ABSTRACT
the Enclosure Act of 1845 ushered in a period of expansion of local industry and population. The final award was delayed until 1865, but by 1852 practically all land had been allotted and most of the recipients had disposed of their sites. 1 This meant that land for building purposes appeared on the market during a cyclical upswing in the national economy, and at a time of progressive developments in the lace and hosiery industries. The extension of steam power to lace machinery and the beginnings of power production in the hosiery industry resulted in demands for factory and warehouse buildings. Between 1851 and 1856 no fewer than seventy-four factories and forty-one warehouses were erected in Nottingham. 2 Felkin reckoned that on factory and warehouse construction alone at least £250,000 was spent in Nottingham between 1849 and 1856. In 1856–57 another eighteen factories and twenty-one warehouses were built, and a further thirty-six factories and five warehouses in 1857–58. 3 A Leicester journalist wrote:
Nottingham is become the Manchester of the Midlands … with regard to its warehouses Nottingham cannot fail to astonish any visitor. 4
