Bulwell is a
market town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...
in the
City of Nottingham
Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robin ...
, in
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...
, England. It is south-west of
Hucknall
Hucknall, formerly Hucknall Torkard, is a market town in the Ashfield district of Nottinghamshire, England. It lies 7 miles north of Nottingham, 7 miles south-east of Kirkby-in-Ashfield, 9 miles from Mansfield and 10 miles south of Sutton-i ...
and to the north-west of
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...
. The
United Kingdom Census 2011
A Census in the United Kingdom, census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken every ten years. The 2011 census was held in all countries of the UK on 27 March 2011. It was the first UK census which could be completed online via the Inter ...
recorded the population of Bulwell at 29,771 which amounted to over 10 per cent of Nottingham city's population. The 2011 census gave a population of 16,157 for the Bulwell ward of Nottingham City Council. There is an adjacent ward, Bulwell Forest, which includes
Highbury Vale
Highbury Vale is an area located in the city of Nottingham, and is located in the Bulwell Forest ward (which includes Rise Park and the western area of Top Valley). The area is located roughly from the City Centre, and about from Bulwell. Su ...
,
Rise Park
Rise Park is an area of Romford, a district in the London Borough of Havering. It is one of a series of parks which stretch northwards from the railway line at Romford
Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre o ...
and the west of
Top Valley
Top Valley is a largely residential area in the north west of Nottingham, England. It is located to the south of Rise Park, to the north and west of Bestwood, to the southwest of Bestwood Village and to the east of Bulwell. It is approximately ...
), its population at the same census being 13,614.
History
Early settlers
The earliest documented settlements in Bulwell appeared around 800 AD, and were most likely built around the same time as the first local bridge across the
River Leen
The River Leen is a 15-mile (24 km) long tributary of the River Trent that flows through Nottinghamshire, and the city of Nottingham in the East Midlands of England.
The name Leen developed through various renderings of the Celtic word ...
. The river was significantly narrower, shallower and slower-moving in Bulwell than in other potential locations along its length, and the threat of
highwaymen
A highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers. This type of thief usually travelled and robbed by horse as compared to a footpad who travelled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to fo ...
was a danger on existing cross-country routes; thus a
toll bridge
A toll bridge is a bridge where a monetary charge (or ''toll'') is required to pass over. Generally the private or public owner, builder and maintainer of the bridge uses the toll to recoup their investment, in much the same way as a toll road. ...
was constructed at Bulwell, to allow ''bona fide'' travellers a quicker and safer passage from north to south, while impeding others.
The bridge created a rare direct road to Nottingham from the north-west, so introducing regular traffic from across the country to the area for the first time. A gatehouse was built for the toll-collectors; it also gave protection for travellers, and led to the founding of the new settlement. The travellers were an almost
captive market
Captive markets are markets where the potential consumers face a severely limited number of competitive suppliers; their only choices are to purchase what is available or to make no purchase at all. The term therefore applies to any market where ...
, and the abundance of
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
made it easy to build dwellings. As the volume of traffic using the road increased, so did the size and population of Bulwell.
Bulwell is recorded in the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
(1086) as "Buleuuelle" and classified as a village. Bulwell was by this time established as a small trading post for all kinds of goods and services, for those living and working in the surrounding area and for those travelling further afield, and this encouraged many others to settle in the wider area.
Local people, particularly the poorer new settlers, often offered space in their homes to travellers requiring overnight stops. For them it was a safer and perhaps more sociable arrangement than continuing to Nottingham. Using the river water, beer was produced locally; this may have led some guests to stay overnight unintentionally.
By around 1200 Bulwell had grown to provide all the facilities to accommodate animals and their drovers, offering full service on what was fast becoming a relatively major road. Trade thrived, and a steady stream of newcomers took advantage of the living that Bulwell could offer them.
However, although the trade was good for the local economy, the many new salesmen and tradesmen split the town in two: the established business owners, who had paid heavily to build and maintain their premises, complained of a growing number of roaming competitors undercutting their prices and taking their trade. Since they were also paying rates to the local landowner, they considered they had a right to a monopoly. In response to the complaints, a local law was enacted (around 1320) forbidding anyone without "fixed... and at least part-covered premises" to sell goods or services close to the original businesses.
