LENTON, a small town, a parish, and a sub-district in the district of Radford, and county of Nottingham. The town stands on the river Leen, near its confluence with the Trent, on the Nottingham canal, adjacent to the Nottingham and Mansfield railway, near its junction with the Midland railway, 1½ mile WSW of Nottingham; consists of two portions, New and Old; is all practically suburban to Nottingham; had anciently a rich priory of Cluniac monks, a house of Carmelite friars, and an hospital of St. Anthony; carries on industry in numerous lace factories, machine-works, tarnneries, chemical-works, starch-works, bleachfields, and an iron foundry; and has a post office, ‡ of the name of New Lenton, under Nottingham,-a postal-pillar in Old Lenton,-a station, at Old Lenton, on the Nottingham and Mansfield railway, -a church, four dissenting chapels, national schools, an industrial training institution and orphanage, and fairs on Whit-Wednesday and 11 Nov. The Cluniac priory was founded by William Peverel, son of the Conqueror; went, at the dissolution, to John Harrington; and was parity obliterated, partly absorbed, by a handsome modern seat, in the monastic style. The church was built in 1842; superseded a previous one of the 14th century; consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with a tower; and contains a Saxon font. The dissenting chapels are Baptist, Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist, and New Connexion Methodist.—The parish includes the isolated tract of Bestwood Park, 5 miles N of Nottingham; includes also part of Hyson-Green chapelry; and contains many fine residences. Acres, 5,080. Real property, £26,768; of which £699 are in mines. Pop. in 1851,5,589; in 1861,5,828. Houses, 1,188. The manor belongs to Sherwin Gregory, Esq. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lincoln. Value, £250.* Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The p. curacy of HysonGreen is a separate benefice.—The sub-district contains Brewhouse-Yard extra-parochial tract, and all the portions of Lenton and Radford parishes, S of the turnpike road from Nottingham to Ilkeston. Pop., 5,678. Houses, 1,178.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))