Encyclopedia
Nottingham is a
city in the
East Midlands of
England. The centre of Nottingham lies on the River Leen and its southern boundary follows the course of the River Trent, which flows from
Stoke to the
Humber. According to the
2001 census, Nottingham has an estimated city
population of 275,100. The Nottingham Urban Area conurbation has a population of 666,358 . Nottingham is a member of the English Core Cities Group.
The heart of the city is the
Old Market Square, which underwent a major redevelopment in 2006. Most of the main shopping streets are around the square. The Council House, whose disproportionately tall dome can be seen for miles around, is at the top of the square. The inside of the Council House is the Exchange Arcade, a
shopping centre. A
bohemian quarter of the city known as
Hockley has arisen in recent years, situated close to the
Lace Market area. Nottingham receives a lot of tourism, mostly because of the legend of
Robin Hood, visiting
Sherwood forest and
Nottingham Castle.
History
The first evidence of settlement dates from pre-Roman times, and it is clear that the Romans also lived in the area.
An early name for Nottingham was "Tigguo Cobauc" which means "a place of cavy dwellings." Founded by
Anglo-Saxon invaders after 600 AD, parts of the settlement have included man-made caves, dug into soft sandstone. The Saxons were led by a chieftain named Snot . Snot brought together his people in an area where the historic
Lace Market in the City can now be found. The place was called "Snotingaham" —literally, "the home of Snot's people" . As with many place names throughout England, the word has since been modified to "Nottingham".
Nottingham was later captured by the
Danes and in the
9th century became one of the five boroughs of the
Danelaw.
In the
11th century,
Nottingham Castle was constructed on a sandstone outcrop by the River Trent. The Anglo-Saxon settlement on the hill now occupied by the Lace Market around St. Mary's Church developed into the English Borough of Nottingham and housed its Town Hall and Courts. A settlement also developed around the castle on the hill opposite and was the French borough supporting the Normans in the Castle. Eventually, the space between was built on as the town grew and the Market Square became the focus of Nottingham several centuries later.
The town became a county corporate in 1449, giving it effective self-government, in the words of the charter, "for eternity".
The legend of
Robin Hood first arose in the
Middle Ages. Robin Hood is said to have lived in
Sherwood Forest, to the north of the town, with the Sheriff of Nottingham as his greatest enemy. The current Sheriff of Nottingham, Matthew Keyworth, is a largely ceremonious figure with no real jurisdiction. While the legends are almost certainly untrue, particularly in their details, they have had a major impact on Nottingham, with Robin Hood imagery a popular choice for local businesses and many modern tourist attractions exploiting the legend. The Robin Hood Statue in Nottingham is within walking distance from the
Old Market Square.
No fewer than three pubs in Nottingham claim the title of
England's Oldest Pub. The contenders for the crown are
Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem near the castle,
The Bell on the Old Market Square, and The Salutation on Maid Marian Way. Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem is supposedly named for its role as a major meeting point for those going on the
Crusades in the Middle Ages. However, its claim may be due partly to the questionable date of 1189 painted on the side of the inn. A recent television documentary tested the three claimants and found that, while each has its own evidence, none can claim exclusivity. The Trip, while the oldest building and oldest location, was for most of its early life a brewery and not a public house. The Salutation sits on the oldest recognised public house site, but the current building is comparatively recent. The Bell, although not in such an antiquated location, does boast the oldest public house building. There is also conflicting information available:
dendrochronology dating evidence from roof timbers in the Salutation give a date for the building of c.1420 with similar dates for the Bell. Ultimately, the roots of the multiple claims can be traced to various subtleties of definition in terms such as "public house" and "inn".
Caves of Nottingham
The cave network was substantially expanded and became home to a large proportion of the poorer populace, particularly those involved in the
tanning industry. The caves were gradually abandoned in the
19th and early part of the
20th century, but came into use again as
air raid shelters during
World War II. A section of the cave network under the
Broadmarsh shopping centre is now open as a tourist attraction, and some parts are still used as pub cellars.
Another section of the caves, under the castle, is still in regular use as the indoor rifle range of Nottingham Rifle Club. In addition,
Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem Inn, a pub that claims to be the oldest in Britain , is partly built into the cave system below the castle. Although the pub's building only dates from the
16th or
17th century, the caves themselves may date to the 11th century and could have been the site of the brewhouse for the castle.
Architectural & Historical Contexts
Nottingham is relatively unusual among big manufacturing cities in Britain in having a medieval and pre-industrial past of equal importance to its more recent one. Unfortunately, this is not readily apparent from the city’s buildings.
