West Bridgford Timeline

924 First bridge built over the Trent at the current Trent Bridge site by King Edward the Elder and became known as the Hethbeth Bridge.

1086 In the Domesday survey, the village of Brigeforde was part of the Manor of Clifton. The Lord of Clifton Manor was William Peveral who lived in Nottingham Castle.

1190 (abt) St Giles’ Church built.

1194 Galfr Luterel became Lord of the Manors of Gameleston and Bruggeford.

1239 Institution of the first recorded Rector of St Giles Church, Luke de Crophill (Luke of Cropwell) by his patron Sir Andrew Lutterell, Lord of the Manor of West Bridgford.

1250 (abt) Porch added to St Giles’ Church.

1329 Major repairs to Hethbeth Bridge completed by Alice, widow of John le Palmer, a prominent Nottingham citizen.

1418 The last male Lutterell died without heir. His sister Hawifia Lutterell had married Godfrey Hilton who then became Lord of the Manor.

1500 (abt) Geoffrey Hilton died without heir. His sister Elizabeth Hilton had married Richard Thimelby who then became Lord of the Manor.

1550 (abt) Tower added to St Giles’ Church.

1620 (abt) Gamston and West Bridgford Lordships sold by John Thimelby to Sir Henry Pierrepont of Thoresby Hall.

1648 Sir John Musters (1624-89) of Hornsey, Middlesex purchased the Colwick Estate from Sir John Stonehouse for £18,000.

1675 (abt) Sir John Musters’s daughter-in-law Millicent Musters (nee Mundy) won the West Bridgford Estate playing cards with Henry Pierrepont, Marquess of Dorchester. Her son Mundy Musters Snr inherited both estates in 1697.

1685 Joan Phillips said to have been executed for highway robbery at gallows which were erected at the meeting of Loughborough Road and Wilford Lane in April 1685.

1729-58 Construction of the Grantham (1729), Loughborough (1739) and Melton (1758) Turnpikes. Tolls payable at toll houses and gates until the turnpike trusts were abolished in 1880.

1746 Man hung on gallows near Wilford Lane. (See Joan Phillips.)

1768 Work started on the building of West Bridgford Hall by the Lord of the Manor, Mundy Musters Jnr.

1774 West Bridgford Hall completed by Mundy’s son John Musters.

1778 “Poor” School opened in Village Square (now Tudor Square) for 7 West Bridgford and 3 Gamston children of poor families. It was founded by the Rector of St Giles, Rev William Thompson and funded by the Lord of the Manor, John Musters.

1780 Cottages on Church Drive built.

1797 Gantham canal opened.

1827 Jack Musters became Lord of the Manor of West Bridgford. Jack had married Mary Chaworth, the heiress to the Annesley, Wiverton and Edwalton estates, in 1805.

1834 Basford Board of Guardians and Poor Law Union set up with jurisdiction over West Bridgford to monitor sanitation and provide relief of poverty.

1838 The tithe map showed that the Lordship of West Bridgford was 1078 acres, of which 985 acres were West Bridgford Estate land owned by the Lord of the Manor John Musters, 58 acres owned by Clifford Caunt of The Poplars Farm and 33 acres were glebe land, on permanent lease to the Rector of St Giles Church.

1838 Cricket ground at Trent Bridge Inn opened by William Clarke who organised and captained the first Notts County team.

1840 West Bridgford Hall let to Lewis Heymann, a wealthy Nottingham lace manufacturer.

1849 John Chaworth Musters inherited the West Bridgford Estate on the death of his grandfather Jack Musters.

1851 Census shows 258 people living in 51 houses in West Bridgford.

1863 St Giles Rectory built. The rectory was demolished in 1960.

1865 National School (Church of England School) built on land in Rectory Road given by John Chaworth Musters.

1871 Opening of the new Trent Bridge designed by Nottingham Borough engineer Marriott Ogle Tarbotton. Two arches of the old Hethbeth Bridge were preserved in the roundabout just south of the new Trent Bridge.