The statute was ill-worded: salesmen simply fixed posts in the ground, creating market stalls similar to their modern counterparts. These were covered while in use and uncovered in situ when not, so abiding by the law and forming a permanent sales venue. Customers of these fought also against the richer businessmen and defended the right of marketeers to operate. The location of the
Market Place
A marketplace or market place is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a ''souk'' (from the Arabic), '' ...
remains almost unchanged. It still bustles on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
1100–1600
The population grew steadily throughout the period, but the town itself did not grow much in area: opportunities for betterment and the desire of many to live further from the presumed unhealthy town centres ensured a relatively even flow of traffic in and out of Bulwell.
At some point the
magnesium limestone and the
Bulwell sandstone on which Bulwell sits began to be quarried. The strong, easily worked and durable rock, a dull yellow-orange magnesium limestone similar to the Bunter sandstone under Nottingham Castle, offered a building material easy to
quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envi ...
. Many houses, schools, churches and garden walls of Bulwell sandstone stand to this day for miles around Bulwell.
An early example can be found in sections of the wall surrounding
Wollaton Hall
Wollaton Hall is an Elizabethan country house of the 1580s standing on a small but prominent hill in Wollaton Park, Nottingham, England. The house is now Nottingham Natural History Museum, with Nottingham Industrial Museum in the outbuildings ...
, which was built using Bulwell stone in the late 16th century. The sheer quantities used there and elsewhere in the city suggest some kind of professional mining operation must already have been in operation by this time. Bulwell stone was later also used to repair the damage caused to the palaces of Westminster during the Second World War.
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dea ...
is also found in abundance close to Bulwell. Running as part of much larger seams criss-crossing the region, the coal lies underneath the layers of sandstone and is in places only a few feet beneath the surface.
Coalmines in the area around Bulwell were therefore among the first in the county to operate on a commercial basis, with large-scale mining from around 1500 onward.
Men like of Sir
Francis Willoughby made fortunes from the extraction of coal. This allowed Willoughby to build the extravagant Wollaton Hall. One of the world's first railway lines, completed in 1604 between nearby
Strelley
Strelley is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Broxtowe and City of Nottingham in Nottinghamshire, England. It is to the west of Nottingham. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 653. It is also the name of t ...
and
Wollaton
Wollaton is a suburb and former parish in the western part of Nottingham, England. Wollaton has two Wards in the City of Nottingham (''Wollaton East and Lenton Abbey'' and ''Wollaton West'') with a total population as at the 2011 census of 24,69 ...
, was built by Willoughby's heir, to aid transportation of the coal from his mines. Horses and other beasts of burden would pull the rows of trucks filled with coal, with the rails acting as a guide and a smoother surface than the roads of the time.
The church on the hill overlooking Bulwell, built in 1849–1850, stands on the site of an original Bulwell church dating back to the 13th century or earlier. Towering over most of North-East Nottingham,
Bulwell Saint Mary the Virgin and All Souls can be seen from afar and its bells ring across the area each weekend.
1600–1900
In 1667, George Strelley "built a school for the educating and teaching
fyoung children of the Inhabitants of the said
Parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...
", a building that survives to this day, along with many other houses built at the time. It is now a private home, but retains many original features. An 1852
act of Parliament
Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...
allowed a gas pipeline from
Basford and the south to be extended and provide street lighting and commercial and domestic service that revolutionised life in the town. The earliest supply of mains water did not arrive until 1877, to replace many local springs, wells and the river providing for the needs of business and domestic use. Before 1877, water-borne diseases were rife and the river water highly polluted by industry and sewage, leading to high rates of infant mortality in the region. The proportion of children dying before their fifth birthday decreased by over 75 percentage points in Bulwell between 1870 and 1890, although this brought overcrowding and further demand for overstretched services like housing. Health care again suffered through insanitary living conditions, but the population continued to grow fast.
1843 brought bad weather that did irreparable damage to the earlier St Mary's Church. The architect of the present one was
Henry Isaac Stevens. In 1885, a further church of
St John the Divine in Quarry Road was consecrated.