Nottingham Castle, founded by
William the Conqueror, famed through the
Middle Ages as one of the country’s finest strongholds, and where
Charles I raised the
Royal Standard in 1642 no longer exists, and has been replaced by a classical ducal palace. Of the medieval castle only the gatehouse, and the ruined remains of some walls/foundations, survive. Further to the east,
Old Market Square, focal point of the city, and reputedly the largest open square of any English city is being redeveloped.
The city descends from north to south, and eventually to the River Trent, though the river itself is not a central feature. The western third of the city houses the castle and several new tall buildings along with some harmonious streets around the Playhouse mainly occupied by professional firms, and the unimposing
Nottingham Cathedral . The central third leads down from the Nottingham Trent University building past the Theatre Royal to Old Market Square, which has the Council House to the east. This was built in the 1920s to display civic pride, ostentatiously utilising
Baroque columns and statues of two lions; the Exchange Arcade underneath, containing boutique shops, is a small but pleasant covered area. Streets lead south to the Broad Marsh Shopping Centre, a bus terminus. The Canalside, further south of this, and adjacent to the railway station and several new but sympathetically designed modern offices, is an inviting redevelopment with bars and restaurants. The eastern third of the city contains the Victoria Shopping Centre and the Victoria centre flats , at 75m high, the highest building in the city. Interesting areas of this part of the city are
Hockley Village and the Lace Market, where the old red-brick warehouses have been utilised for other purposes, creating an attractive aspect to this part of the city. The Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin is in this area: it and the adjacent Shire Hall are two of the more interesting buildings from the city’s pre-industrial past.
Probably the most interesting and attractive building is
Wollaton Hall, about 4km to the west of the centre, just north of Nottingham University campus.
Geography
Nottingham is located at
1.
The City of Nottingham boundaries are tightly drawn and exclude several suburbs and towns that are usually considered part of Greater Nottingham, including Arnold, Carlton,
West Bridgford,
Beeston and Stapleford. Outlying towns and villages include Hucknall,
Eastwood, Tollerton, Ruddington, Ilkeston and Long Eaton of which the last two are in
Derbyshire. The geographical area of Greater Nottingham includes several local authorities:
Gedling,
Broxtowe,
Rushcliffe,
Ashfield,
Erewash and
Amber Valley.
Education
Nottingham is home to two
universities: the
University of Nottingham and
Nottingham Trent University including over 40,000 full-time
students. The University of Nottingham's teaching hospital,
Queen's Medical Centre, is the largest hospital in the UK. Nottingham Trent University is one of the country's new generation of trade schools.
Other notable educational institutions include the further education college New College Nottingham, ,
Nottingham High School, Bilborough College, Nottingham High School for Girls, Chilwell School - a specialist in maths, media arts and computing, The Nottingham Bluecoat School and Technology College and Djanogly City Academy and . Nottingham is home and headquarters of the National College for School Leadership.
The Nottingham School of Fashion is a fashion school respected around the country and produced the designer Paul Smith.
Industry
Nottingham is home to the headquarters of many well known companies. One of the best known is
Boots the Chemists, founded in the city by John Boot in 1849 and substantially expanded by his son Jesse Boot .
Other large current employers include the credit reference agency Experian, the energy company
Powergen, the tobacco company
John Player & Sons betting company
Gala Group, Siemens,
Speedo, high street opticians Vision Express, games and publishing company
Games Workshop and the American Credit card company
Capital One, whose European offices are situated by the side of
Nottingham station. Nottingham is also the home of the
Inland Revenue.
Although Boots itself is no longer a direct player in the pharmaceutical industry, a combination of former Boots researchers and university spin-off companies have spawned a thriving pharmaceutical/science/biotechnology sector. BioCity, the UK’s biggest bioscience innovation and incubation centre, sits in the heart of the city and houses around thirty science-based companies. Other notable companies in the sector include ClinPhone and Pharmaceutical Profiles.
Until recently
bicycle manufacturing was a major industry, the city being the birthplace of Raleigh Cycles in 1886 and later joined by Sturmey-Archer, the creator of 3-speed hub gears. However, Raleigh's factory on Triumph Road, famous as the location for the filming of
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, was demolished in Summer 2003 to make way for the
University of Nottingham's expansion of
Jubilee Campus.
Nottingham is also joint headquarters of Paul Smith, the high fashion house.
The schools and aerial photographers, H Tempest Ltd were Nottingham based for many years, until relocating to St Ives around 1960. A skeleton office remained for many years in the original building next to Mundella School.
Many of the UKs railway ticket machines and platform departure boards run software written by
Atos Origin in their offices in Nottingham. Other major industries in the city include engineering, textiles, knitwear and electronics.
Nottingham is progressively changing from an industrial city to one based largely in the service sector. Tourism—particularly from the United States and the Far East—is becoming an increasingly significant part of the local economy.
