The Location of Nottingham Butts
The report in the Nottinghamshire Guardian of Thursday 12th Sept 1861 gave brief details of the location of the Nottingham butts which were then being constructed in a valley in the Mapperley Hills. A later report from the same paper on 21st October 1864 gave details of a meeting at the range to create a new firing point at 1000 yards. Neither report gave a clear indication of the location of the range.
Between 1878 and 1881 the whole of England and Wales was surveyed to create the Ordnance Survey 6" map series which was published in 1885. Revisions were made and published in 1901, 1920 and 1947. The whole series has now been digitised and made available on the website of The National Library of Scotland. From this series of maps it is interesting to follow the development of the range area over a period of time. This is best seen using the OS Six-inch England and Wales 1842-1952 series on the sheet for Nottinghamshire XXXVIII.SW through its four revisions in 1885, 1899, 1919 and 1938.
To reach the maps, use the link to Online Maps from the foot of the home page, then the link to Ordnance Survey maps and scroll down the list to the OS Six-inch England and Wales 1842-1952. Full instructions to reach the map are on the page which opens.
On the 1885 map the range is clearly marked as a rifle range with the butts identified and the firing points labelled every 100 yards from 100 yards to 1000 yards. The range is situated between Coppice New Road (now called Ransome Road) and the Hungerhill Gardens, a large area of allotment gardens stretching West as far as Woodborough Road. From the butts to the 500 yards firing point, where the entrance and warden's lodge were sited, the range is angled slightly away from the road on the right; but the firing points for the longer ranges must have been sited in allotments adjoining the road. In fact the report of the meeting about the 1000 yard point suggests that it was actually sited on the east side of the road in the grounds of the police station. There seems to have been little or no provision for any danger area in any direction. Behind the butts the ground slopes sharply upwards; but it is barely 300 yards to St Jude's Church on Woodborough Road and Coppice Farm at the top of Coppice New Road.
The 1882 edition of C. N. Wright's Directory of Nottingham lists the range in its Commercial Directory as follows: "RIFLE BUTTS (Robin Hood Rifles), Coppice road, Sergeant Robert Alvey, keeper".
The range remained in use until August 1890 when it was closed by the War Office on the grounds of safety.
The 1899 revised map does not have the rifle range labelled; but the landscaping is still clearly seen and the warden's lodge is still marked. The police station is still at 1000 yards; but the gardens between it and 900 yards have been cleared for the construction of Cromer Road and Chandos Street. These were built over by the next revision in 1919 and the range area forward of 500 yards is described as a Recreation Ground. By 1938 the area behind the butts had become Caunton Avenue and other housing was appearing near Top Coppice Farm.