Description: Looking north over the Kings Meadows with Nottingham Castle on the left and St Mary's Church in the centre of the picture. In between is the tower of St Nicholas' Church and The Spire of St Peter's Church. On the far right is the old Trent Bridge. After the Norman conquest Nottingham was bounded by a ditch and later a wall running from the Castle, down Park Row and along Upper and Lower Parliament Street to Plumptre Square, and then followed the line of the cliff back to the castle. The growth of Nottingham Before the 16th century the population probably never exceeded 3000 people. It then started to increase - by 1750 it was about 10,000 in the first census of 1801 it was almost 29,000 and by 1841 it was over 50,000, packed into almost the same area that of the medieval town. The houses were bound within a restricted area due to a ring of fields and meadows around the city, used by the burgesses of freeholders of the City to graze their animals (The Nottingham Enclosure Act of 1845 enclosed these fields and meadows, and compensated them for the loss of open space used for housing development, and allotted space for a series of places of public recreation and public walks, though an award was not made until 20 years later allowing the Meadows, Sand and Clay Fields to be used for building. The Meadows went by the name of the King's Meadows and were associated with the Royal Castle of Nottingham. The most dramatic moment at this location occurred in 1485 when it is probable that Richard III mustered his forces on them previous to his departure to Bosworth, while again in 1487 they were used as a camp and rendezvous for Henry VII's army just before the battle of East Stoke. The city by the time of this picture still had the overall appearance of a large market town. Though the presence of large chimneys suggest it has already started to develop its late Georgian and early Victorian boom in the industrial economy, with its associated increase in population and cramped squallid housing. This scene is still a pastoral one with animals grazing in the Meadows. The buildings in the city are a jumble of Tudor, Stuart, and early Georgian gables. The Midland Counties Railway, opened from Derby to Nottingham through the Meadows in 1839, but this is not evident here so the date for this undated picture is probably c 1820's.