Bulwell Hall
Bulwell Hall (See picture ) was a
mansion
A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...
built in 1770 by the landowner John Newton, set in grounds to the north of Bulwell town centre and known initially as Pye Wipe Hall, a name that stuck locally until the building was demolished in 1958. Passing to Newton's descendants, Bulwell Hall was sold at auction in 1864 to Samuel Thomas Cooper along with over of land.
It served variously as a sanatorium, an approved school for boys, and an Italian
prisoner of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...
camp before its demolition.
S. T. Cooper and the National School
The purchase of Bulwell Hall made Samuel Thomas Cooper a lord of the manor in and around Bulwell. Cooper was a
philanthropist
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...
and in 1866 paid £3000 to build another school for local children.
This national school served up to 518 – a remarkable feat for the size of the building. Remaining in use as the old building of St Mary's C of E Primary and Nursery School
primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...
, it is now listed and serves far fewer pupils than when it was built. (See picture:)
After Cooper's death, his widow, Annie Cooper, donated £600 to Bulwell St Mary's for a better
organ. Still in use, though now electrified, the organ houses a plaque marking her donation in memory of her husband. Some sources claim this was the same S. T. Cooper who later enclosed Bulwell Bogs as his own private ground. It is known that Cooper died in 1871, aged 39, and that the protest over the Bogs took place in 1872, but this does not preclude a protest taking place after his death for actions made whilst still alive. There is no other S. T. Cooper recorded as lord of the manor of Bulwell.
Boundary changes
The Deanery of Bulwell was founded in 1888, four years after the creation of the
Diocese of Southwell
The Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham is a Church of England diocese in the Province of York, headed by the Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham. It covers all the English county of Nottinghamshire and a few parishes in South Yorkshire. It is b ...
. Bulwell remained a town in its own right until a boundary change in the 1890s placed it in the City of Nottingham. The 18th-century Old Town Hall, consequently vacant, is now a retail outlet for fireplaces. More recently the long disused dance floor on the top floor was converted into a factory for clothing garments, but it has now been converted back as a dance school for children and adults.
File:Old old town hall sign.jpg
File:New old town hall sign.jpg
File:Dance hall prior to renovation.jpg
File:Dance hall post renovation.jpg
1900 to the present
Over the past century, Bulwell has been much augmented by housing estates such as Crabtree Farm, Snape Wood, Highbury Vale and Hempshill Vale.
Snape Wood and Sellers Wood were parts of a swathe of woodland that bordered the
landfill
A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the waste ...
site to the north-west of Bulwell, stretching down to the farmland that became Hempshill Vale estate to the south-west. Both woods were protected under
Royal Warrants dating back to the 12th century, but the drastic housing shortage in Bulwell in the 1960s and 1970s led to the protection being set aside.
A token remnant of Snape Wood in the middle of the new estate amounts to little more than a fenced copse with three pathways leading through it. Owned by the local authority, Nottingham City Council, the site was designated a local nature reserve, but years of neglect have left it rubbish-strewn and in need of a structured management plan. Despite the
fly-tipping
Illegal dumping, also called fly dumping or fly tipping ( UK), is the dumping of waste illegally instead of using an authorized method such as curbside collection or using an authorized rubbish dump. It is the illegal deposit of any waste onto l ...
and lack of active conservation, the site surprisingly supports a wide variety of wildlife, from rare wildflowers to mammals such as
grey squirrels Gray squirrel or grey squirrel may refer to several species of squirrel indigenous to North America:
*The eastern gray squirrel (''Sciurus carolinensis''), from the eastern United States and southeastern Canada; introduced into the United Kingdom, I ...
,
hedgehog
A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introducti ...
s and urban
fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
es, and up to 20 different species of bird. In February 2009, plans to set up a community group to take on the maintenance and conservation of the site on behalf of the local authority were moved.
More of Sellers Wood remains, also with a local nature reserve, but actively managed by
Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust
The Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust founded in 1963 is a wildlife conservation charity working to protect and enhance the wildlife and habitats of Nottinghamshire. They care for over 60 nature reserves covering more than of wildlife habitat rangi ...
for the local authority. Sellers Wood was declared a
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
by
English Nature
English Nature was the United Kingdom government agency that promoted the conservation of wildlife, geology and wild places throughout England between 1990 and 2006. It was a non-departmental public body funded by the Department for Environmen ...
in 1981 as "a fine example of broad-leaved semi-natural woodland... of regional importance".