1872 Basford Rural Sanitory Authority was set up in place of the Basford Board of Guardians and Poor Law Union and had jurisdiction over West Bridgford.

1873-80 Abolishment of the turnpike trusts for the Grantham, Loughborough and Melton roads with removal of the tollgates. Thereafter the cost of maintenance fell to the County.

1880 Official opening of Midland Railway’s line from Nottingham to Melton Mowbray. The line had taken 7 years to build following an authorising Act of Parliament in 1872.

1880 The first plots of West Bridgford Estate land are offered for housing development by John Chaworth Musters.

1881 Census showed 293 people living in 55 houses in West Bridgford.

1882 Nottingham Corporation agree to supply water to West Bridgford through a Trent Bridge pipeline at a cost 33% above that charged to Nottingham residents.

1883 West Bridgford Hall and grounds together with 19 acres of land was sold by John Chaworth Musters to Albert Heymann, a wealthy Nottingham banker.

1885 New Trent Bridge Inn built behind the old one before the latter was demolished.

1887 John Patricius Musters inherited the remains of the West Bridgford Estate on the death of his father.

1888 Musters Road Methodist Church first opened.

1889 (June) The Lordship of West Bridgford and the remaining estate lands were sold by John Patricius Musters to Col Horatio Davies of Wateringbury Place, Kent

1890 Sixty acres of the Lady Bay part of the West Bridgford Estate was purchased by Mellors, Basden and Mellors of Bridlesmithgate from Col Horatio Davies and later sold off in 463 individual plots through three Mutual Freehold Land Associations.

1891 Election of a nine member West Bridgford Local Board to replace the Basford Rural Sanitary Authority in West Bridgford. Albert Heymann was elected chairman.

1891 Census shows 2502 people living in 519 houses in West Bridgford.

1892 Eight almshouses were built by Mrs Catherine Peatfield on Rectory Road as a memorial to her late husband Rev John Peatfield, curate of St Giles.

1893 The stone man was taken from the field at the side of Melton Road and placed in St Giles Church.

1894 An elected West Bridgford Urban District Council replaced the West Bridgford Local Board.

1895 Musters Road Board School opened with E.J. Eley as headmaster. Its name was changed to Musters Road Higher Elementary School in 1902 and to West Bridgford County Secondary School in 1944. The school’s pupils were moved to the new comprehensive school in Loughborough Road in 1969.

1897 West Bridgford Defence Association set up solely to oppose all applications for licensed premises.

1898 St Giles Church’s new nave and chancel dedicated by Bishop of Southwell.

1899 West Bridgford Friary Congregational Church opened.

1899 Trent Bouldevard Board School opened. Additional building for a senior mixed department opened in 1912. The original building then became the infant and junior department.

1900 Sewage Farm with 12 acres of land opened by WBUDC near Abbey Road.

1901 Opening of the rebuilt Lady Bay Canal Bridge over the Grantham canal.

1901 Trent Blvd Methodist Church opened.

1901 Census shows 7018 people living in 1559 houses in West Bridgford.

1901 Friary Congregational Church opened at junction of Musters and Millicent Roads.

1902 George Road Council Primary School opened with infant and junior departments.

1902 Midlands Exhibition Centre opened at Trent Bridge but burnt down two years later.

1903 First West Bridgford Fire Brigade was set up with a fire station (built 1904) at junction of Musters and Bridgford Roads.

1906 Welbeck suspension bridge opened. Main function was to carry water from Wilford Hill resevoir to the Meadows.

1907 Musters Road Baptist Church opened.

1907 New WBUDC offices opened at 8 Bridgford Road.

1908 WBUDC’s Water Bill, to provide its own water supply, was debated in House of Commons. It was rejected after a two day hearing.

