The City Built on Caves
by lillyrose on 14/10/09 at 11:53 am
For those of you that are proud and love your hometown as much as I do, will realise where I am coming from with this article.
For those of you that are proud and love your hometown as much as I do, will realise where I am coming from with this article.
Nottingham in Saxon times was the first real start of Nottingham, as we now know it.
In the 6th century my town was just a small village, a Saxon settlement called Snotta inga ham, which was the Anglo Saxon for little village. Due to the ground around being mainly sand stone, people soon realised they could tunnel into the sand stone and make safe, dry dwellings.
It soon turned into a town and the Danish invaded taking the five boroughs of Nottingham, Lincoln, Leicester, Derby and Stamford. Here they remained until Edward the elder assisted by his sister, Aethelfaed, drove the Danish army away again.
Nottingham was a great place to settle, it ran close to the river Trent and in 1067 William the Conqueror came and decided to build a castle to guard Nottingham, its not the same one that we have today, it was a wooden one, which was later rebuilt in 1170 in stone, constructed by Henry II. In 1649 that castle was demolished after Charles I execution. In 1663 the first Duke of Newcastle constructs the castle we see today. 1831 sees rioters torch the building and it was reopened in 1878 as the first museum and art gallery out side London and some beautiful oil paintings adorn its walls, some of my most special pieces are hanging in a room there, they heavily influenced my art exam work as I was growing up.
It’s a beautiful Castle. I have been many times over the years, I have been inside it, round it, into the rooms that the prisoners were kept, through the bent tunnel which was the way in for the horse and carriage and it was built bent so the horses wouldn’t spook and just see a black hole at the end of the tunnel. I was so happy when I found this out because it meant that some kind of animal understanding and welfare was in place even then, or they just couldn’t be doing with horses spooking and getting the carriages all caught up on the wall.
I have been in the caves underneath the castle, they must be one of my most favourite places, and Mortimer’s hole a 98 metre long man made tunnel that takes you from the foot of the castle rock up to the Upper Bailey in the castle. You really can almost feel the grizzly happenings that went on in the caves. It is said to be most haunted, as are many of the surrounding buildings in Nottingham. I have done a late night ghost walk tour, very interesting indeed.
Just down the road from Nottingham castle there still stands the oldest public house in Nottingham ‘Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem’ which is carved into the rock and had tunnels that run to the foot of Nottingham Castle. King Richard the first also known as Richard the Lionheart and his crusade have stopped at this pub for a ‘trip’ or ‘one for the road’ this is said to be haunted as well.
Nottingham was well known for its lace, there are still the original houses that the lace makers used to own just over the road from Nottingham castle and there is now what’s still called the lace market further into Nottingham town centre and underneath the Broadmarsh shopping centre there are still more caves, here they used to do the tanning of animal skins, it still smells!
There are many, many more historical places in this wonderful city, I could go on all day but why take my word for it, come and see for yourself!
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27 Comments
Vikram Chhabra
Oct 14th, 2009
After reading this article, its on my list of places to visit!
cardy
Oct 14th, 2009
A fab read and write from you dont think I would like the smell!
Mark Gordon Brown
Oct 14th, 2009
Looks like an awesome place, my wife is claustraphobic so I am not sure how she would manage, but I would love to see this.
lillyrose
Oct 14th, 2009
You only get the smell in the tanning caves!
Some of the caves are quite narrow, but most that you are allowed in are lit up and I managed to get around even with a dodgy leg but claustrophobia is nasty!
Vikram, you let me know when your coming I will be your tour guide!
cutedrishti8
Oct 14th, 2009
Look like a wonderful place to visit
LilRoastBeef
Oct 14th, 2009
This is an amazing article…definitely a place to visit if I get a chance!!! Great job!!
Frosty Johnson
Oct 14th, 2009
As a midlander im proud of the historical heritage we have in our part of the world, in our major cities Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Nottingham, Derby and Coventry and Leicester we have an industrial history second to none and then of course there are our castles Notts, Tamworth, Kenilworth and Warwick, legends such as Robin Hood and writers of the calibre of Shakespeare and Tolkien.
ken bultman
Oct 14th, 2009
Could you put me up overnight. I wash my own underthings.
Peter Cimino
Oct 14th, 2009
What an awesome tribute to your home city. Very well done and a real enjoyable read.
Frances Lawrence
Oct 14th, 2009
A very interestin article , thanks.
Frances Lawrence
Oct 14th, 2009
I really enjoyed reading this.
Paul Roberts
Oct 14th, 2009
Yes…yes..I’m a fan. I was stationed overseas for several years and I loved exploring the nooks and olde spooks.It is great to see a article like this.Fan, friend,smile
Papa Sparks
Oct 14th, 2009
An amazing travel piece! Nicely written and the photos were awesome.
Guy Hogan
Oct 14th, 2009
I wish I did have the money to travel. Nottingham would be near the top of the list.
lillyrose
Oct 15th, 2009
Awwww its so nice to think people from all over the world would come to visit our humble Country!
Ken the dig said you can share her bed! she curls up very small you will have room!
lillyrose
Oct 15th, 2009
that should be DOG not dig
giftarist
Oct 15th, 2009
Great place to visit.. great article!
Lostash
Oct 15th, 2009
I’m with you and Frosty on this one!! I love the area we live in, and I’ve been to ‘The Trip’ on many occasions for a quick beer! As a matter of interest, in the next village to where I live, we have the second oldest licensed premises!! Called the Bakers Arms, in Blaby, Leicestershire.
Jane Jane
Oct 15th, 2009
I wanna see that place soon but I’ve got no money for fare.
SimonMcT
Oct 15th, 2009
Do they still hold the annual “Goose Fair”? I remember being taken when I was very young. There was a very scarey-looking haunted house as part of it!
And surely D H Lawrence deserved a mention too?
Valerie Curtiss
Oct 15th, 2009
From a Norfolk gal, born in Chester, I love to read articles from the UK. I grew up in the 40s and 50s in Hunstanton, Norfolk, and look back with great nostalgia on life in a small seaside town, even though when I lived there all I wanted to do was come to the US, which I did in 1960. One day I shall return to visit. Thanks for the glimpse into Nottingham.
STEVE666
Oct 15th, 2009
Another great article, Lily. Although, as a lorry driver, I’ve been to Nottingham many times, the only thing I knew about the place, was that the women out-numbered the men by 3-1.
jimbob1
Oct 15th, 2009
Miss L…
Sounds like a great place to visit. This was a great read…the council should put you on the payroll for doing such a great job of public relations, promotions and publicity. I have a question…you said the castle was demolished in 1949 after Charles I execution…but if memory serves me right he would have been executed long before 1949…might want to check that out. Thanks.
lillyrose
Oct 16th, 2009
you are right Jim, I think that must be a typo! I will sort it out and thank you for being so observant!
Valerie, Norfolk is a beautiful place, I holidayed there every year as a child.
Simon, yes goose fair has just been and gone!
sunshine926
Oct 16th, 2009
Nice place to visit. enjoyed your article very much:)
Paul Griffiths
Oct 21st, 2009
Nice… my Grandad lives in Darlaston, which isn’t all that far away, and I’ve been to that castle more than once. I’ve got a photo somewhere of me standing next to the statue of Robin Hood with his arrow pointed at my head.
I even have a photograph of that exact same Inn, taken from almost precisely the same spot where you took your photo! Maybe you’re in my picture.
Great article. I love reading about UK history, especially from the Viking/Saxon era through the Middle Ages.
PhoenixRox
Nov 7th, 2009
A perfect tribute to your hometown hun. I wanna visit
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