Bulwell no longer has a working quarry,
landfill site
A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the wast ...
,
coalmine
Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use c ...
or
brewery
A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...
to employ its residents. Designated
industrial areas such as those found in Greasley Street and Commercial Road were built in the latter half of the 20th century, followed in the 1980s and 1990s by smaller developments of offices and light industrial units, such as those in Pottery Way, off Sellers Wood Drive.
The larger developments for industry built in Sellers Wood in the 1980s (off Blenheim Lane, Camberley Road and Dabell Avenue) were augmented in the 1990s. Many other such buildings have sprung up in the surrounding area since and the area looks set to grow outwards once more in the near future. It includes warehousing and distribution for national food retailers, printing factories, office blocks of all sizes, and small to medium-sized units for various goods and services. A large
Cash and Carry wholesalers recently joined the supermarket, petrol station and small row of fast-food outlets between this industrial estate and the rest of Bulwell. This utilises another piece of the land that was used for landfill until the 1960s–1970s, leaving only two large fields without any development.
Next to the supermarket is a precipitous slope, formed by the edges of a long-abandoned limestone quarry.
Geography
Bordering
Ashfield and
Broxtowe districts, "Greater" Bulwell has an area of some 3.5 square miles, though many argue its catchment area still includes the Bestwood, Bestwood Park, Heathfield and Leen Valley estates of the past, increasing the size to some 5 square miles. As designated by the City Council it includes Top Valley, Heron Ridge, Crabtree Farm, Bulwell Hall, Snape Wood, Sellers Wood, Highbury Vale, Hempshill Vale, Bulwell Forest, Bulwell Central, Moorbridge, the area entitled Bulwell Village, and much of Rise Park.
Although the Bestwood estates were also originally suffixed Bulwell, ward and local-area boundaries have been changed to link the whole Greater Bestwood area with Basford and Sherwood. The seven fields between Bulwell and Bestwood have been largely developed, but the historic links between the areas remains. The newer estates covering the fields have just added to the satellite list.
Bulwell Bogs
![Bulwell Bogs View of Bridge to train station - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Bulwell_Bogs_View_of_Bridge_to_train_station_-_geograph.org.uk_-_582288.jpg)
The centre of Bulwell lies in a valley along the
River Leen
The River Leen is a 15-mile (24 km) long tributary of the River Trent that flows through Nottinghamshire, and the city of Nottingham in the East Midlands of England.
The name Leen developed through various renderings of the Celtic word ...
. The
Bog area beside the Leen, known for over 900 years as "Bulwell Bogs", has been set aside as a place for children to play, paddle and fish.
After an 1872 attempt by the lord of the manor to enclose the land around the Bogs, the people of Bulwell staged a peaceful protest, massing in hundreds to protect their common land. Described in the official records as "impeccably well behaved and peaceable to a man; indeed rather joyous of spirit!" the people of Bulwell marched a short distance before enjoying lunch by the river. Thereafter the crowd is said to have "dispersed quietly and as directed with no further disturbance," later winning the fight to designate the land for the "pleasure and leisure of the people of Bulwell".
The whole Bogs area was set to be demolished in 2002 to make way for a road bridge and transport interchange for buses, trams, taxis and trains. Fierce local opposition produced a campaign to prevent the plans, which the City Council eventually scrapped.
With help from local community groups and residents, the facilities at Bulwell Bogs were instead upgraded in 2003 to produce a bigger play-park, a safer paddling pool and a cleaner feel, and won a
Green Flag Award
The Green Flag Award is an international accreditation given to publicly accessible parks and open spaces, managed under licence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, a UK Government department, by Keep Britain Tidy, ...
in 2004 for work done to regenerate the area.
There is a further area about a mile upstream, near present-day Moorbridge, which used to attract children from miles around to play. This led to the nickname "Bulwell-on-Sea". The building of an outdoor
Lido pool further encouraged families to travel across the city to spend a day by the water in Bulwell. Despite strong local opposition, the Lido was demolished in 2006 and the land sold off for private housing development.
