First Successful Balloon Flight in Nottingham - Canal Street - Nottingham, Nottinghamshire - Blue Plaques on Waymarking.com

A green plaque on the wall of Fellows, Morton & Clayton marks the location of Nottingham's first successful balloon flight in 1813.

The plaque reads:
This site, formerly known as
Company's Wharf, was the location
of Nottingham's first successful
balloon flight on November 1st 1813
by James Sadler (1753-1828)

"The plaque has been unveiled to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Nottingham's first successful balloon flight.

It is on the front door of the Fellows, Morton and Clayton pub on Canal Street which is thought to stand on the site of the launch in 1813.

Watched by thousands of people, James Sadler flew 30 miles in an hour.

Balloon enthusiast Robin Macey said after two previous failed attempts in the East Midlands, Mr Sadler's flight was an "incredible event" for the city.

Sadler's silk red and while balloon took off from an open piece of land next to the canal called Company's Wharf.

The name is no longer used today but Mr Macey from the Nottingham and Derby Hot Air Balloon Club has spent months researching the exact spot.

"I have been studying local balloon history for over 20 years and earlier this year I identified exactly where Company's Wharf was," he said.

"I looked through some old Ordnance Survey maps from the 1880s and I was able to identify exactly where it was. We realised straightaway it was on a space of land that's now occupied by the pub.

"People travelled a great distance to watch the flight. They came from as far afield as Newark, Mansfield, Derby and Leicester. Every single possible vantage point was taken.

"It was quite an incredible event."

Hot air balloon flights -

* The world's first hot air balloon flight was in Paris on November 21, 1783.
* James Sadler became the first Englishman to fly in a hot air balloon after making his first flight from Oxford in October 1784.
* The first attempt to launch in Nottingham took place at the Forest Recreation Ground in 1785 but it failed to lift.
* A crowd of 30,000 people waited seven hours for the flight to take place."

SOURCE - (visit link)

"James Sadler (February 1753 – 28 March 1828) was the first English balloonist, as well as a chemist and pastry chef.

Sadler was the second person to make a balloon ascent in England, very soon after the Tuscan Vincent Lunardi's flight on 15 September 1784 in the grounds of the Honourable Artillery Company at Moorfields. However, James Sadler was the first English Aeronaut having made his ascent during the month after on 4 October 1784 from Christ Church Meadow, Oxford."

SOURCE - (visit link)

Blue Plaque managing agency: Nottingham Civic Society Individual Recognized: James Sadler - First Successful Balloon Flightin Nottingham, 1813 Physical Address: Fellows Morton & Clayton 54 Canal Street Nottingham, Nottinghamshire England NG1 7EH Web Address: [Web Link]

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