The Nottingham |Cheese Riot of 1766-The Game
18th Century Nottingham
Georgian Nottingham was described as a garden town which was pretty to look at with the main industry being textiles but it was a bit of a wild west period for law and order. One highway robber was shot 11 times and survived just to be executed later. The Mayor shot a protester dead with a blunderbuss. A man was publicly dissected after being hanged for murder. Soldiers were arrested for using a body in a gibbet for target practice. Folk were water boarded in the market place for having democratic views and of course we had riots over cheese. It's my favorite period for weird events and characters and I could talk about it for hours but for this project I'm concentrating on the cheese riot which started during the Goose Fair which is held every year in Nottingham since at least the 1540s. It has only been canceled twice. Once for the plague and the other for covid. In the 18th century it was a fair selling all sorts of produce such as Geese for Christmas and of course cheese. Today it's a giant fun fair which no longer takes place in the market square as it's too big. In 1766 the market square was a large expanse with a butter cross known as the "Malt Cross", aline of trees a water pump and the stocks and pillory. This would be the battle ground for my cheese riot game.
Map of key elements of the market square
This is utterly splendid. *subbed*