Transport
Bulwell is a transport hub for north Nottingham. There are three stops for Bulwell on the
Nottingham Express Transit
Nottingham Express Transit (NET) is a tram system in Nottingham, England. The system opened to the public on 9 March 2004 and a second phase, that more than doubled the size of the total system, opened on 25 August 2015, having been initially ...
tram system:
Bulwell
Bulwell is a market town in the City of Nottingham, in Nottinghamshire, England. It is south-west of Hucknall and to the north-west of Nottingham. The United Kingdom Census 2011 recorded the population of Bulwell at 29,771 which amounted to o ...
,
Bulwell Forest and
Moor Bridge. These provide access to Nottingham,
Hucknall
Hucknall, formerly Hucknall Torkard, is a market town in the Ashfield district of Nottinghamshire, England. It lies 7 miles north of Nottingham, 7 miles south-east of Kirkby-in-Ashfield, 9 miles from Mansfield and 10 miles south of Sutton-i ...
and beyond. Next to Bulwell tram station is the
railway station
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
, where trains on the
Robin Hood Line
The Robin Hood Line is a railway line running from Nottingham to Worksop, Nottinghamshire, in the United Kingdom. The stations between Shirebrook and Whitwell (inclusive) are in Derbyshire.
Passenger services are operated by East Midlands Rai ...
run between Nottingham,
Mansfield
Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market tow ...
and
Worksop
Worksop ( ) is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is located east-south-east of Sheffield, close to Nottinghamshire's borders with South Yorkshire and Derbyshire, on the River Ryton and not far from the nor ...
. There is also a bus station and a taxi rank.
Bus services
CT4N
*L14: Nottingham, Alferton Road, Hyson Green, Perry Road, City Hospital, Basford, Bulwell.
*19: Bulwell, Norwich Gardens, Morrison's, Tesco, Top Valley, Bestwood Park, Arnold, Mapperley Plains, Mapperley.
Nottingham City Transport
*17: Nottingham, Hucknall Road, City Hospital, Bulwell.
*35: Nottingham, QMC, Wollaton Vale, Bilborough, Strelley, Broxtowe, Cinderhill, Bulwell.
*68/69: Nottingham, Sherwood Rise, Basford, Bulwell, Hempshill Vale, Snape Wood.
*70/71: Nottingham, Sherwood Rise, Basford, Bagnall Road (70), Cinderhill (71), Bulwell, Norwich Gardens (70), Morrisons.
*79/79A: Nottingham, Nuthall Road, Aspley, Cinderhill, Bulwell, Rise Park, Top Valley, Bestwood Park, Arnold.
Nottinghamshire County Council
*528: Bestwood, Bulwell, Phoenix Park, Moorgreen, Selston.
Education
Schools
A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compulsor ...
around Bulwell have long been among the UK's worst performers. The whole Bulwell area was designated an "Education Action Zone" in 1999 under a scheme to address the problems. Standards have risen since, but deficiencies persist. The north Nottingham region has the UK's lowest level of students progressing to higher education. The 2006–2007
league tables for secondary education showed Nottingham schools to be the country's second worst achievers.
Marcia Puckey, head of Hempshill Hall Primary before she retired in the summer of 2005, was the longest-serving school head in Britain. She received an
OBE for her services to education in the Queen's New Year's Honours List 2006.
Bulwell's flagship new school,
The Bulwell Academy
The Bulwell Academy (formerly Riverleen School and Henry Mellish School) is a large academy situated in Bulwell, Nottingham, England, an area of social deprivation.
The Bulwell Academy has 1250 places for 11- to 16-year-olds with up to a furt ...
, was officially opened in September 2009, with all pupils from the former
Henry Mellish School and the former Alderman Derbyshire School (later River Leen School) moving into the new building by August 2010.
Life in Bulwell
Despite officially being a part of a large city, there is still a distinct feel to Bulwell that belies its size and proximity to Nottingham. Bulwell has many community-based initiatives to improve the area, with local volunteers playing a big role. The Bulwell
Credit Union
A credit union, a type of financial institution similar to a commercial bank, is a member-owned nonprofit organization, nonprofit financial cooperative. Credit unions generally provide services to members similar to retail banks, including depo ...
