The Hine Hike looks at the buildings of architect Thomas Chambers Hine in Nottingham. Get tickets.Explore the life and work of Nottingham’s most flamboyant architect, Watson Fothergill. Get tickets.
Join tour guide Lucy Brouwer for an entertaining and informative look at some of Nottingham’s most characteristic Victorian architecture and change the way you see the city.
Tickets for all forthcoming events available on Eventbrite.
I’m a member of Nottingham’s Women in Business networking group, Blue Stockings Society. Together we have put together a new event on Thursday 28 July starting at 7 pm. It will comprise a short guided walk that takes an entertaining and informative look at the architecture and history of The Lace Market – with buildings by architects Watson Fothergill and Thomas Chambers Hine, as well as the modern urban landscaping that makes the area unique.
After the walk, there will be a networking session at The Angel Microbrewery, inside the historically interesting Old Angel Pub on Stoney Street in the heart of the quarter. Tickets are available here and open to both members of Blue Stockings and non-members who are interested in meeting other local women in business. The event is for women only. Tickets are available from both Watson Fothergill Walk and Blue Stockings Society, but numbers for the walk are limited so please book in advance.
Tickets for all forthcoming guided walks – The Watson Fothergill Walk and The Hine Hike – are available here on Eventbrite. If you’re interested in a guided architecture walk for your group, then send Lucy a message here.
Watson Fothergill Walk, Sunday 3 July, 10 am The original Nottingham city centre walk exploring the life and work of Victorian architect Watson Fothergill, also known as Fothergill Watson.
I was up in Mapperley giving my talk on Watson Fothergill and his architecture to a large gathering of U3A members, on the way back into town I took the opportunity to go inside a Fothergill building I have been meaning to visit for ages… Woodborough Road Baptist Church.
View from Woodborough Road. Photo: Lucy Brouwer
Woodborough Road Baptist Church is dated 1894 and opened in February 1895.
There had been a temporary iron chapel on the site since about 1875 and money was raised to commission a building to house the increasing number of worshipers.
On 20th June 1894 the memorial stones were laid, the first by Miss Bayley. Inside was a bottle containing “a copy of each of the Nottingham daily papers, copies of Baptist publications, a statement of the present number of members, scholars and teachers, the names of the contractors and the name of the architect.”
“The builders were Messrs Fish and Co with Mr Kennedy as Clerk of the Works, the architect was Mr W Fothergill of Clinton Street.”
Schools entrance and memorial stone laid by Miss Bayley. Photo: Lucy Brouwer
The old classrooms were preserved and the new chapel was to be 109ft long and 49ft wide. Built in red brick with Derbyshire stone facings with a clock tower planned to be 90ft tall it would “greatly improve the appearance of the neighbourhood”
The Rev. G. Howard James (who was president of the Nottingham Sunday School Movement) gave a toast at the luncheon to celebrate the commencement of works, hoping that “…in coming years they would find it more and more a spiritual success, and a joy to Nottingham people of many succeeding generations.”
View from Alfred Street Central. Photo: Lucy Brouwer
On 5th February 1895, the opening service was conducted by Rev. Dr R Glover of Bristol. The total cost of work had been £5,000 (exceeding the original estimate of £4,500). Mr W. Fothergill, now of George Street had provided plans for “a commanding structure. and an undoubted ornament to the town.”
With a “nave of 7 bays, aisles of slightly unequal width, iron columns, a semi-circular arcade and clerestories. At one end a many sided polygon and at the other a semi-octagon, chorister and platform. There was room for 284 in the gallery and 930 seated downstairs. The interior was “rather unconventional in treatment, attractive, well-lighted and comfortably heated”. The tower was by now 100ft and octagonal in shape with red brick, blue brick and Derbyshire stone dressing and rock-faced plinth with terracotta bands. A lobby connected the two entrances and there were five new classrooms to compliments the three old ones.
Interior of Woodborough Road Baptist Church, now Pakistani Centre. Photo: Lucy Brouwer
The building is now home to the Pakistani Centre which provides an Older Persons Day Car Service, a community restaurant and space for prayer.
Iron Columns, arches, Clerestory and gallery. Photo: Lucy Brouwer
The school rooms below are home to Switch Up and the Nottingham School of Boxing who provide support for local young people. It seems these endeavours are not so different from the building’s original purpose – non-conformist worship and “the elevation of their fellow men”.
Veggie curry lunch! Photo: Lucy Brouwer
It was lunchtime when I visited so I ordered the vegetarian lunch and stayed for a look around. The community restaurant serves a lunch for £5-£6 curry, rice and chapati every weekday between 12 noon and 2 pm. Filling!
The building is grade II listed and up-close it has many distinctive features that are recognisable form other Fothergill buildings of the period. The leaded glass, the polychrome brickwork and stone dressings in particular stand out.
The cast-iron columns, arches, clerestory and vault. Photo: Lucy Brouwer
Rear view of Woodborough Road Baptist Church. Photo: Lucy Brouwer
Date stone over the entrance. Photo: Lucy Brouwer
Woodborough Road view. Photo: Lucy Brouwer
According to Darren Turner’s Fothergill Catalogue, the church was one of the buildings for which Fothergill commissioned photographs from Bedford Lemere & Co, the architectural photographers. The pictures are now lost but are recorded in the daybook for 1897. I have been unable to find any photographs of the interior when it was in use as a church. If anyone has any leads or memories of the building then please contact me.
Learn more about Watson Fothergill, an architect who had a major impact on the look of Victorian Nottingham, by joining my guided tour, The Watson Fothergill Walk. The next date is 8 May, 2022 starting at 10 am, tickets here.
