Hi Jane,
Thanks for your interest! You have indeed given me valuable help before on the Bulwell and Papplewick area, I have an ancestor Henry Angus who can't have been local but married there in 1785 and had two or three children before disappearing in 1789 or so and reappearing in Cumberland in 1801. I managed to get to Nottingham Archives this summer and checked the PRs myself so I know more or less all there is available on the Angus family re BMD in those resources.
However I am still worrying away at the question of what drew Henry to the area from wherever he originated, and where he worked. One possibility was a FWK, as you suggested, another was at one of Robinson's cotton mills on the River Leen. I didn't find any records of mill workers at Nottingham, at least nothing jumped out of me but then I could only do the one session anyway as I was scared of getting stuck because of the floods.
However up in Carlisle Henry's occupation was calico block printer, and the other day I just happened to come across that reference in Google books to a calico print works in Bulwell round about 1800.
I'm not too bothered about finding out more about the Freeth and Walsh family history as such, just a bit more about their works, when it was founded and whether there is any chance of finding out anything about their workforce, etc.
I presume this isn't a very well known concern, then -- I don't want to take up too much of your valuable time so if nothing pops up easily, I can always put it on my list of things to do next summer, weather permitting
Jane
