AN old wall plaque which was displayed in the Loggerheads pub recorded the names of 249 Nottingham men who gave their lives during the First World War.
They were names of heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice in the cause of freedom.
Each of the men were from the former Narrow Marsh area, which stretched between Canal Street and the Lace Market. But local history campaigners have now lost trace of the plaque, which was removed from the pub following its closure in 2009.
Sue Bell, secretary of the Sherwood Foresters Malayan Veterans Association, would like to see put on public display once again.
"It is the least those brave men deserve," she said.
Mrs Bell who, along with Lord Mayor Councillor Michael Wildgust, has taken a leading role in the restoration of plaques which once stood in the Basford Social Club, believes the Narrow Marsh memorial was removed for safe-keeping... but she does not know who has got it now.
The Basford plaques will be mounted in St Mary's Church, Bulwell, in September – and she and the Lord Mayor would like to carry out a similar project with the Loggerheads memorial, if it can be retrieved.
"That memorial, and those names, really belong to the families of the fallen. They belong on public display," he said.
In 2001, Mick Walton, then landlord of the Loggerheads announced his intention for the memorial to be restored and for it to be fitted to the outside of the pub. The Loggerheads, in Cliff Road, was the only pub in England to boast its own war memorial, evidence of the place the pub held in the tight-knit Narrow Marsh community.
It was one of Nottingham's oldest pubs, officially dating back to 1743, although some evidence exists to suggest there was an inn on the site in Elizabethan times.
It was set into the cliffs below the old Nottingham jail, with caves dating from Anglo Saxon times used for storing ale.
The name Loggerheads has two possible explanations – either derived from the post in a boat to which a rope is attached or from the phrase "We be loggerheads three."
It has long been rumoured that the infamous highwayman Dick Turpin used the pub. Notes in the diary and account book of a Lincolnshire farmer known as Tobias K, suggest that he met Turpin in the Loggerheads on April 2, 1732. His notes read: "D T was highly fettled. Had a good run from Birmingham to Leicester. I bought three gold rings, one diamond pin, five gold brooches, seven gold chains and five gold watches and sundries."
No doubt the ill-gotten gains of Turpin's nefarious activities.
The Loggerheads was the last surviving pub out of 17 that were once in Narrow Marsh before the area was cleared in the 1930s.
If you know of the whereabouts of the Loggerheads memorial and would like to help with the restoration project, call Sue Bell on 07742 138125.
No comments:
Post a Comment