NOTTINGHAM

NOTTINGHAM , industrial city in the E. Midlands, England. In the 13^th century Nottingham was one of the 27 centers in which an *archa was established for the registration of Jewish debts. An attack was made on the Nottingham Jews during the Barons' Revolt in 1264. From the resettlement until the 19^th century only individual Jews settled in the city. By 1805 there was a small, organized community; a cemetery was acquired in 1822; and by 1880 there were about 50 Jewish residents, though a synagogue was not built until 1890. The Nottingham lace-curtain industry was founded by a Jewish immigrant from Germany, Lewis Heymann. By 1939, the community had increased to 180, but World War ii brought an influx of new residents. In addition to an Orthodox synagogue there was a Progressive congregation; communal institutions included a Zionist Association and a University Jewish Society. In 1969 the community was estimated at 1,500 (out of a total population of 310,000), and in the mid-1990s it was estimated at about 1,050. The 2001 British census found 627 Jews by religion in Nottingham. There is a Nottingham Representative Council and an Orthodox and a Progressive synagogue.

bibliography:

C. Roth, The Rise of Provincial Jewry (1950), 27–89; J. Spungin, A Short History of the Jews of Nottingham (1951).

[Vivian David Lipman]

Nottingham. County town of Nottinghamshire, situated on the river Trent, and a city since 1897. It is first recorded as one of the ‘five boroughs’ of the Danes, succeeded by an English fortified town (burh) after 921. It quickly became a county town, and was extended after 1066 with a new ‘French borough’ and a major castle. In the 12th and 13th cents. it became a regional centre with self-government, town walls, and a major fair. The castle remained a royal stronghold, and it was at Nottingham that Charles I raised his standard in 1642. After the Restoration the town became a social centre for the county gentry, and the duke of Newcastle built a mansion on the site of the castle. Industry developed after 1700 with framework-knitting, and later lace-making, and the town grew rapidly. The burgesses, however, refused to enclose the surrounding open fields, and overcrowding became desperate. Not surprisingly, the Lords' rejection of the second Reform Bill in 1831 provoked riots, and the castle (the duke of Newcastle's mansion) was burned. By the time the fields were enclosed in 1845, the damage was done, and not until the 20th cent. did slum clearance remove Nottingham's notorious courts and alleys.

David M. Palliser

Nottingham City and county town of Nottinghamshire, on the River Trent, n central England. Originally a 6th-century Anglo-Saxon settlement, it is the traditional birthplace of Robin Hood. The city grew rapidly in the 19th century, becoming famous for the manufacture of fine lace, cotton and hosiery. Industries: textiles, engineering, bicycles, electronic equipment, pharmaceuticals. Pop. (1994 est.) 282,440.