Economy
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Nottingham at current basic prices by
Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
| Year | | | | |
|---|
| 1995 | 4,149 | 2 | 1,292 | 2,855 |
| 2000 | 5,048 | 1 | 912 | 4,135 |
| 2003 | 5,796 | - | 967 | 4,828 |
includes hunting and forestry
includes energy and construction
includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
Shopping
Nottingham is positioned 3rd in the shopping league in England, behind
Birmingham and
London but ahead of
Manchester and
Leeds. The approved £400 million
Broadmarsh Shopping Centre redevelopment could change this all, moving Nottingham back to its 2nd spot in the retail area.
There are two main shopping centres in Nottingham: Victoria Centre and
Broadmarsh with smaller centres being the The Exchange Arcade and the Flying Horse Walk . The Bridlesmith Gate area has extensive designer shops, and is also the home of the original Paul Smith boutique. There are also various side streets and alleys that hide some interesting and often overlooked buildings and shops such as Poultry Walk, West end Arcade, Hurts Yard and others, with many specialist shops.
Many department stores also operate in Nottingham. It includes names such as
House of Fraser,
John Lewis,
Debenhams, and
Marks & Spencer. John Lewis was until recently called Jessops, even though owned by John Lewis since 1933. It changed its name in 2002 after a refurbishment.
Hockley Village caters to alternative tastes with shops like Ice Nine and Void, famous across the city. The
Broadmarsh Shopping Centre is set to be redeveloped to a greater standard in the near future.
Transport
Nottingham is close to the
M1 motorway and is also well-served by
train services operated by Midland Mainline from
Nottingham station to
London.
Nottingham East Midlands Airport, served by low-cost international
airlines, makes the city easily accessible from other parts of the world providing daily services to many principal European destinations such as
Paris,
Frankfurt,
Berlin, and
Amsterdam, internal flights to
Edinburgh and
Belfast and limited services to trans-continental destinations such as
Barbados,
Mexico, Sanford and
Florida. Nearby
Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield also provides domestic European and Trans-Atlantic services. Birmingham International airport is about one hour's drive away, providing flights to most principal European cities,
New York,
Boston,
Toronto,
Montreal,
Dubai and the
Indian Sub-Continent.
Nottingham is bucking the national trend, as in the city bus use is growing while employment rates are rising . This is a result of the city council, as well as the two principal operators, NCT and Trent Barton, making multi-million-pound investments in some of the newest fleets in the country. NCT was also the first transport operator in the UK to use
RFID technology for its
EasyRider bus passes, introduced in 2000. The two operators are also frequent winners of the National Bus Operator of the Year award.
The re-opening of the
Robin Hood Line to passengers rather than just freight, between 1993 and 1998 linked Nottingham with its close neighbours of Hucknall,
Kirkby-in-Ashfield,
Sutton-in-Ashfield and
Mansfield. Other lines connect the city to
Beeston, Burton Joyce, Netherfield and Carlton.
Nottingham Express Transit a light rail system opened in 2004, running from Hucknall in the north to the city's
railway station. An additional spur to/from Phoenix Park serves as a
Park and Ride Station close to the
M1 motorway . Planned future lines will create a 3 line network to the southern and western suburbs.
Crime
The City of Nottingham is widely reported to be one of the most crime hit areas of England, and many crimes show statistics that are an than the English average. A in 2006 said that Nottingham topped the crime rankings for police statistics on murders, burglaries, and vehicle crime, and "had almost five times the level of crime as the
safest town in the rankings". The survey was initially condemned as inaccurate by Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire police force due largely to the use of out of date population figures, although a revised survey based on 2004 population estimates backed up the original rankings.
Culture
Nottingham has two main
theatres, the
Nottingham Playhouse and the
Theatre Royal and a third worthy of attention at University of Nottingham's Lakeside Art Center. There are also several art galleries which often receive national attention, particularly the Nottingham Castle Museum, the Angel Row gallery alongside the university Djanogly Gallery and Wollaton Park's Yard Gallery. Both of the city's universities also put on a wide range of theatre, music and art events open to the public throughout the year.
The city has several multiplex cinemas alongside two arts cinemas. The independent cinemas are the Screen Room, which claims to be the world’s smallest cinema and the Broadway Cinema, which comes highly recommended by Quentin Tarantino who held the British premiere of Reservoir Dogs here.
There is a classical music scene with long established groups such as the city's , , , , Early Music Group and the giving regular performances in the city.
The annual
Goose Fair in October is always popular being one of the largest fairs in the country. More generally the city is regarded as having a diverse nightlife with many clubs and bars in the centre of town that are popular amongst both the local and student communities.
Nottingham won the Britain in Bloom competition, in the Large City category, in 1997, 2001 and 2003. It also won the Entente Florale Gold Award in 1998.