1910 Opening of West Bridgford Masonic Hall in Welbeck Road.

1911 Census showed 11632 people living in 2864 houses in West Bridgford.

1912 St Giles Church’s new North Aisle and George Chapel dedicated.

1913 Pavilion Theatre built on south east corner of Trent Bridge. It was converted into the Plaza Cinema in the 1920’s.

1914 South County School, Exchange Road opened.

1914 WBUDC started its own bus service with maroon and cream buses. The service was sold to Nottingham Corporation in 1968.

1921 Census showed 13346 people living in 3440 houses in West Bridgford.

1923 West Bridgford Hall and Park sold for £14,000 by Albert Heymann to WBUDC for their offices.

1925 Julien Cahn bought land on Loughborough Road to provide a home ground and pavilion for his private cricket team. This land was sold for £6500 after his death in 1944 to West Bridgford UDC who turned it into West Park but retained the cricket pitch and pavilion.

1926 Trent Bridge widened to take four lanes of traffic.

1931 Census shows 17821 people living in 5065 houses in West Bridgford.

1931 Tudor Cinema opened at junction of Central Avenue and Rectory Road.

1935 Edwalton and Wilford incorporated into West Bridgford Urban District.

1936 Grantham canal closed to boat traffic.

1937 Nottinghamshire County Hall opened at Trent Bridge.

1937 For the first time ever, Nottinghamshire County Magistrates Court granted licences for two public houses in West Bridgford, “The Rushcliffe” in Gordon Square (name changed to “The Test Match” before it opened) and “The Wolds” in Loughborough Road.

1938 (November) West Bridgford County Secondary School pupils moved from Musters Road to a new building in Loughborough Road. After the 1944 Education Act its name was changed to West Bridgford Grammar School.

1939 West Bridgford library opened.

1951 The new Musters Road Primary School admitted its first pupils. Its name was changed to the Jesse Gray Primary School when it was officially opened in 1953.

1952 Land west of the LNER railway line (including Wilford village) was transferred to Nottingham City Council and land south of the Trent was transferred to West Bridgford UDC. For the first time County Hall and Forest Football Ground became part of West Bridgford.

1956 Lutterell Secondary School erected on Greythorn Drive. Closed in 1969 when their pupils were transferred to Rushcliffe Comprehensive School.

1959 Tudor cinema demolished despite protests and a 800 signature petition.

1960 The Rectory was demolished and the site used for a new larger Police Station.

1960 The Poplars farmhouse was demolished and two blocks of flats of the same name were built on its site.

1960 A new County Council Ambulance Station was built on the site of the allotments opposite the Poplars at the bottom of Rectory Road.

1961 Rossell House shops erected on the undeveloped plot at the junction of Gordon and Rectory Roads.

1961 Rushcliffe Secondary School erected on Boundary Road. Closed in 1969 when their pupils were transferred to Rushcliffe Comprehensive School.

1964 Gem supermarket opened on Collington farm land off Loughborough Road.

1966 Asda bought Gem supermarket.

1968 WBUDC sold its bus service to Nottingham Corporation.

1968 Trains ceased to run between Nottingham and Melton on the Midlands Railway line. Part of the line between Melton and Boundary Roads became the Green Line.

1974 Rushcliffe Borough Council replaced West Bridgford UDC. New temporary council offices were built on Bridgford Road between Park Av and Stratford Road.

1978 Rushcliffe Borough Council occupied The Bridgford Hotel at Trent Bridge to use as its council offices. The site of their old offices became a Coop supermarket.

1980 Musters Road Secondary School buildings demolished and West Bridgford Health Centre built in its place.

1990 Gordon Road Primitive Methodist Church demolished and Fountain Court built in its place.

2000 Asda extended to become a hypermarket.

2005 The Manor Public House in Albert Road demolished and a Marks and Spencer “Simply Food” Store built in its place.

2005 The Julien Cahn Pavilion, West Park, Loughborough Road extensively renovated.

2008 The new Bridgford Road stand and ‘lollypop’ floodlights were completed at Trent Bridge Cricket Ground.

2012 Ambulance Station in Rectory Road closed.

2013 Refurbished West Bridgford Library and Young People’s Centre opened.