IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Commercial Gate, MANSFIELD, NG18 1EU

Ring road heading clockwise around Mansfield.

No longer occupied by "Lamb's" Michelin-starred restaurant, this building and the adjacent gates, seen from Sherwood Street, are both located on a corner of the plot of land that was previously home to the former cattle market. The grey roofed building behind it is part of "The Water Meadows Swimming Pool and Leisure Complex". The area takes its name from its former state and function beside the nearby River Maun. This imposing building, attributed to the well-known Nottingham-based architect, Fothergill Watson (a.k.a. Watson Fothergill), is officially known as Cattle Market House. Dating from 1877, it also housed "The Cattle Market Tavern" once. Its British Listed Buildings entry describes this elevation on Nottingham Road as having a projecting rock-faced stone ground floor with a round corner tower characterised by machicolated eaves and conical roof topped with a wind vane. Playground equipment in Titchfield Park is visible on the right.

With Nottingham Road (the A60) almost immediately behind the photographer, these are the pétanque pistes in Titchfield Park. The land was once a water meadow - perhaps prone to flooding by the River Maun - that was owned by the Duke of Portland. He leased it to the local Board of Improvement Commissioners in 1879, "in order that a recreational park for the public might be created". In 1914 it was renamed, from “Nottingham Road Pleasure Grounds” (a.k.a. The Water Meadows), to mark the coming of age of the Duke of Portland's son, the Marquis of Titchfield. This son was the eldest son of William Cavendish-Bentinck, the 4th Duke of Portland and his wife Henrietta, née Scott. The Marquis was elected to the House of Commons in 1819 as a Tory Member of Parliament for Bletchingley, although he lost that seat and became the M.P. for Kings Lynn in 1822. Unfortunately, he died in 1924 at the age of 27 yrs.

This red-brick building on Nottingham Road is attributed to the well-known Nottingham architect, Watson Fothergill and is described on the British Listed Buildings website as a "Former cattle market building and attached gates, dated 1877". A gardener working in the adjacent Titchfield Park described it as having once housed "The Cattle Market Tavern". Until 1877 the cattle market was originally held on Westgate, around the old market cross, after which this new purpose-built cattle market was opened. Although these premises still bear signs advertising it as the home of "Lamb's Restaurant", it is currently standing empty and unused. Behind this post-1877 market property is a plot of land that now houses the "Water Meadows Swimming Pool and Leisure Complex".

Atop Image

On Commercial Gate.

Building by Watson Fothergill. This is the only surviving building of his in Mansfield, the town of his birth. It dates from 1877 and is grade II listed. The use of rough-cut stone is unusual for him. The building was perhaps integrated into an existing stone-built wall.

Stencilled graffiti in the subway between Commercial Gate and St. Peter's Way. A passer-by told me there was a spate of these sprayed around the Mansfield subways.

Building by Watson Fothergill. This is the only surviving building of his in Mansfield, the town of his birth. It dates from 1877 and is grade II listed. Most of his work is in and around Nottingham. The sign reading "Lambs" refers to the restaurant which now occupies the building.