Due to the previous walk being sold out, I’ve added another walk in the afternoon on 30 September 2018. Meet for 1pm at Nottingham Tourism Centre, tickets are £12 each and once again the walk will finish at Debbie Bryan with tea or coffee and cake included. Please let us know if you have any special dietry requirements (Vegan, De-caf, Gluten-Free etc all available.)
The 1pm walk is now full but there are 2 tickets open on the 10am HERE
I’ve been asked about accessibility for wheelchairs, mobility scooters and prams – The route is all on pavements and on pedestrian areas. There are some steps into Debbie Bryan’s premises but if these are unmanagable, we can arrange tea outside or help with your needs. Disabled toilet facilities are available at The Kean’s Head (a minute from Debbie Bryan on St Mary’s Gate.). If you have any queries – please email via the Contact page.
Tickets for 30 September are limited so please book in advance. If you wish to pay on the day please email to reserve a place.
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Taking a look around St Mary’s Gate in preparation for my Heritage Open Days walks, I started to notice things about the buildings that I’d never noticed before. How the modern buildings mirror the shapes of the Victorian ones, how the details on each phase of the Adams Building are subtly different, how clean the buildings are compared to when I first saw them. Taking more time to look around, I have noticed details that, when you’re rushing from A to B you often miss.
Door on Warser Gate (Photo: Lucy Brouwer).
Back when I first visited Nottingham as a kid, probably some time in the late 1980s, the Lace Market seemed a rather dark and neglected hinterland. Rarely would a visit into “the citeh” venture beyond the Market Square (or if I’m honest, beyond the food court in the Victoria Centre and later the racks of Selectadisc on Market Street).
Then, the old buildings were dirty, sooty, looming presences with shut up shops and the last remnants of the textile industry.
Returning to Nottingham after only sporadic visits through the 1990s and early 2000s, the conservation of the buildings is the most noticable feature. The colours of the bricks and stones catch the light on sunny days, the details are visible as they might have been when they were first built.
The Adams Building from St Mary’s Gate (Photo: Lucy Brouwer).
Learning about the history of the place and how much it has changed has made me see the beauty in the details.
I recently visited Cardiff Castle to see William Burges’ Clock Tower and the fantastical interiors he designed for the Marquess of Bute.
Exterior of the Clock Tower at Cardiff Castle. (Photo: Lucy Brouwer).
William Burges (1827-1881) was one of Watson Fothergill’s great influences, his name and dates being one of those carved onto the front of Fothergill’s office in George Street.
Watson Fothergill’s architectural heroes appear on the front of his office on George Street, Nottingham. The busts depict Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin and George Edmund Street. To the right: the names and dates of George Gilbert Scott, William Burges and Richard Norman Shaw. Fothergill himself is perhaps the inspiration for the medieval architect on the left. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons, Andrewrabbott).
William Burges was perhaps the greatest of the Victorian “art-architects” who sort to re-establish the architectural and social values of a utopian Medieval England. His work stands as the apex of the Gothic Revival, along with the work of the Pre-Raphaelites and it heralds the Arts and Crafts movement.
In Burges’ short but illustrious career, some of his most spectacular work was done for the “richest man in Victoria’s Empire”, the 3rd Marquess of Bute. In particular his Clock Tower at Cardiff Castle, and the lavish interiors that he produced in the tower and in the main building.
William Burges, photo portrait to be seen in the Winter Smoking Room of the Clock Tower, Cardiff Castle. “Ugly Burgess who makes beautiful things… isn’t he a duck,” wrote Gwendoline, Marchioness of Bute.
Burges was an eccentric genius, with a wild imagination fueled by smoking opium. He produced architecture, furniture, jewellery and objects which Bute’s wealth was able to indulge on the highest level.
The Clock Tower contains two smoking rooms, for winter and summer, all sumptuously decorated in rich colours.
Figures of the Four Winds, Summer Smoking RoomFigures of the Four Winds, Summer Smoking Room.Every inch is covered in details, Summer Smoking Room.Lamps to light the Summer Smoking Room. (Photos Lucy Brouwer.)
See more of Burges’ work for Bute in this documentary on BBCiPlayer.
Burges’ influence on Fothergill can be seen in the animals and mythic creatures he attaches to his buildings, as well as the Gothic Revival flourishes that became part of his architectural style.
One of the most interesting discoveries I’ve made while researching the buildings of Watson Fothergill is the identity of the sculptor of the terra cotta panels on two of his Nottingham city centre buildings.
It turns out that the panels on the Parliament Street side of Furley & Co. grocers (now Lloyds Bank) and Fothergill’s Office on George Street were both created by Benjamin Creswick (1853-1946).
Creswick was born in Sheffield in 1853, the son of a spectacle frame maker. He was apprenticed to the knife-grinding trade. At the time this was difficult and dangerous work, often leading to lung disease from the inhalation of stone dust or the risk of serious injury (even death) from the breaking or disintegration of the stone grinding wheel.
After showing early signs of lung disease, Creswick visited a doctor. The doctor asked if Creswick had any other skills by which he might earn his living and Creswick produced from his pocket a small bust of Dante modelled in terra cotta. So impressed was the doctor that he ordered a bust of himself from Creswick.
Creswick had been attending sculpture classes at Sheffield School of Art. He also visited the Walkley Museum, the art gallery set up in Sheffield by John Ruskin. The eminent art critic had set out to feed the minds of the working men of Sheffield and the city is still the home of The Guild of St George and a large portion of Ruskin’s collection.