, Bulwell Vision and the active
Brownies,
Girl Guides
Girl Guides (known as Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) is a worldwide movement, originally and largely still designed for girls and women only. The movement began in 1909 when girls requested to join the then-grassroot ...
,
Rainbows
A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows ca ...
and
Cubs packs, the Bulwell and Basford
Rotary Club
Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, profe ...
and Bulwell Community Toy Library are just a few of these.
There is a site for
travellers of
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
heritage in Bulwell: one of only a few permanent sites in the country to cater for both traveller and static populations. Much has been done by nearby schools to integrate traveller children – work which has won praise from police, community leaders, and travellers' rights groups.
Bulwell has several pubs, one of which (''The Scots' Grey'', now closed) featured in a television programme on ''The Ten Hardest Pubs in Britain''. Housing a successful
boxing
Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...
club, it provided champion boxers such as Dominic Wilmot in 2008 and Aaron Brenton in 2009, and trained hundreds of amateur boxers for generations. However, its reputation for toughness comes as much from fights outside the ring as in it, and stretches back many years. Fights were regularly held in the nearby Market Place after closing time on Saturday night, with scores being settled and money made or lost on the outcomes. Spectators formed a ring around the bare-knuckle fighters, who would fight until a knock-out. Betting, challenging (i. e. money offered to any man able to knock down the "hero"), and "purses" offered by crowds were regular sidelines to the fights, which continued into the 1990s. Ironically the pub was closed recently because it was seen as too "rough" to control, and now houses a Barnardo's charity shop.
Despite the closure, the pub's
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
team (The Scots' Grey F.C.) continue to play, enjoying success in the local Sunday League. It won all three senior trophies in
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...
for two years running, as the first team to accomplish the feat, coached by Steve "Ozzy" Osborne. It now hopes to become the first team ever to do the "treble treble", winning all three trophies three years running.
Bulwell is the setting for the popular online comedy series ''Charity Shop Sue'' (2019) created and directed by Stuart Edwards, Timothy Chesney and Matthew Chesney. The series is produced by
Vicky McClure
Victoria Lee McClure (born 8 May 1983) is an English actress, model and presenter. She is known for her roles as Detective Inspector Kate Fleming in the BBC series '' Line of Duty'' (2012–present) and Lol Jenkins in Shane Meadows' film ''This ...
and
Shane Meadows
Shane Meadows (born 26 December 1972) is an English director, screenwriter and actor, known for his work in independent film, most notably the cult film '' This Is England'' (2006) and its three sequels (2010–2015).
Meadows' other films i ...
. The series, a
mockumentary
A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary.
These productions are often used to analyze or comment on c ...
, follows Sue Tuke (played by
Selina Mosinski) as the manager of a fictional charity shop on Bulwell Main Street.
Crime
Crime levels are high in the area, compared to Nottingham and national averages. In January 2003, Bulwell gained national attention after a Nottingham Police Constable,
Ged Walker, was killed in the line of duty. Walker was dragged to his death as he tried to arrest the driver of a stolen taxi. Local drug addict David Parfitt was later sentenced to 13 years for
manslaughter
Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th cen ...
.
A memorial stone marking the spot where PC Walker died
was vandalised in January 2006, with a hammer being used to deface and damage the engravings. Another officer was badly injured in a similar incident on 10 October 2006. The
special constable required extensive reconstructive surgery after being dragged along the road by a car when trying to arrest a man on Bulwell Hall estate. Four people were arrested.
The fatal shooting of local man Marvin Bradshaw outside a Bulwell pub in 2003, led to gangland-style reprisal attacks that attracted international interest. A passenger in the car Bradshaw had been driving on the night of his murder, whilst unhurt in the attack, himself died within months of the event, leading friends and family members to seek revenge on his behalf. The mother and stepfather of Michael O'Brien, the man convicted of Bradshaw's murder, were targeted – despite moving into a "
safe house
A safe house (also spelled safehouse) is, in a generic sense, a secret place for sanctuary or suitable to hide people from the law, hostile actors or actions, or from retribution, threats or perceived danger. It may also be a metaphor.
Histori ...
" on the
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...
coast, they were both murdered soon after.
