Catfoot Theatre Company

About Lambley

Catfoot Theatre is proud to be part of Lambley life. The village provides a haven for my family and an inspiring environment for creating work.

With a population of just under 2,000 people, Lambley is a small rural village surrounded by countryside and farmland and yet is located only six miles north of Nottingham city centre.

The name Lambley was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 and probably meant ‘lambs clearing’. At that time Lambley had 20 villagers, three small-holders and three freemen, who had six ploughs between them. Two mills were recorded for grinding corn. Then as now Lambley was an established agricultural community.

Lambley can actually date its history and development back to 10,000 years ago, to the end of the last ice age. As the glaciers retreated, large amounts of melted water were released causing streams and rivers to swell, which in turn cut into the soft local bedrock. This created steep sided (now wooded valleys) now known as the Lambley Dumbles. The Dumbles now offer lovely walks around the village.

In medieval times most of the land in Lambley, as it was for the rest of Nottinghamshire, was farmed as open fields. Traces of the ridge and furrow medieval ploughing system can still be seen around the village.

The stocking frame – a hosiery knitting machine – became an important part of Lambley life in the 1800s. Many of the cottages built during this time were for the industry. Whole families would be occupied, with the men working the frames, while women and children were employed in seaming the stockings. It was a harsh, low paid industry that eventually died out around 1920. Most of the male workers went on to work at Gedling Colliery.

Lambley is believed to be an important centre of the Luddite movement as workers revolted against the mechanisation of their cottage industry.

One of Lambley’s most famous sons is Ralph de Cromwell, born in Lambley in 1394. Having fought for Henry V at Agincourt, he rose to become Lord Cromwell, Treasurer of England and Chancellor to Henry VI. A very powerful and wealthy man and possibly one of the greatest statesmen of the middle ages. He died in 1456 and in his will provided for Lambley Church to be rebuilt at his expense upon his death. His emblem, a large money bag, can be seen at the west front of the church.

The cowslip flower has long been associated with Lambley, often growing in profusion around the village. It has become an emblem of the village and the first Sunday in May is known in Lambley as Cowslip Sunday. In the past visitors use to flock to the village to collect cowslips for posies and wine-making. In Victorian times rowdy crowds would flock to the village, with the police often having to intervene to sort things out. A local paper reported that for Cowslip Sunday in 1866:

“ …visitors on Sunday were quite in equal numbers to former years, though, if we must judge from the manners and customs of a great part of them, and their acts and language, we should conclude that the class has not improved since their last annual visit”

Finally, where does Catfoot come from? Nobody seems to know for sure. It is believed that it could be a corruption of Cartford or even Caput – the name of a neighbouring field and site of a Manor House from Saxon times.

Information sourced from Lambley Historical Society, Lambley Parish Plan and Lambley Parish Magazines.