More dates for my walks are now booking as follows:
The Hine Hike, an evening walk exploring some of the Nottingham buildings of the Victorian architect Thomas Chambers Hine, will take place on Wednesday 5th June 2019, starting at 6pm. Tickets are £12, available here.
There will be another chance to join me for The Watson Fothergill Walk on Wednesday 12th June 2019, starting at 6pm. On this walk we will see some of Nottingham’s most striking Victorian buildings, designed by the architect Watson Fothergill (a.k.a. Fothergill Watson). Tickets are £12, available here.
Watson Fothergill Walk Evening Edition: 12 June 2019, tickets here.
The next opportunity to join me for the Debbie Bryan Edition of the Watson Fothergill Walk (including drinks and cake) will be 30th June 2019, 1pm. Tickets are £12 and can be found on Eventbrite: here.
All those dates are in one place on Eventbrite here.
Tickets for my talk on Watson Fothergill and Thomas Cecil Howitt (architect of Nottingham’s Council House) at Nottinghamshire Archives, 10 May, 2019 2.30pm are available here.
My talk on TC Hine at West Bridgford Library on 25 June 2019 is now sold out. If you would like me to talk to your group about Watson Fothergill or TC Hine (similar format to the walking tours, but with photos and without the walking!) then please get in touch.
I am also available to take small parties (between 6 and 20 people) on walks to suit your group. Interested? Email me to discuss your needs.
As the walks have been selling out (thanks everyone!) I’ve added a new date for the evening edition of the Watson Fothergill Walk. This one will begin at 6pm on 16 May 2019. Tickets are available here.
Join me to explore the distinctive buildings of this most singular Nottingham architect. The walk starts at Nottingham Tourism Office by the Council House and concludes at Fothergill’s pub, itself one of Watson Fothergill’s buildings, by Nottingham Castle. Tickets are £12.
There are still just one ticket left for The Hine Hike on 14 April, starting at 10am. Join me to discover some of the Nottingham buildings of architect Thomas Chambers Hine.Tickets are £12 and include a drink and a cake at Debbie Bryan at the conclusion of the walk (approx 2 hours).
I’m giving a talk about Fothergill and Thomas Cecil Howitt, architect of The Council House. Tickets £5
Finally, Nottinghamshire Archives have invited me to talk about Watson Fothergill and another great Nottingham architect, Thomas Cecil Howitt on 10 May at 2.30pm. I will be looking at Fothergill’s buildings that are close to Slab Square and also The Council House and Exchange, which celebrates its 90th birthday, having opened on 22 May 1929. Tickets are £5 and include an opportunity to examine archive materials relating to both architects.
Can’t make any of these dates but still interested? Sign up for my mailing list to receive news of new walk dates as soon as they are confirmed.
I’ve been asked to give a talk at Nottinghamshire Archives. To mark 90 years since the opening of the Council House, that impressive symbol of civic pride at the centre of Nottingham, I’m going to be talking about two of Nottingham’s favourite architects, Watson Fothergill and Thomas Cecil Howitt and looking for links between them.
I will be giving an illustrated talk mostly looking at Fothergill’s buildings around the Market Square and T. Cecil Howitt’s Council House and Exchange Arcade which opened in 1929.
There will also be chance to examine archive materials relating to the two architects and their buildings.
The event is on 10 May 2019, 2.30pm. Tickets are £5 each, available from the archives via Eventbrite. There are a limited number of free tickets for FONA (Friends of Nottinghamshire Archives) members.
The Hine Hike
Meanwhile there are still a few tickets left for my Thomas Chambers Hine walk, The Hine Hike, on 14 April 2019. Tickets are £12 each and include a hot drink and a cake at Debbie Bryan at the end of the walk.
Mother’s Day Heritage Tour
There is still time to join me as part of Debbie Bryan’s special Mother’s Day programme of events (31 March 2019. I will be leading a short tour of the architecture of The Lace Market, and your ticket includes a cream tea or afternoon tea (vegan and gluten free options available on request) at Debbie Bryan. Tickets here.
I will be adding more dates for The Watson Fothergill Walk soon, so sign up to the mailing list to get them as soon as they are announced.
I’ve had such a great response to the walks so far – thank you everyone who has booked or spread the word! I have a number of new events coming up…
Lucy throwing some shapes on Broadway! Photo: Stravros Pouricas @stavraki_notts
Sunday 31st March, 1pm – Mother’s Day Heritage Tour a short look around the Lace Market, followed by a choice of Afternoon or Cream Tea at Debbie Bryan. Tickets available here from Debbie Bryan.
Yummy afternoon teas at Debbie Bryan – part of the Mother’s Day package.
Sunday 14th April, 10am –The Hine Hike. I will be offering another chance to join me for a tour of the buildings of Thomas Chambers Hine. This time the walk includes tea (or coffee) and cake at Debbie Bryan.Tickets £12 on sale now.
Thursday 18th April, 6pm – Watson Fothergill Walk – Evening Edition. This is a slightly longer version of the walk, taking advantage of lighter evenings. It will conclude in Fothergill’s pub (drinks not included). Tickets £12, available now.