O'Brien had been sentenced to 24 years in prison for Bradshaw's murder. Three of the eight men arrested on charges of conspiracy to murder John and Joan Stirland, O'Brien's mother and stepfather, were found guilty, in a case still being investigated by the
Independent Police Complaints Commission
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) was a non-departmental public body in England and Wales responsible for overseeing the system for handling complaints made against police forces in England and Wales.
On 8 January 2018, th ...
. "Extremely serious matters" are said to have been found in the way the police handled it. It has been shown that corrupt police officers passed information to gang boss Colin Gunn about the time of the murders. Gunn received a sentence of 35 years for conspiracy to murder the Stirlands and a further nine years for bribery and corruption of police officers. He was implicated and arrested, but never charged with the murder of Marian Bates, a jeweller.
On 1 July 2006, the day after the three were sentenced for the Stirlands' murders, a riot broke out on the Bestwood estate, the former home of Gunn and his gang. Lasting several hours and causing an estimated £10,000 worth of damage, the riots were said to have been triggered by the outcome of the murder trial. Nine people were convicted over the disturbances.
On 7 August 2006, an 18-year-old local died after an attack outside the ''Moon & Stars'' pub: Aaron Smith suffered severe head injuries in the attack, which occurred on 3 August. A local 24-year-old man, Jordan Carter, pleaded guilty to Smith's manslaughter. Another local man was shot in the neck and back outside the ''Lord Nelson'' in November 2006, then abducted, tied up, driven to a country road and left for dead. Three people were arrested and bailed in connection with the crime, which left the 27-year-old victim from Aspley with serious injuries.
Retail
There are shops to cater for most needs, but the town centre has suffered a recent decline. Many chains have ceased trading, (Woolworths, Food Giant), merged (Lloyds' Bank/TSB Bank), moved out (Co-op, HSBC) or proved non-viable (Godfreys' TV and radio repairs, butchers', photo developers, pubs), although some larger businesses have moved in their place (Costa Coffee, Wetherspoons, CeX). Bulwell has a
library
A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
, a swimming pool, many churches, and
fast food
Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredien ...
restaurants. There are also two golf courses, a youth club, a police station and a
Tudor-style arcade
Arcade most often refers to:
* Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine
** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware
** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board
* Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games
* ...
hidden down an alleyway off the Market Place.
Bulwell is well served by most supermarket chains, including
Tesco
Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...
,
Aldi
Aldi (stylised as ALDI) is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 10,000 stores in 20 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when t ...
,
Lidl
Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG (; ) is a German international discount retailer chain that operates over 11,000 stores across Europe and the United States. Headquartered in Neckarsulm, Baden-Württemberg, the company belongs to the Schwarz Group, whi ...
, and
Morrisons
Wm Morrison Supermarkets, trading as Morrisons, is the fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Scotland, as well as one in Gibraltar. The company is headqua ...
. The town also features the small Springfield Retail Park, next to the
Bulwell Forest tram stop
Bulwell Forest is a tram stop on the Nottingham Express Transit (NET) light rail system in the city of Nottingham in the suburb of Bulwell. It is part of the NET's initial system, and is situated on the long single line section between Bulwell a ...
.
Origin of the name
To outsiders the name may sound monosyllabic. It is supposed to derive from the
spring
Spring(s) may refer to:
Common uses
* Spring (season)
Spring, also known as springtime, is one of the four temperate seasons, succeeding winter and preceding summer. There are various technical definitions of spring, but local usage of ...
called "Bull Well", which runs out of the Bunter sandstone over a bed of
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
, near the north end of the forest. ''The Place Names of Notts'' suggests that the first part of the name may stand for an
Anglo Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...
person called Bulla, or describe the bubbling sound produced by the flowing water of the spring.
One legend has it that the town was named after a
bull
A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions,
includin ...
struck a
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
rock causing it to seep water – a now sealed well-housing in the nature reserve off Bestwood Road, is said to be the original. Both Bulwell St Mary's School and the
Seventh-day Adventist
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventism, Adventist Protestantism, Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the Names of the days of the week#Numbered days of the week, seventh day of the ...
church next door have illustrations of the tale relief carved into sandstone blocks. Generations of Bulwell's children have grown up with the legend and the city council recently erecting a statue of a bull goring a well in the market place.
