Wilford Air Raid Shelter On The Village Green (Demolished In The Early 1970's  )

Wilford Air Raid Nottingham was the target of a number of air attacks by Germany during the 'Blitz' of  World War II.  Although certainly not as heavily bombed as other industrial centers such as London and Coventry, the cities suffered many casualties.  The largest raid took place on the 8th of May, 1941 in which 400 bombs and 60 incendiaries were estimated to have hit the city and surrounding areas.  Some of them landed in Wilford.

Wilford School, Novemeber 1996

Wilford School  Wilford benefited greatly from the generosity of Benjamin Carter, the rector of St.Wilfrids Church in the early 18th century. He spent a considerable amount of his own money improving the village. He renovated the church, stocked it with expensive books, built a village barn, a dovecote, a large rectory building and a village school.  The school was constructed in 1736.  The Reverend provided £400 for land investment to provide a permanent income for the schools maintenance and running costs.

Gilbert Wakefield was a remarkable scholar educated at the school. He has mastered complex spelling by the age of three! He went on to write over fifty books and became a controversial and fanatical supporter of well intentioned causes. He was so outspoken and careless of the consequences that in 1799 he was prosecuted for libel and sent to prison for two years.  The Reverends dovecote was built in 1720 and acted as a constant supply of fresh meat. Pigeons breed throughout the year and therefore were invaluable during the winter months.

Wilford Rectory & The Dovecote  In The Foreground (Late 1996)

On the southern outskirts of Wilford, near Silverdale and the old (recently filled in ) railway bridge is a small, tidy, modern industrial estate. One of the buildings is alleged to be haunted. Employees have experienced unpowered machines operating themselves, lights switching on and off and mysterious foot steps echoing on the ceiling. 

Another ghost story is linked to the now long demolished power station on the north bank of the Trent, not far from St.Wilfrids Church.  On the night shift of November 1967, Sam Pykett encountered a small figure 'wearing a check shirt, a blue bib overall and a cap....(with) wide-set blue eyes'.  The figure smiled at him before it turned away to disapear into a closed door.  Others working in the plant were to report sightings of the ghost at irregular intervals. 

Australian Namesake 

An area around Melbourne, Australia was allegedly named Wilford in 1839 by two imigrants from Nottingham, Dr Godfrey Hewitt and his brother Richard Hewitt. I have been unable to find a modern reference to this but if you know better please drop me a line. 

 

Wilford Almhouses  On the North banks of the Trent, to the North East of Clifton Bridge is a monolithic, dark, aircraft hanger of a building which serves as the Boots Pharmaceutical factory.  Wilford is linked to the site by the Nottingham businessman who built up Boots in the 19th century, Jesse Boot.  Jesse left school in 1860 at the age of ten to help run the small Nottingham herbalist shop set up by his late father.  Jesse demonstrated a keen business sense and by 1917 he'd expanded the small shop to 600 retail outlets.  He shared in his success by donating enormous sums of money to worthy causes both in and outside of Nottingham.

Wilford Alms Houses, 1997  Photographed By Colin Fossey

He donated £50,000 to the Nottingham hospital, purchased the Nottingham war memorial, payed £200,000 for the construction of a Nottingham boulevard, £50,00 for the purchase of Woodthorpe Park and £150,000 for the construction of the Nottingham University after paying for the University land.   Phenomenal sums of money for the time.  His companies success and his charitable donations contributed greatly to the prosperity, status and well-being of Nottingham.  His actions earned him a Knighthood and eventually a pierage as Lord Trent in 1929.   In 1908 his generosity extended to Wilford when he payed for the construction of a set of Almhouses adjacent to Wilford Green.   The Almhouses were built for invalided or destitute soldiers returning from the Crimean War and the Indian mutiny.    To read more about Almhouses, click on the Clifton Green Page.   Lord Trent died in 1931. 
 

Village Celebrations 

The village culture is well represented by the quaint events that were organized to celebrate the coronation of Edward the VII in 1902.  The program of events listed below serve as a reminder to the close community spirit that existed in villages such as Wilford before the age of  mass communication and commuter travel.  It somehow illustrates to me how the world seemed so much larger in those days. 

In the pre-war years, a local newspaper called the Nottingham Journal used to hold a 'Big Swim' contest.  A day of events at Trent Bridge focused on a marathon swimming race from the Wilford Church all the way to the finishing post at the Bridge. Few people would be brave enougth to risk the strong currents today!  In later years speed boat racing also became a regular event.  Nottingham people didn't seem to think of the dangers the Trent presented in those days.  Another popular contest was a pillow fight where the combatants would suspend themselves over the river on a greasy pole! The Wilford suspension Bridge was also a popular source of entertainment for children who in the summer would use it as a spring-board to dive into the river.  I wounder if todays sports and entertainment will seem as hazardous to future generations!

For a flavour of village culture you might also find the Mayday celebrations on my Clifton Village Green page interesting.