Tuesday 25th June, 2.30pm – On The Trail Of TC Hine. I will be giving an illustrated talk at West Bridgford Library, looking at some of Thomas Chambers Hine’s buildings in Nottingham. Tickets £3 here or in person from the library.
Learn more about the buildings of Thomas Chambers Hine from the comfort of the library! TICKETS
I hope you can join me at one of the events – sign up for the mailing list for regular updates when new dates are announced.
I am going to be doing another “Virtual Walk”, this time talking about the buildings of Thomas Chambers Hine in Nottingham, at West Bridgford Library on 25th June 2019 at 2.30pm. This will be a talk illustrated with photographs, duration approx. 1 hour.
Debbie Bryan has invited me to run a short walk exploring Nottingham’s Lace Market as part of her programme of Mother’s Day events on Sunday 31st March 2019.
Out and about in the Lace Market looking for Beauty in the Details.
This walk will be a slightly expanded version of the Beauty in the Details walks I offered last year, looking at the architecture and history of this unique part of the city. Tickets come with the choice of cream tea or full afternoon tea. So bring your mum or come along and treat yourself!
Treat your mum to afternoon tea at Debbie Bryan.
You can book over on Debbie Bryan’s website and tickets are £15 (cream tea) and £30 (full afternoon tea). Menus are available with traditional, vegetarian or vegan options and Debbie’s cafe caters for gluten-free options if booked in advance. Meet at Debbie Bryan on St Mary’s Gate for a 1pm start, for a walk and talk of approximately one hour (under 1km on flat paved streets) then return to Debbie Bryan for tea.
Thanks to everyone who came along to the Hine Hike yesterday (17 February) It helped me to test the route and timed the walk. I hope to set more dates for this walk as well as more Watson Fothergill Walks through the Spring and Summer 2019 – watch this space or sign up for the WFW newsletter for updates.
I am trying out a new walk exploring the architecture of Thomas Chambers Hine, the other big name behind some of the most impressive Victorian buildings in Nottingham. This first walk will be a “work in progress” and I’ll be looking for your feedback at the end of the route.
Come and help me test out my new walk, The Hine Hike! Tickets here
Tickets are £10 but if you’re quick you can get a discount on tickets by using the code found in the mailing list email.
The morning walk on 28th April 2019 is very nearly sold out so I have added an afternoon session startng at 1pm. Tickets are available on Eventbrite price £12 each, tickets include hot drinks and cake at Debbie Bryan after the walk.
In my last few blogs I’ve been looking at the life and work of Lawrence George Summers who was Watson Fothergill’s assistant and an architect in his own right, albeit a somewhat less flamboyant one.
The last installment left off in New Basford, from where I walked back to Sherwood Rise. I passed Fothergill’s Norris Homes and further down Berridge Road at the corner with Cedar Road I found a large three storey block which originally comprised Five Dwellng Houses and a Shop (LGS16). Summers didn’t sign the drawings but there is evidence that he worked on them in 1902. The client was Mr George Hayes.
The corner of Berridge Road and Cedar Road, with traces of the 1902 building. Photo: Lucy Brouwer.The shop front still visible on the corner of Cedar Road, but building heavily altered. Photo: Lucy Brouwer.
Over on the other side of Mansfield Road, into Mapperley Park can be found what is likely to be the latest building to be signed off by LG Summers. The house built for Mrs Eleanor Ellenberger (Watson Fothergill’s 4th daughter) on Thorncliffe Road (LGS29).
The house on Thorncliffe Road that LG Summers built for Fothergill’s daughter Eleanor Ellenberger. Photo: Lucy Brouwer.
The date stones are marked 1930. Given that plans were submitted in 1929 after Fothergill’s death in 1928, it can perhaps be assumed that the house was built with his inheritance.
The date stones 19 & 30 at Thorncliffe Road. Photo: Lucy Brouwer.
Of all the houses built by Summers that I’ve found so far, this last one seems to show the least of Fothergill’s influence, but by the 1920s fashions in architecture had moved on considerable from the Gothic and Vernacular styles that were interpretted in the work coming out of the George Street Office in the late 19th century.
Gables and varied roof lines still feature in Summers’ late work. Photo: Lucy Brouwer. Unusual corner windows make a handsome feature on Mrs Ellenberger’s house. Photo: Lucy Brouwer.
In 1894 Eleanor Fothergill Watson Fothergill (as her maiden name became when her father had his moment at the deed poll) married the German-born (but naturalised British) violin teacher Georg Hieronymus Ellenberger (1862-1918). They lived in Nottingham at Lindum house (at the corner of Burns Street near All Saints Church from at least 1899) and towards then end of his life they lived in Ecceleshall, Sheffield.
Georg Ellenberger was a pupil of the violinist Joseph Joachim (a collaborator of Joannes Brahms) and was himself violin teacher to the young Hucknall-born Eric Coates around 1898. Coates would take the train from Hucknall to Nottingham for his lessons twice a week. Coates became a composer, and is probably best known for the Dam Busters March.
After Georg’s death, Eleanor appears to have returned to Nottingham. She died in 1946. It was her son, Brigadier George Fothergill Ellenberger who transcribed some of Fothergill’s family history notes (this typed document is held at the local studies library in Angel Row.)
