The junction of Wood Lane (left) and Lambert Hill (right) in the 1880's.
The cottages in Lambert Hill have long upper storey windows typical of knitting frame work- shops.
Position mouse over photo to see the same location in 2003.
Framework Knitter Cottages
The living conditions for framework knitters in Hucknall in the 19th century were considered good by comparison with their counterparts living in more urban areas.
Framework knitting was a cottage industry and the family home required sufficient space to accommodate at least one knitting frame. A narrow frame machine was in height slightly lower than an average doorway and had a footprint similar to the workspace required for the PC at which you are sitting.
The most basic cottage consisted of a living room measuring about 11ft square in which there would be one or two knitting frames. There may be two additional rooms and a kitchen. On Sunday the frames would be covered to make the living room look more respectable. The walls would be painted with coal-tar, a thick sticky smelly liquid.
In larger homes the frames would be situated in a separate workshop, which could be in an outhouse or take up the upper floor of a two or three storey cottage. Workshops had a distinctive appearance when viewed from the outside, having a single continuous window to allow as much daylight as possible into the room. Good lighting in the workplace was essential as framework knitters may work 15 to 17 hours a day, the machines required frequent adjustment, and it was intricate work.
Number 6 Lambert Hill.
(Photo by Jenny Tudbury)
Windows of this type are seen in the photograph above taken in the 1880's of cottages on Lambert Hill, Hucknall, but by this late date few of the occupants were framework knitters. None of the cottages pictured have survived to the present day, but others further up the hill have and number 6 is currently (2003) undergoing restoration.
Cottages rents varied from one half to two shillings per week. The quality of life was greatly improved for families with access to land, where vegetables could be grown and animals such as chickens and pigs kept.