the city to be developed. The lace merchants moved out of their cramped houses to suburban villas, redeveloping their former homes as mills to accommodate the new mechanised lace production process. Over a relatively short period the medieval hilltop city became a forest of five-and six-storey warehouses, built by merchants with a bit of money to spend and a point to make. The grandest of these was the Adams Building, built by John Adams in 1855 as a trading and finishing house for lace products. The building was powered by a great steam engine that drove a hydraulics system running hoists and machines and providing heat through hot air ducts. The glazed top floors were used for lace-working while in the basement was a chapel that could seat 500, where prayers were said before each shift. The business closed in 1950, by which time the lace industry was in steep decline. For many years the Adams Building was subdivided into small business units but it gradually deteriorated until in 1996 it was acquired by the
Lace Market Heritage Trust. The building was very nearly selected as the national head office for English Heritage but eventually became home to New College Nottingham with a £16.5 million refurbishment. The area’s regeneration had started in 1989 when the Lace Market Development Company was established (the Lace Market Heritage Trust followed in 1993). Their strategy sought to protect the remaining lace manufacturers and resist the encroachment of offices. The area was designated as a National Heritage Area and tourism was promoted through the conversion of the Shire Hall and County Gaol as the Museum of Justice. The battle to save the lace industry was, however, something of a lost cause and the saviour of the area has been the very office development that the
original strategy had sought to resist. The area is now part of Nottingham’s Creative Quarter, together with Sneinton Market to the east. Its buildings have been gradually brought back to life, mostly for office and studio space together with some housing. On its northern fringe Goose Gate is a centre for the evening economy while High Pavement’s role as a visitor focus has been reinforced with the opening of
the Nottingham Contemporary gallery. The Lace Market is once more a functioning, fully occupied, normal part of the city, which must be the ultimate objective for any regeneration programme even if it no longer makes lace.
