A Brief History of The Park Estate

I'd really like to develop a good history section for the website, perhaps using some of the documents from The University of Nottingham Manuscripts and Special Collections; please get in touch if you would like to assist. In the meantime, here is the potted history from Dougal de Havilland's Map of the Park which he has kindly provided.

• 500AD Saxons arrive, ignore the Castle rock and build their settlement where St Mary’s church now stands
• 1068 William the Conqueror sees the rock and orders a castle to be built there putting Peveril in charge. Adjacent woodland is enclosed for a royal hunting ground, which together with the castle will be used by kings and their courts for the following four hundred years
• 1449 Great Charter is granted to Nottingham . The town is now subservient only to the King.
• 1485 Battle of Bosworth ushers in Henry VII. The Tudors neglect Nttingham preferring their castles in London. James I gives the Nottingham’s castle and its park to the Earl of Rutland who purloins it for building material.
• 1634 Charles I chooses to stay at Thurland Hall, the castle having become “unsuitable”.
• 1642 Charles raises his Standard outside the castle (Now Standard Hill) but the town remains faithful to Parliament. Civil war follows leading to Charles’ execution in 1649.
• 1651 At the end of the war the castle is demolished by Colonel Willoughby.
• 1662 The ruined castle is bought by William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle who plans to design and build a great house (to be called a ducal mansion or palace) on the site.
• 1674 Work begins on this Italianate palace costing £14,000 but the Duke dies b efore it is finished.

• 1714 As the Duke leaves no male heir, nephew Thomas Pelham (Holles) is recreated the 1st Duke of Newcastle.
• 1768 Again there is no male heir and nephew Henry Pelham Clinton becomes the 2nd Duke of Newcastle
• 1776 The last great ball is held at the ducal mansion, hosted by the Earl of Lincoln, Colonel of Nottingham Militia. Afterwards the building is let off as apartments.
• 1792 The old castle fishponds are filled in with soil taken from excavations for the cavalry barracks to be built on the north-west corner of the Park.
• 1794 Henry Clinton dies and his son Thomas becomes the 3rd Duke.
• 1795 The 3rd Duke dies aged 42 (from a botched treatment for whooping cough) leaving his wife aged 35 as the Dowager Duchess and their son , Henry Pelham Fiennes Clinton aged 10.
• 1800 The Dowager remarries and sells land on Standard Hill to provide for the young Duke.
• 1801 The first national census has Nottingham’s population at nearly 30,000. By 1821 it will exceed 40,000, and 10 years later, in 1831, will be over 50,000.
• 1807 The 4th Duke marries heiress Georgina Elizabeth Mundy of Shipley in Derbyshire and adds £19,000 to his own fortune
• 1808 St James Church, built by William Stretton on Standard Hill will later be replaced by a nurses’ home. The larger Memorial nurses’ home (also on Standard Hill) was built after WWI (The Great War) and has now been converted into 30 high-class apartments known as Royal Standard House.
• 1809 St Mary’s Vicarage is built on Standard Hill. This was the first building in the original Park area.
• 1822 Proposals by the 4th Duke to develop the Park as a residential area are resented by the townsfolk who regard this area as their own recreational ground.
• 1831 Newcastle’s mansion is fired by rioters protesting against his anti-Reform Bill attitude.

• 1834 Despite local opposition, 50 large villas have now been built around the perimeter of The Park on Western Terrace, Park Terrace and Ropewalk Street now The Ropewalk).
• 1851 The 4th Duke dies and his son Lord Lincoln is much more respected by both the town and its council. This 5th Duke appoints Thomas Chambers Hine, by far the best local architect, to continue the Park development and all houses must be approved by him, including those of rival Fothergill Watson.
• 1875 Hine supervises the restoration of the burned out mansion, and the Corporation rents the building to establish the first municipal art gallery and museum in England.
• 1887 Nearly 400 hoses have now been built, mainly for rich and influential Nottinghamians, including A J Mundella (Educationalist), Sir Jesse Boot (Pharmacist), Sir Albert Ball (Plumber), John Player (Tobacco) , William Foster (Lord Mayor), Thomas Foreman (Printer), and the Bowden (Bicycle) and Birkin (Lace) families.
• 1897 Queen Victoria proclaims Nottingham a city in this her Diamond Jubilee year.
• 1938 After 277 years family ownership, the 8th Duke sells the Park to Oxford University via Lord Nuffield.
• 1946 Clumber Park (The house was demolished in 1938 to raise funds) sold to The National Trust.
• 1986 After many years of hard work, NPRA with John Hallam at the helm bring to fruition the Nottingham Park Estate Limited, enabling residents to elect their own board of unpaid directors to manage the maintenance of their roads. pavements, gas-lighting, trees and greens.
• 1994 Documents relating to the Estate transferred from Oxford to Nottingham University.