NOTTINGHAM, a city and county of a city, municipal and county town of Nottinghamshire, England. Pop. (1931) 268.801.
The highly advantageous position of Nottingham (Snoten gaham, Notingeham) on the Trent, where it was crossed by an ancient highway, accounts for its origin. The Saxon form of the name is taken to refer to the caves, anciently used as dwelling places, which were hollowed out in the Castle rock, in the Rock Holes west of the castle, in the suburb of Sneinton and else where. It was chosen by the Danes for their winter quarters in 868, and constituted one of their five burghs. In 922 it was secured and fortified by Edward the Elder, who in 924 built a second "burgh" opposite the first and connected with it by a bridge over the river. Aethelstan, the successor of Edward the Elder, established a royal mint there. In 1013 the town sub mitted to Sweyn. William I. erected a castle, and mention of a new borough occurs in Domesday Book, and this seems to be the first evidence of the existence of the "French borough" which grew up in Nottingham under the Normans, and was distin guished from the English borough by the different customs which prevailed in it. Parliaments were held at Nottingham in 1337 and 1357, and it was the scene of the conference of the judges with Richard II. in August 1387. David II. of Scotland was imprisoned in the castle. Edward IV. assembled his troops at Nottingham in 1461 ; and it was the headquarters of Richard III. before the battle of Bosworth in 1485. In 1642 Charles I. finally broke with the Parliament by setting up his standard at Nottingham, and during the ensuing Civil War the castle was held by each of the two parties more than once. In 1644 it was dis mantled by Cromwell's orders.
The first charter (Henry II.) confirmed to the burgesses the liberties they had under Henry I., referred to a market on Satur days, and forbade the working of dyed cloth, except in Notting ham, within ten leagues of the borough. John confirmed this and granted a gild-merchant. Henry III. allowed the burgesses to hold the town in fee-farm, and Edward I. granted them a mayor and two bailiffs, one to be chosen from each borough. Henry VI.
confirmed all preceding privileges, first incorporated the mayor and burgesses, and granted that the town, except the castle and gaol, should be a county of itself. Two sheriffs were to replace the two bailiffs. This charter remained, except for temporary surrenders under Charles II. and James II., the governing charter of the corporation until the Municipal act of 1835. Nottingham returned two members to parliament from 1295 until 1885, when the number was increased to three, and again to f our in 1918. Edward I. granted an eight-days' fair in September and a fifteen days' fair in November, the last altered by Richard II. to a five days' fair in February. Two other fairs were granted by Anne; one large fair, Goose fair, is still held. This begins on the first Thursday in October and lasts three days. The markets on Wednesdays and Saturdays are held by prescriptive right. Be sides the Reform riots of 1831, Nottingham witnessed in 1811 the Luddite disturbances. In 1870 Nottingham was made the seat of a suffragan bishop of the diocese of Lincoln, but as it is now in the diocese of Southwell there is no suffragan bishopric. In 1921 the Elizabethan Wollaton hall was bought from Lord Mid dleton by the corporation.
Nottingham stands on the Trent and Leen, 125 m. N.N.W. of London by the L.M.S.R.; it is also served by the L.N.E.R. Water communications are afforded by the Grantham canal, the Nottingham and Erewash canals, communicating with the Crom ford canal in Derbyshire, and by the Trent. A railway line to Mansfield was opened in 1917, giving access to the docks at Immingham. The plan of the town is irregular and in the centre is an open market pace 5 ac. in area. Nottingham castle occu pies a fine site to the south, on an abrupt rocky hill. The ancient remains include a restored Norman gateway and fragments of the fortifications. In 1878 the site was acquired on lease by the corporation, and the building was opened as the Nottingham and Midland Counties Art museum. The church of St. Mary is a Perpendicular cruciform structure, with a central tower. St.