Nottingham Exchange was built in the Market Place in

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 Robi ...

between 1724 and 1726 as the main offices of the Nottingham Corporation.

History

The Nottingham Exchange was erected between 1724 and 1726 replacing a shambles of buildings on the same site. It cost £2,400 (£ in 2015) and comprised a four-storey, eleven bay frontage long. The architect was the mayor, Marmaduke Pennell. The corporation offices moved here from Nottingham Guild Hall. A clock was presented for the Exchange by 1728 by the famous clock builder

James Woolley Woolley in the 90's. James Joseph Woolley (September 26, 1966 – August 14, 2016) was an American keyboard and synthesizer player, best known for performing with industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails during the 1991 Lollapalooza Tour and th ...

of Codnor, and in return he was made a Burgess of Nottingham.Clock and Watch Makers of Nottinghamshire. Harold H. Mather. Friends of Nottingham Museums. 1979 The building was reconstructed between 1814 and 1815 at a cost of £14,000 (£ in 2015). This moved the main staircase from the front to the side, and gave better access to the Great Hall which was by . The Great Hall was used for concerts, elections, balls, meetings and exhibitions. In 1830, John Whitehurst and Son of Derby provided a new clock for the Exchange at a cost of £100 (£ in 2015). (The old clock was acquired by St Nicholas' Church, Nottingham and the dial from this clock is still in situ on the church tower.) On 19 September 1836 a new dial was added to the clock by Shepperley for £46 (£ in 2015) and this was illuminated by a gas jet. On 26 November 1836 a fire broke out and considerable damage was caused to the building. The

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...

adopted London Time at all of its stations on 1 January 1846. To avoid confusion, in February 1846 the town council ordered that the town clocks be furnished with three hands, two indicating local time and the additional one the railway and post-office London time. A new clock was built in 1881 by G. & F. Cope and moved to St Helen's Church, Trowell in 1927. The Exchange was demolished in 1926 to make way for the current

Nottingham Council House Nottingham Council House is the city hall of Nottingham, England. The high dome that rises above the city is the centrepiece of the skyline and presides over the Old Market Square which is also referred to as the "City Centre". It is a Grade ...

which occupies the same site.

Nottingham Time Ball

In 1876 a Greenwich

time ball A time ball or timeball is a time-signalling device. It consists of a large, painted wooden or metal ball that is dropped at a predetermined time, principally to enable navigators aboard ships offshore to verify the setting of their marine chron ...

apparatus was fixed to the Smithy-row corner of the parapet of the Nottingham Exchange. It started operation on 11 September 1876. and was installed by the Corporation to indicate

Greenwich Mean Time Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, counted from midnight. At different times in the past, it has been calculated in different ways, including being calculated from noon; as a con ...

to assist with the regulation of public clocks. Operated by electrical control, the ball dropped from top to bottom of a short staff at 1pm each day. It was removed in 1886. Its use was probably discontinued because the installation had lost both its novelty and usefulness through the more general availability of Greenwich time, and the greater accuracy of public clocks.Nottingham Evening Post. 6 January 1933

References

{{Nottingham Places of Interest , state=autocollapse Demolished buildings and structures in Nottingham Buildings and structures completed in 1724 Buildings and structures demolished in 1926 19th-century fires in the United Kingdom 1836 fires Time balls 1724 establishments in England 1836 disasters in the United Kingdom