[Illustration: NOTTINGHAM CASTLE.]
We will now cross over the border from Lincoln into Nottinghamshire,
and, seeking the valley of the Trent, find upon the steep brow of a
cliff by the river the ancient castle of Nottingham, which is now
surrounded by the busy machinery of the hosiery-weavers. When it was
founded no one accurately knows, but it is believed to antedate the
Roman occupation of the island. As long ago as the tenth century there
was a bridge across the Trent at Snodengahame--meaning the "dwelling
among the rocks"--as it was then called, and afterwards the town
suffered from the Danes. It is also suffered during the troubled reign
of King Stephen. The castle was built by one of the Peverils soon after
the Norman Conquest, and was frequently the abode of kings. It was here
that Roger Mortimer was seized prior to being tried and hanged in
London. King David of Scotland and Owen Glendower of Wales were held
prisoners in Nottingham Castle, and from it Richard III. advanced to
meet his fate on Bosworth Field, while Charles I. set up his standard
and gathered his army at Nottingham at the opening of the Civil Wars,
the blowing down of the standard by a gale on Castle Hill being taken as
ominous of the unfortunate termination of the conflict. The old castle,
which has fallen into ruins, subsequently passed into possession of the
Duke of Newcastle, who cleared away almost the whole of the ancient
structure and built a house upon the site. The city was noted for its
manufactures as early as the reign of King John, and the hand-knitting
of stockings was introduced in the sixteenth century. Previously to that
time hosiery had been cut out of cloth, with the seams sewed up the same
as outer clothing. As early as 1589 a machine for weaving was invented,
but failing to reap a profit from it, the inventor, a clergyman, took it
to Paris, where he afterwards died broken-hearted. Ultimately, his
apprentices brought the machines back to Nottingham, improved them, and
prospered. Many improvements followed. Jedediah Strutt produced the
"Derby ribbed hose;" then the warp-loom was invented in the last
century, and the bobbin-traverse net in 1809. The knitting-machines have
been steadily improved, and now hosiery-making is carried on in
extensive factories that give an individuality to the town. The
rapidity with which stockings are reeled off the machines is
astonishing. An ordinary stocking is made in four pieces, which are
afterwards sewed or knitted together by another machine. Some of the
looms, however, knit the legs in one piece, and may be seen working off
almost endless woollen tubes, which are afterwards divided into
convenient lengths. Fancy hosiery is knitted according to patterns, the
setting up of which requires great skill. Vast amounts of lace are
woven, and in the factories female labor preponderates. The upper town
of Nottingham, clustering around the castle on the river-crag, has a
picturesque aspect from the valley below. Among the features of the
lower town is the market-place, a triangular area of slightly over four
acres, where the market is held every Saturday, and where once a year is
also held that great event of Nottingham, the Michaelmas goose fair.
Here also disport themselves at election-times the rougher element, who,
from their propensity to bleat when expressing disapprobation, are known
as the "Nottingham lambs," and who claim to be lineal descendants from
that hero of the neighboring Sherwood Forest, Robin Hood.