Notable people
*
Albert Ball
Albert Ball, (14 August 1896 – 7 May 1917) was a British fighter pilot during the First World War. At the time of his death he was the United Kingdom's leading flying ace, with 44 victories, and remained its fourth-highest scorer b ...
(1896–1917), First World War
Royal Flying Corps
"Through Adversity to the Stars"
, colors =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries =
, decorations ...
pilot and
air ace
A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually co ...
awarded the
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...
, the
Military Cross
The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries.
The MC i ...
and the
Croix de Guerre
The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...
before dying in battle aged 20
*
John Bird (born 1936), satirist, actor and comedian, was educated at
High Pavement Grammar School.
*Brothers
Jason Booth (born 1977) and
Nicky Booth
Nicky Booth (21 January 1980 – 13 January 2021) was a British professional boxer who competed from 1998 to 2003. He challenged once for the IBO bantamweight title in 2001. At regional level, he held the British
British may refer to:
People ...
(born 1980), boxers holding concurrent British and Commonwealth titles at
Flyweight
Flyweight is a weight class in combat sports.
Boxing
Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing above 49 kg (108 lb) and up to 51 kg (112 lb).
Professional boxing
The flyweight division was the last of bo ...
and
Bantamweight
Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is .
The name for the class is derived from Ba ...
respectively, attended
Henry Mellish School.
*
Stephen Brown (born 1948), composer, conductor and teacher
*
Emily Campbell
Emily Campbell (born 6 May 1994) is a British weightlifter, the most successful British weightlifter of modern times. In 2021, competing in the +87 kg category, Campbell became both European champion, and the first British woman to win an Olympi ...
(born 1994), olympic
weightlifter
Olympic weightlifting, or Olympic-style weightlifting (officially named Weightlifting), is a sport in which athletes compete in lifting a barbell loaded with weight plates from the ground to overhead, with each athlete trying to successfully lif ...
.
*
Steve Chettle (born 1968), former football player for
Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...
, educated at Alderman Derbyshire School (which was on the site of what is now
Bulwell Academy)
*
Neil Cossons
Sir Neil Cossons FMA (born 15 January 1939) is a British historian and museum administrator.
Biography
Cossons was born in Beeston and studied at the University of Liverpool.
He was the first director of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust fr ...
OBE FSA FMA (born 1939), Director of the National Museum of Science and Industry and current Chairman of
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
, educated at Henry Mellish School
*
Les Leston
Alfred Lazarus Fingleston (16 December 1920 – 13 May 2012), better known as Les Leston, or in full Leslie Leston, was a British racing driver, born in Bulwell, Nottinghamshire.
Early life
In his early life Leston was a successful drummer f ...
(also known as Alfred Lazarus Fingleston, 1920–2012), Grand Prix-winning F1 driver
*
Bertie Mee
Bertram Mee OBE (25 December 1918 – 21 October 2001) was an English footballer who played as a winger for Derby County and Mansfield Town. Mee was also a manager, noted for leading Arsenal to their first Double win in 1971.
Playing career
Bor ...
(1918–2001), association football player and manager of
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
for their first ever
Double
A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another.
Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to:
Film and television
* Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character
* Th ...
win
*
Georgie Mee
George Wilfred Mee (12 April 1900 – July 1978) was an English professional footballer. He played as a midfielder.
Nicknamed ''the Mighty Atom'', he was the older brother of former Arsenal manager Bertie Mee.
Career
Born in Bulwell, Notting ...
(1900–1978), footballer, older brother of Bertie Mee
*
Stanley Middleton (1919–2009),
Booker prize
The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a Literary award, literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United King ...
-winning novelist and grammar-school teacher
*
Wilfrid Reid
Wilfrid Ewart "Wilfie" Reid (3 November 1884 – 24 November 1973) was an English professional golfer and golf course designer. Reid was born in Bulwell, Nottingham, England, and died in West Palm Beach, Florida, United States. He posted three ...
(1884–1973), professional golfer and golf-course designer
*
Malcolm Starkey (born 1936), English footballer
References
External links
Local newspaper covering Bulwell and the neighbouring areasCommunity website
{{authority control
Areas of Nottingham
Market towns in Nottinghamshire
Towns in Nottinghamshire