As well as the other walks in May and June, tickets are now available for another special date with added Afternoon Tea or Cream Tea at Debbie Bryan in the Lace Market on 8 May starting at 10am.
Tickets are available here for a Watson Fothergill Walk, plus either full Afternoon Tea or Cream Tea at Debbie Bryan’s wonderful shop and tearoom in the Lace Market. The Walk starts at 10 am on Sunday 8 May and concludes at the shop around 12noon in time for tea, cakes, scones and all the usual Debbie Bryan treats (available in Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten-Free or Regular options).
April is getting booked up with several private walks, talks to local groups and new ventures with primary school pupils and students looking at history and tour guiding. Thanks everyone for spreading the word!
The Carrington Crawl for Ukraine sold out – donations clocked up at over £390 – huge thanks to everyone who donated or enquired about the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. You can still donate here.
There are some tickets available for the Debbie Bryan Watson Fothergill Walk on 8 May, start 10am, now with the option of Afternoon Tea or Cream Tea after the walk, tickets here.
Lucy will be giving an illustrated talk on Fothergill’s Buildings in Mansfield live and in person at Mansfield Central Library on 10 May 2022 at 2pm. Tickets are £3 each and available from the library or via this link on Eventbrite.
Fothergill Watson (as he was then) was born in Mansfield in 1841 and many of his early buildings came about through his connections in the town. The illustrated talk looks at Fothergill’s family, the buildings that he designed in the town that remain, including houses, shops and the Cattle Market. There will also be a chance to discover some of the buildings that have been demolished.
STOP PRESS! This walk is now sold out! Thank you to everyone for your generous donations! There will be more walks coming up in the Summer and meanwhile please continue to help with donations to the Disaster Emergency Committee (DEC) Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.
One of my favourite Watson Fothergill houses is Clawson Lodge, on Mansfield Road. It is currently home to the Ukrainian Cultural Centre, the Nottingham branch of the Association For Ukrainians in Great Britain. It’s where my walk, The Carrington Crawl culminates, and everyone there has been very helpful, providing drinks and allowing access to the building.
The guided walk will take place on 2nd April 2022, at 1 pm starting outside St Andrew’s Church at the junction of Mapperley Road and Mansfield Road. TICKETS
Please “pay what you can” for a ticket and I will donate all proceeds of this walk to the Ukraine DEC Appeal. Please note that Eventbrite “donation” tickets can only be bought one at a time, if you wish to make one donation to cover tickets for more than one person, please email Lucy to arrange further tickets.
More Watson Fothergill Walks coming up in the coming months. Make sure you’re on the mailing list to receive emails with the latest news.
The first public walk of the year will be a collaboration with Debbie Bryan’s Lace Market Tea Room. Tickets include afternoon tea, with many dietary options available including Traditional, Vegan, Vegetarian and gluten-free.
The walk starts at 10 am on 10 April 2022, arriving at Debbie Bryan on St Mary’s Gate at 12 noon.
Tickets are £38 each – includes a two-hour walk followed by a full afternoon tea.
Tickets are now available for a Cream Tea option priced £22 each with the same array of dietary options.
“Lucy is a super guide and we had a great time, also learned a lot! Not least to keep looking up!”
Prompted by a question about this building on the Nottingham Hidden History Facebook page…
This building on the corner of Bridlesmith Gate and Victoria Street was a bit of a mystery… Photo: Lucy Brouwer
Ever since I noticed the details in the frieze above the first floor on this building I’d been wondering what the symbols, which on close inspection are an N and C overlapping and a club like you’d find in a deck of cards, could signify.
The frieze in more detail. Photo: Lucy Brouwer
When researching my Hine Hike tour, looking at the buildings of Thomas Chambers Hine, an architect whose work in Nottingham was prolific between the 1850s and 1870s, slightly predating that of Watson Fothergill, I found out more.
Along with the frieze, there are also monogrammed iron grills on the Bottle Lane side of the building.
More hidden letters in the grills on Bottle Lane. Photo: Lucy Brouwer
So what does it all mean? This rather elegant building was originally built as The Nottinghamshire County Club, set back from the road to allow the members to alight from their carriages. It was designed by Thomas Chambers Hine and his Son, George Thomas Hine who he had recently taken into partnership. The club opened in 1869.
Established in 1864, The Nottinghamshire County Club was a gentleman’s club containing billard, reading, card and coffee rooms. It also had bedrooms and “all the conveniences of a first-rate club”; there were around 200 members. Members paid a subscription and there was a reduced rate for gentlemen residing within ten miles. It was a place for meetings, a place to receive messages (for example, adverts were placed in the newspaper for items for sale and the club was used as the address to apply to). There were stewards and a secretary.
Originally there was a tourelle on this corner but it’s possible it was destroyed by the 1929 fire. Photo: Lucy Brouwer
Originally the building had a tourelle on the corner but this has been removed. A severe fire in 1929 destroyed most of the club’s early records and the name doesn’t make it an easy thing to search for in a city that not only has a Notts County football team, but also NCC (Notts County Cricket) and NCC (Notts County Council)! These are unrelated to these premises.
In 1954 it was sold to the Leicester (later Alliance and Leicester) Building Society and the Club leased back all but the ground floor. Access to the first and second floors was by lift via a new entrance on Bottle Lane.
The building is featured on my Hine Hike walk looking at the life and work of Thomas Chambers Hine. I hope to run this tour again in the summer, so sign up for the mailing list for news of dates. The Hine Hike is also available as an illustrated talk, in person or via Zoom so contact me for more details to set up a session for your group.
