Sneinton
"Sneinton Parish forms a populous eastern suburb of Nottingham, and has partaken so largely of the prosperity of that town, that since the year 1801 its population has increased more than twelve fold, so that it now amounts to 8,440 souls in 1851, living in the hamlets of Old Sneinton, Middle Sneinton, Element Hill and The Hermitage. Most of this augmentation has taken place during the last thirty years, and it now contains 1,728 houses, of which 37 were building and 9 were uninhabited. They now form many handsome streets, extending on the Southwell and Carlton Roads, to the eastern limits of Nottingham, though the old village is more than a mile east of the Market place. The parish contains 843 acres of rich, strong, clay land.
Earl Manvers is lord of the manor, and owns about two-thirds of the parish. It was originally crown land, but King John granted it to William de Brimere, from whom it went, in the reign of Edward I, to Tibetot, and was held of him at the same time by Robert Pierrepont, by the service of a pair of gloves or one penny. It has continued ever since in the Pierrepont family, who gave the common, near St Ann's Well, to the parishioners. The ancient name was Snottington or Nottington; Laird says it is rather curious, that all the learned investigations of the origin of Nottingham, should have overlooked a particular circumstance, which seems to throw a new light upon its state, in the Saxon times, and perhaps for some ages previous to them."
[White's "Directory of Nottinghamshire," 1853]
- The parish was in the Snenton sub-district of the Radford Registration District.
- In July, 1880, the parish was reassigned to the Nottingham South East sub-district of the Nottingham Registration District.
- The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
Census
Year |
Piece No. |
| 1851 |
H.O. 107 / 2130 |
| 1861 |
R.G. 9 / 2451 |
- The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint Stephen.
- The present church was constructed in 1838-39 on the site of the old one.
- The church was built in the form of a cross with a central tower.
- The new church was consecrated on 26 September, 1839.
- The church seats 700.
- The church is now Grade II listed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as a building of historical interest.
- Saint Matthias Church, on St. Matthias road, was originally a Chapel of Ease to St. Stephen's. It opened in May, 1868 and closed in 2003.
- Saint Alban's Church was an Anglican church built in 1886-87 to seat 565 people, It was built to serve a new ecclesiastical parish carved from St. Stephen's and St, Matthias. It was declared redundant in 2003 and sold.
- Saint Cyprian church is a Catholic church in Sneinton.
- There is a Saint Christopher church in Sneinton, but the web page author has found no historic information on it.
- The Anglican parish register dates from 1650 and is in good condition.
- Saint Matthias' parish register dates from 1868.
- The Anglican churches were in the No. 2 deanery of Nottingham.
- The Wesleyan Methodists built a chapel here in 1825.
- The parish was in the Snenton sub-district of the Radford Registration District.
- In July, 1880, the parish was reassigned to the Nottingham South East sub-district of the Nottingham Registration District.
- Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
Although once a small and independent village and parish, Sneinton has become an eastern suburb of Nottingham city. The parish covered 843 acres and includes the hamlets of Old Sneinton, New Sneinton, Middle Sneinton, Element Hill and the Hermitage.
Sneinton Villa is situated on the Carlton road about a quarter mile north-east of Old Sneinton. Sneinton Hermitage is a large perpendicular rock, rising on the east of Nottingham, overlooking the Trent River. It has many ancient caves carved out of the solid rock.
- The village feast is held on the first Sunday in August.
- Typhoid fever swept the parish in 1801.
- A large part of the population in the 1800s were emplyed in frame-work knitting.
- In 1811 the Luddites swept through the Nottingham area, destroying many stocking and lace machines. There activities continued until 1816.
- The library was established here in 1841.
- The population of this parish mushroomed between 1801 and 1851 as this little village was turned into a vast housing estate.
- The national grid reference is SK 5839.
- You'll want an Ordnance Survey Explorer map, which has 2.5 inches to the mile scale.
- See our Maps page for additional resources.
- The parish was home to the "County and Borough Lunatic Asylum" on the Carlton Road, opened in 1812. It is unknown what records may have survived. They were not required to archive these records, but a check with the Notts Archives office may be in order. In 1853 it was converted to a "pauper asylum" only.
- This place in ancient times was called "Snottengaton" and is thought to be the origin of the name "Nottingham".
- This place was an ancient chapelry in county Nottingham.
- This place became a modern Civil Parish in Decmber, 1866.
- The parish was in the southern division of the ancient Thurgarton Wapentake (Hundred) in the eastern division of the county.
- On 26 March, 1897, this Civil Parish was abolished and all the area was amalgamated into Nottingham Civil Parish.
- In 1771, Elizabeth TEAGE bequeathed £100 and the interest thereof was distributed to the poor.
- The Common Land was enclosed here in February, 1797.
- After the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, this parish became a part of the Radford Poor Law Union.
- On July 1st, 1880, this parish transfered to the Nottingham Poor Law Union.
| Year |
Inhabitants |
| 1801 |
558 |
| 1851 |
8,440 |
| 1861 |
11,048 |
| 1871 |
12,237 |
| 1881 |
15,473 |
| 1901 |
23,093 |
- A National School was built here in 1836. The school moved to a new site in 1968 and is now the Sneinton C of E Primary School.
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[Last updated: 4-February-2013 - Louis R. Mills]
