1603 March 24: Queen Elizabeth Ⅰ died; King James Ⅰ (who was at that moment the protestant King James Ⅳ of Scotland) was offered the English Crown that same evening.
All events surrounding this moment are a tangled web, having their roots far into the past and with effects centuries into the future, not least upon (what now became possible for the first time) Great Britain, though initially only through the person of James as both King of Scotland and, following his coronation on 25 July, also King of England & Ireland. James initially wanted to be known as “King of Great Britain”, but was informed that that was not legally possible. It was not until 1707 that an actual 2-way Act of Union became possible and occurred, and 1801 when the United Kingdom became a reality.
great granddaughter of Henry Ⅶ, King of England
(James Ⅳ had married Margaret, eldest daughter of Henry Ⅶ of England)
The above means both that catholic Mary Stuart had been a potential rival to protestant Elizabeth Tudor for the throne of England, and also that James was in line for the throne of England since Elizabeth was childless at death. However, it gets worse.
Five-year-old Mary had a marriage agreement with the three-year-old French Dauphin (royal son) Francis. She travelled to France and 10 years later on 4 April 1558 was married to him, having first made a secret agreement to bequeath Scotland and her claim to England to the French crown if she died without issue. If we now add into this stew the facts that Mary was considered to be vivacious, beautiful, intelligent, tall and eloquent, we are looking at the most potent & dangerous weapon to protestant Britain that could be imagined.
On 17 November 1558 Mary Tudor (Mary Ⅰ of England, eldest daughter of Henry Ⅷ, born to his first wife Catherine of Aragon) died. This Mary was also Catholic and was known as “Bloody Mary” due to the utter horrors that she inflicted upon the country during her 5-year efforts to reverse the English Reformation begun by her father. I think it fair to declare that her methods (such as burning hundreds of people alive at the stake) achieved the precise opposite to her desires.
Elizabeth Tudor (daughter of Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry Ⅷ) was half-sister to Mary Tudor & only surviving sibling. She was also beautiful, intelligent and eloquent and, in spite of being protestant, had managed to come through the previous insanity with her life intact. Shortly before her death, Mary Tudor recognised Elizabeth as her heir, but many Catholics were desperate for Mary Stuart to succeed to the throne of England.
Henry ⅡI of France declared that Francis & Mary were king and queen of England, and even issued a flag with the royal arms of England quartered with those of Francis and Mary. This was laying down a roadmap that would lead to Mary’s death.
Francis died in 1560 with zero issue from the marriage. Mary returned to Scotland as Queen, but continued to dream of ascending to the throne of England. Elizabeth demonstrated considerable skill in finding & giving power to skilled councillors. Sir Francis Walsingham in particular became spymaster & head of the first Post Office. If I recall correctly, he broke a ROT13 code to discover Mary’s plans. Mary was first imprisoned, and finally in 1586 beheaded, in the castle Fotheringhay.
1605 November 5: Guy Fawkes is found within the cellars of the parliament buildings that would house James’ second session of his first parliament the following day. Fawkes was surrounded by a large amount of wood & 36 barrels of gunpowder. Oops. Fawkes was a catholic & a member of a secret cabal of provincial Catholics. Every year since that day, young children in England have spent their time asking for “a penny for the guy” each November, letting off fireworks & burning potatoes in the embers of a dying bonfire. Joyful memories, but not for Mr Fawkes.
1612 King Charles Ⅰ becomes heir apparent upon the death of his elder brother, Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales.
1634 King Charles Ⅰ & his queen spent 5 nights at Thurland Hall (the Hall was torn down in 1831, and is the source for the name of Thurland Street).
1642 Aug: Civil War: Charles Ⅰ chose Nottingham as the rallying point for his armies (hence Standard Hill). Soon after he departed the Parliamentarians moved in & made the Castle Rock defensible again. There were a number of attempts by Royalists to re-take the Rock, but the Parliamentarians held it at the last.
1663 February 6: A Guinea coin is struck for the first time (this is during the reign of Charles Ⅱ). 44½ guineas contained one troy pound of 22 carat gold (about ¼ ounce of gold in each coin). A proclamation of 27 March in the same year made the coins legal currency.
This was the first English machine-struck gold coin. There were other unique features to this coin:–
In 1703 gold within the Guinea was sourced from Spanish ships captured at the Battle of Vigo Bay, and the word ‘VIGO’ was added to that coin’s inscription to commemorate that fact
Some coins minted between 1729 and 1739 carry the mark ‘eic’ under the king’s head, to indicate that the gold was sourced via the East India Company
Some 1745 coins carry the mark ‘lima’ to indicate that the gold came from Admiral George Anson’s round-the-world voyage
The coin at introduction was supposed to be worth 20 shillings (£1)
Gold began to rise in value following introduction, and the coin traded at a premium
Pepys in 13 June 1667 gives the price per coin at 24/25 silver shillings
In 1717 a royal proclamation fixed the price at 21 shillings (£1 + 1 shilling)
(this made the coin exceptionally popular amongst the Merchant & professional classes, as they could quote a job as (eg) “14 guineas”, meaning £14 as the cost of the merchandise & 14 shillings as their fee)
1813 was the last year in which guinea coins were struck (80,000 to pay the Duke of Wellington’s army in the Pyrenees)
See 1816 for the Great Recoinage
1666 William Cavendish, Earl of Newcastle Upon Tyne, becomes 1ˢᵗ Duke of Newcastle.
1667 Last outbreak of Plague.
1674 Cavendish purchases Castle ruins, builds his new ducal palace in Italianate Classical style, and calls it ‘Nottingham Castle’ (completed by son William Cavendish in 1679).
