Governing an urban river: the Leen and the making of modern Nottingham, 1696–1973

Abstract

This article considers the role of a small river in the transformation of a market town to an industrial city, specifically the River Leen and Nottingham, in the English East Midlands. It analyses three environmental problems synonymous with urban rivers, between the creation of a waterworks in 1696 and the completion of a river improvement scheme in 1973. These are: eighteenth-century tensions of rights and responsibilities for river use and maintenance; nineteenth-century problems of industrial and urban expansion, notably pollution from sewage, which influenced borough extension; and twentieth-century responses to changing flood risk that resulted in the river being ‘mained’ in 1964 to deliver an improvement scheme. In each case, responses challenged existing political boundaries and the jurisdiction of regulatory bodies, leading to the reconstruction of river governance. That urban history is the legacy for those who manage the river today.