In 1910, Nottingham was the world capital of the lace industry. There were around 40,000 people working in the industry, a third of the city’s working population. One-by-one the factories have closed down and in 2011 the last of Nottingham’s lace manufacturers switched the machines [ … ]
Category: History
Going Underground
Mapperley Tunnel and Gedling Colliery Mapperley Tunnel is a disused railway tunnel that runs below Mapperley Plains, where it meets Arnold Lane and Gedling Road. This 1044 metre tunnel was built for the Derbyshire and Staffordshire Extension of the Great Northern Railway. This line ran from [ … ]
Mapperley’s Old Police Station
We recently posted a photograph of the wrought-iron entrance gate of the rather neglected former police house at 649 Woodborough Road (opposite the top of Porchester Road). This became a police station in around 1904, two years after the tram reached that location and a [ … ]
The Plains Squash Club And Chick Zamick
Many of you will be unaware of The Plains Squash Club at the junction of Plains Road and Gedling Road. The club was demolished about 20 years ago and was replaced by the Mapperley Heights apartment block. The Plains Squash Club was a modern two-storey [ … ]
Mapperley’s Gold Medal Winner – 1912
One of the most satisfying aspects of managing the Mapperley People page is the enthusiasm of local people to help others in researching and identifying family history. After the death of his ‘Nan’, Robin Phillips was sorting through her personal effects and discovered an item [ … ]
Clina House
The residential area of Mapperley is made extra special because of the variety of houses that were built over time, as plots of land became available. This haphazard way the area has developed, has given us a wide variety of dwellings, some modest and some [ … ]
Memories Of Mapperley Brickworks
Whenever Nottingham’s old brickworks are talked about on local history sites, people tend to remember just one or two of them. Those that they lived near or played in as children. There were in fact many brickyards operated by several companies. One such company was [ … ]
Coppice Hospital To Hine Hall
The former Coppice Hospital in Mapperley is now named Hine Hall, after the architect and designer Thomas Chambers Hine. This was one of two 19th century mental health facilities in the Mapperley area of Nottingham. It opened as the Coppice Private Asylum in August 1859. [ … ]
Where Are Our Civic Plaques?
Civic plaques are a popular way of remembering our history and people. The Mapperley area doesn’t seem to have many though. Why is this? Nottingham city centre has many, and so does the Beeston area. Surely our area has people and places that are worth [ … ]
Cyril Stapleton And Jacky Pownall
Many thanks to Alan Smith for sharing this photo of the school class of 1924 at the Town Mission Ragged School, at Sneinton Market in Nottingham. The boy with the yellow dot above his head is Cyril Stapleton who went on to become a famous [ … ]