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City and County

By NICK BARBER

Although Nottinghamshire is best-known internationally for Robin Hood and his band of merry men the county existed as an administrative unit for several hundred years before the man in tights stalked Sherwood Forest.

The City of Nottingham was first mentioned in AD 867 when an invading Danish army stayed there for the winter before taking this part of Mercia from Saxon control.

Newark is first described as "new work" as distinct from the much older Roman forts guarding the Fosse Way the property of Lady Godiva wife of Earl Leofric of Mercia in the early 11th century.

The picture becomes clearer after the Doomsday Book as medieval Nottinghamshire expanded its trade along the River Trent with developing towns at Retford Mansfield and Worksop and Newark becoming a important commercial centres.

The county had a large number of monastic houses and from a very early date had coal-pits as well as cloth wool and hosiery industries.

Mining took off in the 16th century followed in the next by glass making and earthenware manufacture. In the early 18th Century the lace industry saw a rapid growth while Arkwright's arrival in 1768 brought the cotton industry into the county.

The Luddites were more active in Nottinghamshire than any other county but still failed to stop the growth of industry.

The 19th Century brought the addition of Jesse Boot's pharmaceutical business the Raleigh cycle factory and John Player's tobacco factory to Nottingham's wide range of industries.

Nottinghamshire became known for completely different industries than its neighbours developing pharmaceuticals lace tobacco alabaster stockings and lace.

The heavy industry that grew in Derby Lincoln and Gainsborough was not to be seen in Nottingham apart from the cycle industry.

Brewing and textiles continued to grow in the rest of the county and coal mining the most important of all which fuelled a succession of modern power stations being built along the banks of the Trent.

The city now has a population of about 250,000 - roughly a quarter of the county's inhabitants. Many political commentators view the city as a barometer as to how England as a whole might vote in a General Election.

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