The Walkey’s curators, Henry and Emily Swan, persuaded Creswick to exhibit his work in 1876. Ruskin was encouraging and the Swans lent Creswick a photograph of the art critic and from this is was able to model a small portrait bust. Impressed by this, Ruskin invited Creswick to his home at Brantwood in Cumbria to model a portrait bust from life.
Ruskin continued to help Creswick, connecting him with employers in Bewdley and supporting his family by paying for lodgings and a studio at Coniston. Ruskin helped to teach Creswick and sought patrons and commissions for him. His aim was to make buildings “sparkle with interest,” and he went on to create sculpture for several buildings, including a bust of Thomas Carlyle which is still attached to the philosopher and historian’s house in Cheyne Row, London. He also created portrait busts of Homer and Dante for Leeds City Library.
Creswick became a teacher at Birmingham Municipal School of Art, furthering Arts and Crafts ideals. He continued to develop his career as a sculptor for thirty years.
One of Creswick’s major commissions was for the frieze on the Cutlers’ Hall, in London (1887). Possibly his best known work, it depicts the various stages of the cutlery manufacturing process, with particular attention to the harsh working conditions which the artist himself had experienced working at the grindstones. Other notable Creswick sculptures (just about) survive in Birmingham on the Bloomsbury Library and the Handsworth Library.
Little is known about his association with Watson Fothergill. I contacted Annie Creswick Dawson, the sculptor’s great granddaughter who has been researching Creswick’s story for many years. She has travelled the world searching archives and libraries to find out about the artist’s life and to locate all of his surviving works – these include carvings, terra cotta sculptures, bronzes, friezes, wall decoration and metalworks.
Annie confirmed that the Nottingham terra cottas are indeed Benjamin Creswick’s work, but that they had been mistakenly cited in a study as being located in Northampton, so it had taken a while for her to find them. Consequently they are not mentioned in her book on Benjamin’s Creswick’s life and work and we can only surmise how Creswick came to work on Fothergill’s buildings. Did Fothergill have any connections with John Ruskin and the Arts and Crafts movement?
From 1895-7 (the period when Furley & Co shop and Fothergill’s Office were being built) Creswick was working in Birmingham and was Professor of Sculpture at the Art College. Did Fothergill come across Creswick’s work through artistic connections? Perhaps we shall never find out, but if anyone has any information please get in touch with Dr Stuart Eagles, a companion of The Guild of St George, who has taken over the Benjamin Creswick website from Annie.
Many thanks to Annie Creswick Dawson for her help and thanks to The Guild of St George for the copy of her book (with Paul Dawson), “Benjamin Creswick”.
Discover Benjamin Creswick’s terra cottas on Watson Fothergill’s buildings on The Watson Fothergill Walk or contact me to book a private tour for a small group.
Massive thanks to everyone who came out for the first Debbie Bryan Edition of the walk. The incentive of tea and cake at the end gave us the push we needed to brave the shower of rain half way round the route!
Thanks to Debbie and her team for keeping us all fed and watered!
Some lovely feedback so far, I hope to do more events with Debbie in the near future. Meanwhile the Beauty in The Lace Market taster walks on 9th & 16th of September are now full, but I hope I can adapt and run similar events in the future.
One of the Lace Market’s hidden gems, Debbie’s shop and tearoom on St Mary’s Gate is a haven for lovers of beautiful things, crafts, gifts, teas and cakes.
As part of the ticket for this walk you will receive tea or coffee and a slice of cake at the shop at the end of the tour.
A guided walk around the buildings of architect Watson Fothergill in Nottingham City Centre. Learn about the buildings of one of Nottingham’s most prominent Victorian architects, his signature style and the influence of the Gothic on the city’s buildings. A walk of approximately 2km (1.25 miles)
This special Debbie Bryan edition includes Tea or Coffee and a piece of cake at Debbie Bryan in the Lace Market. The walk will conclude at Debbie Bryan. Vegan and Gluten Free options are available please let us know in advance about any special dietary requirements.
Beauty in the details: Guided Lace Market Tour in Nottingham
I’m going to be leading some short, free walks for Heritage Open Days (HODS) in September. In colaboration with Debbie Bryan, from her shop and tearoom in the Nottingham Lace Market. I’ll be introducing the history of the buildings on St Mary’s Gate in the heart of the Lace Market, there will be a bit about Fothergill too…
Explore the hidden architectural gems around St Mary’s Gate and learn about the Lace Market on this short guided walk.
A taster walk looking at Lace Market history and architecture, including buildings by T.C. Hine and Watson Fothergill.
Visit Debbie Bryan | Enjoy 10% off in the tea room before and after the tour.
This tour of St Mary’s Gate begins at 11.15am at Debbie Bryan.
While looking for pictures of Watson Fothergill’s buildings in bygone days, I stumbled upon some old postcards of Nottingham at the turn of the 19th century, this led me to a do a search on eBay and I found this item: a small coffee cup that porports to be from the Black Boy Hotel! The Nottingham coat of arms is on the cup and the saucer.
Of course, I had to make an offer… and low and behold it arrived in the post a couple of days later!
That’s a one cup cafetiere for scale… it’s a little larger than an espresso cup that you’d get today – perhaps people liked a short strong coffee back in the days of the Gentleman’s Lounge Bar?
Learn more about The Black Boy Hotel and Watson Fothergill’s work on the building on The Watson Fothergill Walk