1683 Northern half of Hethbeth bridge washed away by a flood; repaired bridge was reduced to 15 arches; being washed away by floods happened a lot to this bridge.
1700s early: Start Date for Clifton Dovecote, The Green (Grade Ⅱ listed). This is supposed to be the largest dovecote in the country, with 2,300 nesting places. That is a remarkably large amount of bird poop to be aimed at your car windows, although the roof actually looks clean.
1707 Acts of Union finally happens, and Great Britain becomes a reality (see 1801 for birth of the UK).
The Union of the Crowns was in 1603, and the moment when England & Scotland began to lay aside a millennia of antagonism. It was initially achieved through the person of James Ⅳ as King of Scotland and James Ⅰ as King of England & Ireland. It then took many false starts & 100 years before both countries agreed within both parliaments to pass Acts of Union. And now all is settled forever (:sad smile:).
This was the moment when the 1707 Great Britain Flag came into being. It is the red cross of St. George united with the white cross (blue saltire) of St. Andrew. See also 1801 for the UK flag.
The older Saxon (English) part was based around the Lace Market.
The newer Norman (French) part was based around the Park & Castle.
Weekday Cross was the ancient market site for the town, but it was more convenient for the English than the French; commerce was beginning to become centred upon Market Square as municipal business continued to grow.
1877:– the old Gild Hall was finally abandoned.
1887:– a Guildhall was started at Burton Street
1894:– the Gild Hall was sold to the GCR.
The GCR tore the hall down & used the site as the entrance tunnel to Victoria Station (itself rebuilt into a shopping centre in the 1970s). The Nottingham Contemporary now stands on the same spot as the old Gild Hall.
1730 Start Date for Plumptre House (architect: Colen Campbell); demolished 1853. The modern location is Broadway and a classic example built upon it’s site is the Birkin Building (architect: TC Hine) started in 1855 (Grade Ⅱ listed). There are a great many caves upon the site of the old building; unfortunately the council Caves Register proves to be almost incapable of spelling the house-name correctly.
Start Date for Clifton Ice House, Clifton Grove (Grade Ⅱ listed). Hidden in the woods & partly subterranean, the outside is covered with graffiti. It was built by Clifton Hall (see late 1200s).
Start Date for The Old Theatre Royal, St Mary’s Gate. The present building is the remains following demolition in the 1960s & then reused as a Power SubStation. Sources: [12]. See 1865 for current Theatre Royal.
1768 Holles dies without a son or daughter & is succeeded by his nephew as 2ⁿᵈ Duke (these blokes only have one job …); the Castle is abandoned, whilst townsfolk begin to treat The Park as common land.
Note: the OSM link above marked as “Nottingham Canal” is actually the current canal, and strictly is the “Nottingham & Beeston Canal” (the Beeston section was constructed during the same period by the Trent Navigation Company). The 1796 canal consisted of the modern canal from the Trent to where it crosses the River Leen at Lenton (known as Lenton Chain due to the method deployed to ensure that tolls were paid), then the Nottingham Canal (derelict section). The original canal turned at Lenton Chain and ran up along the Leen, whilst the Beeston Cut was from Lenton Chain down to the Trent at Beeston Lock and into the Trent upstream of Beeston Weir. The point at Lenton Chain where these 3 canals diverge can be seen at the eastern end of the derelict section and/or immediately north of Games Workshop Eurohub.
Beeston Weir causes the Trent to become non-navigable, and the point of the Beeston Cut and it’s connection with the Nottingham Canal was to provide a continuum of navigation above & below the weir.
1793
A cavalry barracks, built on a 4 acre plot of land in the north‑western corner of The Park, is the only building (abandoned 1860 - only the street-name remains).
1794
2ⁿᵈ Duke of Newcastle dies; succeeded by son Thomas Pelham Clinton.
1795
3ʳᵈ Duke of Newcastle dies; succeeded by 10 year old son, Thomas Pelham Fiennes Clinton (4ᵗʰ Duke; trustees appointed).
1796
Sneinton Inclosure Act.
(alt: February 27th 1797 is given for enclosure of the Lordship of Sneinton)
ref London Road: Act of Parliament obtained ‘For raising, maintaining, and keeping in repair, the road from the north end of the Old Trent Bridge to the west end of St Mary’s Churchyard…’.
1798
Inscription:– Lord Byron wrote his first piece of poetry with the verse: “In Nottingham County there lives at Swine Green as curst an old lady as ever was seen …”.
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