Home Brewery Founded in 1875 by John Robinson, the Home Brewery was famous for its trademark
Robin Hood logo on
beermats. The name of the brewery referred to the Robinson family's Bestwood Home Farm, located on Oxclose Lane. 29 August 1890 saw the incorporation at
Companies House of the Home Brewery Company Limited. The company was re-registered as a
public limited company named Home Brewery plc on 2 April 1982. The brewery remained independent until 1986, when the family owners sold it (equivalent to £ in ). Scottish & Newcastle gradually ran down production by subcontracting its brewing to
Mansfield Brewery, (equivalent to £ in ). On 7 April 2014 the company returned to its original legal status as a private company upon its incorporation as Home Brewery Limited. The company is currently still under the ownership of Heineken UK, with an active but non-trading status at Companies House.
Building The town's most notable landmark is probably the Home Brewery office building in
Daybrook. The three-storey, Grade II
listed building's architect was
Thomas Cecil Howitt Three designs are repeated in an ABCABC/CBACBA pattern. The reliefs are in a 2:3 proportion and are white casts. 'A' depicts a drinking table; 'B' shows
barrel-making; and 'C' illustrates the stirring of the brew—all allegories of the brewing process. The famed The
Charity Commission held an enquiry that closed in December 2005 into restricted public access. Due to this ruling,
Arnold Town F.C. of the relocated away from the town centre to another ground in Arnold, known as Eagle Valley. In July 2014, a
skatepark costing £110,000 was opened at the playing field.
The Home Ales and Home Brewery brands today Lincoln Green Brewery of
Hucknall, in association with
Everards Brewery of
Leicester, purchased the Robin Hood pub on the junction of Church Street and Cross Street in 2014, restoring it to its original name of the "Robin Hood and Little John". The pub's history dates back to 1750, and in 2015 it was named as the
Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) National Cider Pub of the Year, as well as the Nottingham CAMRA Cider Pub of the Year and Nottingham CAMRA Pub of the Year. It contains a shrine to the Home Brewery.
Framework knitting industry Arnold was a centre of the
framework knitting industry in the 19th century. It was the site of the first framebreaking incidents of the
Luddite riots, on 11 March 1811, when 63 frames were smashed. The Luddite
riots were a response by workers to decreasing pay, standard of living and conditions of
employment in the industry as a result of changing fashions decreasing demand for their style of
hosiery.
Arnot Hill Park Arnot Hill Park was created in to serve as a backdrop to Arnot Hill House.
Arnot Hill House Arnot Hill House in Daybrook was the home of the Hawksleys, a prominent Nottingham family. John Hawksley (1765-1815), a mill owner, lived there with his partner Sarah Thompson, who was the mother of his six children, four of whom survived. He had married Sarah Arnold, a doctor's daughter, on 23 February 1799 at
St Margaret's Church in
Leicester, but the marriage failed and she returned to Leicester where she remained until her death in 1846. John Hawksley's relationship with Sarah Thompson is clearly demonstrated in his will dated 5 June 1812 when he writes. "I revoke all former wills and this is my last. I give and devise all my property of whatever nature or form the same may be to Mrs Beech and Sarah Thompson whom I appoint joint Executrixes of this my will for the benefit of my children John, Thomas, Francis, Maria, Frances, issue that are and any that may thereafter be born also of the body of Sarah Thompson (who assumes my name from the affection I bear her)". The will was proved on 2 April 1816 by the oaths of Sarah Beech widow (John Hawksley's sister) and Sarah Thompson spinster. John Hawksley and his business partner, the former
hosier Robert Davison, had been operating a
worsted mill they had built in 1788 on the north bank of the
River Leen in Nottingham. After this mill had been destroyed by fire in January 1791, the two men decided to erect a new mill adjacent to Arnot Hill House. The new factory was operational before the end of 1791, but – despite its large scale and engine – was not a success. Davison's death in 1807, followed by extensive losses in 1809, led to the closure and subsequent demolition of the mill. On 5 February 1810 in Nottingham, John Hawksley laid the foundations of another mill, whose engine had a power of , and he relocated with his family to
Sneinton that year. He died on 27 January 1815 in Cheshunt in Hertfordshire and he appears on the family plaque in St Nicholas Church on Maid Marian Way, Nottingham. One of John Hawksley and Sarah Thompson's children was
Thomas Hawksley, born 12 July 1807, who attended
Nottingham High School and was
articled in 1822 by the
architect and
surveyor Edward Staveley, going on to become a partner in Staveley's business. Thomas Hawksley eventually became a prominent
civil engineer in the 19th century. Thomas Hawksley and his son
Charles Hawksley, grandson Kenneth Phipson Hawksley, and great-grandson, Thomas Edwin Hawksley (died 1972) were civil engineers specialising in public water supplies. In the early 1830s, Thomas Hawksley used a filtration system and other improvements to the water supply to greatly reduce the death rate from
cholera in Nottingham. This confusion regarding the two men named John Hawksley living in Nottingham is added to by the birth of sons to both men, in the same year, 1807. John Hawksley, the hairdresser, had a son named Edward John Hawskley (1808-1875). The son was a
Unitarian who converted to
Roman Catholicism and later rose to acclaim as a
political radical in
New South Wales, Australia. After fighting in Spain with the
British Auxiliary Legion in the
Carlist Wars, Edward John Hawksley was encouraged to emigrate to New South Wales. Once there he was employed as a teacher, became warden of the Sydney Holy Catholic Guild (1848), and wrote religious pamphlets. He edited and published
The Sydney Chronicle (1846-7) and the short-lived Daily News with
Charles St Julian before working with Francis Cunninghame as editor of ''
The People's Advocate and New South Wales Vindicator''. From 1863 to 1870 Hawksley was employed at the
Australian Government Printing Office before retiring to
Fiji, where he died in 1875.
Civic Centre The headquarters of
Gedling Borough Council are located in the Civic Centre at Arnot Hill Park. ==Churches==