Nottingham Industrial Museum facts for kids
The Nottingham Industrial Museum is a cool place to visit! It's run by volunteers and is located in an old stable building from the 1600s. This building is part of Wollaton Hall in Nottingham.
The museum won the Nottinghamshire Heritage Site of the Year Award in 2012. It had to close for a while in 2009. But thanks to a special grant and amazing volunteers, it reopened! Now you can visit on weekends and holidays.
Inside, you'll find displays about local history. These include textiles (like fabric and lace), old vehicles, communication devices, mining tools, and big steam engines. There are also bikes, motorcycles, and cars. You can even see working lace-making machines. Plus, there's a huge working beam engine that used to pump water!
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Nottingham's Story
The city of Nottingham has a long history. It was first called Tiggua Cobaucc, meaning "Place of Caves." Later, the Vikings named it Snotengaham, which means "the homestead of Snot's people."
Vikings settled here in 867. Then, the Normans arrived in 1086. They built Nottingham Castle in 1067, making it stronger with stone in 1120.
Nottingham became an important center in the East Midlands. People made and dyed cloth here. They also dug for coal and a mineral called alabaster. The city was often involved in big fights, like the English Civil War. The castle was taken apart in 1651. All these historical events brought many businesses and jobs to the city.
What You Can See
The museum shows off its collections in five main areas: Textiles, Transport, Communications, Mining, and Steam.
Textiles: Fabric and Lace
Nottinghamshire was famous for its textile industry. This was thanks to two big inventions:
- In 1589, William Lee (inventor) invented the framework knitting machine. This machine could make many stockings much faster than knitting by hand. By the 1760s, about 20,000 of these machines were used in homes around Nottingham. That was about 90% of all such machines in the UK! The museum has several of these old knitting machines. One even has a special part added around 1760. This part helped make knitted lace on the machine.
- In 1808, John Heathcoat created a hand-operated lace-making machine. It could make lace just like it was done by hand. This started the famous Nottingham lace industry. In 1812, a group called the Luddites broke many of Heathcoat's machines. Heathcoat then moved his business to Tiverton. After his patent (a special right to his invention) ended in 1825, machine lace-making grew quickly in Nottingham. Companies like John Leavers became big makers of these machines. These machines were powered by steam engines in factories. At its busiest, the Nottingham Lace Industry used over 1,000 machines. It was the world's center for machine-made lace. About 30,000 people worked in this industry in Nottingham.
At the museum, you can see stocking frames and different lace machines. These include a 1910 warp knitting machine, a Wilman Circular, and a Leavers machine. In 2018, the Leavers lace machine was fixed and can now work again!
Transport: Bikes, Cars, and More
The museum has a small collection of cool vehicles. You can see restored Raleigh bicycles. There are also Brough Superior motorbikes. Three thousand Brough Superior motorbikes were made in George Brough's factory in Nottingham. Did you know that TE Lawrence, a famous adventurer, loved these bikes? He owned eight of them!
The museum also displays two old Baskerville coaches. You can see Thomas Humber's own bicycle. Plus, there's a Brough Superior car and a very rare Celer car.
Communication: Sending Messages
This part of the museum shows how communication changed in Nottingham. It also shows how these changes affected people's daily lives.
You can see and hear old radios and gramophones from the 1920s. You can even try tapping out your own Morse code message on a telegraph system!
Mining and Agriculture: Working the Land
In the museum yard, you'll find a coal truck from Clifton Colliery. This mine used to provide coal for a nearby power station. Close by is a restored living van. These vans were pulled by steam engines. They gave workers a place to stay while they worked on farms or roads.
The tractor yard usually has several tractors. Sometimes, you can even see them working on "steaming days." The collection includes a Standard Fordson and a Field Marshall Series 2.
Outside the engine-house, there are "barn engines." These were used to power things like pumps and farm machines. You can see examples from companies like Wolseley. These barn engines often run during steaming days.
Engines: Powering the Past
The Steam Gallery is home to the Basford Beam Engine. This is one of two engines built in 1858. It was used at the Basford Pumping Station. Its job was to lift water 110 feet from underground. This water then supplied fresh water to Nottingham.
The engine was replaced in 1965. It was then moved to the museum's special Steam Gallery. It first ran here in 1975. This building also has many other pumps and engines. Many of these came from local companies.
At one end of the gallery are two ploughing engines. These were the last two engines made by Fowlers Leeds Foundry. They were used to plough treated sewage into the land at a large dairy farm. One of these engines still works and is used at steam events.
Next to the ploughing engines is a J. T. Marshall Portable steam engine. It was built in 1886 in Sandiacre, Nottingham. It has been fully restored and also runs during steam events.
Other Cool Things to See
In the steam hall, you can also find a working model railway. There's also a working model of a Robey stationary engine. In another room, there's a very large mill engine. This engine was saved by the museum from a Nottinghamshire pub! Behind the mill engine, there's a "00 gauge" railway display.
Near the communication exhibits, you'll see old clocks and printing machines. There are also items from famous local companies. These include Boots the Chemist, Players Cigarettes, and Stanton Ironworks. In one of the museum's yards, you can see a carved stone crest. This crest came from Nottingham's first railway station, which opened in 1839.
