26 December 2025
Nottinghamshire's identity was shaped, in many ways quite literally, by the textile trades that dominated the county's economy for centuries. From the framework knitters of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to the lace manufacturers who made Nottingham internationally famous during the Victorian era, the production of textiles left a deep mark on the county's towns, villages and communities. Yet much of this heritage is in danger of being forgotten as the physical evidence of the industry gradually disappears from the landscape.
For anyone interested in the social and economic history of the East Midlands, the story of Nottinghamshire's textile trades offers a rich and often surprising narrative. It is a story of technological innovation, of fierce labour disputes, of global trade connections, and of the daily lives of thousands of ordinary working people whose names rarely appear in the history books.
Framework Knitting and its Legacy
The framework knitting industry, which produced stockings and other knitted goods using hand-powered machines, was a defining feature of life in many Nottinghamshire communities from the late seventeenth century onwards. Villages such as Ruddington, Calverton and Arnold were home to large numbers of framework knitters, who typically worked from their own homes or in small workshops attached to their cottages. The distinctive long upper windows of framework knitters' cottages, designed to maximise the light falling on the machines, can still be seen in several Nottinghamshire villages today.
The industry was not without its conflicts. The Luddite disturbances of 1811 to 1816 were centred on the framework knitting districts of Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire, where workers destroyed the machines they blamed for driving down wages and undermining their livelihoods. These events left a lasting mark on the political and social consciousness of the region.
One of the most complete surviving examples of a framework knitting workshop can be found in Ruddington, where the Framework Knitters Museum preserves a set of original workshops and demonstrates the processes involved in producing knitted goods by hand. The museum provides a tangible link to an industry that once employed tens of thousands of people across the East Midlands.
The Lace Trade in Nottingham
If framework knitting was the rural face of the Nottinghamshire textile industry, lace was its urban counterpart. Nottingham became the centre of machine-made lace production in the early nineteenth century, and by the middle of the Victorian period the city's lace manufacturers were exporting their products across the world. The grand warehouses and commercial buildings of the Lace Market, many of which survive today, are a visible reminder of the wealth and ambition that the trade generated.
The Lace Market quarter, situated on a sandstone ridge overlooking the city, developed as the commercial heart of the industry. Its narrow streets and imposing brick buildings housed the offices, showrooms and packing rooms of the major lace firms. Although the industry declined sharply during the twentieth century, the area has been successfully regenerated and is now one of Nottingham's most distinctive cultural quarters.
Preserving Textile Heritage
The challenge of preserving Nottinghamshire's textile heritage is one that engages local historians, archaeologists and community groups across the county. While some buildings and sites have been protected through listing and conservation area designation, many others have been lost to redevelopment or neglect. The smaller workshops and domestic spaces associated with framework knitting are particularly vulnerable, as they are often located in private hands and may not be recognised as having historical significance.
Recording the memories of those who worked in the textile trades during the twentieth century is another priority. Oral history projects have captured the experiences of former lace workers and hosiery operatives, preserving a body of first-hand testimony that will become increasingly valuable as the living connection to the industry fades. Issue 9 of East Midlands History and Heritage featured an article exploring the East Midlands textile industry between 1980 and 2005, offering a valuable account of the trade's final decades. These efforts remind us that heritage is not only about buildings and objects, but about the people and communities whose lives were shaped by the work they did.