Nottingham is known for its large teenage alternative scene , the heartland of which is
Old Market Square which is currently being redeveloped, to their dismay. Another major hotspot is
Rock City. The
Sumac Centre based in Forest Fields has for many years supported local upcoming musicians, artists and film makers. It also supports a variety of campaign groups.
Tourism
Popular tourist attractions in Nottingham include
Nottingham Castle,
City of Caves,
The Galleries of Justice, and
The Tales of Robin Hood on Maid Marian Way, as well as the City's ancient pubs. There are a number of parks and gardens around Nottingham that are popular among tourists and residents. These include
Wollaton Park near to the University Highland Park on the
Nottingham University campus, Colwick Park, which includes the racecourse, and the Nottingham Arboretum, Forest Recreation Ground and Victoria Park which are both in or close to the city centre.
Sherwood Forest,
Rufford Country Park, Creswell Crags and
Clumber Park are further away from the city itself. A new park is being developed in the city at the Eastside City development.
Entertainment
The Royal Concert Hall, award-winning dedicated rock music venue
Rock City, and 9,500-capacity Nottingham Arena attract the biggest names in pop, rock and R&B. For less mainstream acts and a generally more intimate atmosphere, Nottingham boasts a selection of great smaller venues including Junktion 7, The Old Angel,
Rock City and Rock City's cozy sister venues The Rescue Rooms, The Social and Stealth, amongst others. In total these venues, their packed listings and close proximity arguably make Nottingham the capital of live music in the UK.
Nottingham has a great reputation for a lively pub and club scene.
In the 1980s, Nottingham was barely mentioned in the Good Food Guide; but now there are several restaurant entries and a range of cuisine reflecting the ethnic diversity of the city. The play a leading role in promoting the industry.
The large number of students in the city bolsters the nighttime entertainment scene. There are several well established areas of the city centre for entertainment such as
Lace Market,
Hockley, The Waterfront and The Corner House.
Sport
Nottingham is home to two
football teams:
Nottingham Forest and
Notts County . The latter are the oldest Football League team in the UK, and indeed the world, having been founded in 1862 .
Trent Bridge cricket ground, located across the river in
West Bridgford,
Rushcliffe, is the home of
Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, who were winners of the 2005 County Championship and runners-up in the 2006
Twenty20 cup competition. Trent Bridge is a major venue for international Test matches, and also hosts other important cricketing events such as the Twenty20 cup Finals and regular One-Day International games. The ground, which has won architectural awards for the design of some of its newer stands, also houses a cricket academy, a hotel, and a gym, and also uniquely features not one, but two public houses built within the ground itself.
All three famous sports venues are within sight of each other even though the River Trent separates Trent Bridge and Forest's stadium from Notts County's ground, Meadow Lane . As a curiousity
Meadow Lane is actually in the
City of Nottingham and the
City Ground is in the
County of Nottingham the river forming the boundary.
Forest should not be confused with
The Forest which is an green space where Goose Fair is held; however, the team take their name from this open space, having been founded there in 1865. This makes Forest the third oldest team in the league.
The National Ice Centre, a large
ice skating rink; the city's links to ice skating can be traced back to arguably its most famous children of recent times,
Olympic ice dancing champions
Jayne Torvill and
Christopher Dean who collected a unanimous 6.0 score. The NIC is used as a training and competition venue for speed skating,
sledge hockey and
figure skating and receives an annual grant from bodies such as
Sport England to maintain and fund these sports.
The NIC is the home of the
Nottingham Panthers ice hockey club, founded in 1946 and currently one of the biggest and best supported clubs in the United Kingdom. There is a thriving junior ice hockey programme which is also based at the centre. Since 2001, Nottingham has been the host city of the annual ice hockey Play-Off Championship Finals weekend, which attracts fans from many different parts of the country.
The city's
rugby union side,
Nottingham R.F.C. are currently based in Beeston but are currently preparing a new venue in
West Bridgford.
There is a large tennis centre, where the annual
Samsung Open is held in the weeks immediately prior to
Wimbledon and has been used as warm-up practice by various tennis stars.
The
National Water Sports Centre is based at Holme Pierrepont, with a 2000m regatta lake for rowing, canoeing and sailing, and a white water slalom course fed from the river. A number of other sailing, rowing and canoeing clubs are also based along the River Trent, as is the boatbuilder Raymond Sims.
Every Year since 1981 Nottingham has played host to the 'Robin Hood Marathon' taking in many of the city's historic and scenic sights. The race is ran alongside a Half Marathon and a Fun Run among other events and is widely considered to be the second best Marathon in the UK.
Religion
In Nottingham one can find places of worship for all the major world religions, including
Christianity,
Islam,
Hinduism,
Sikhism and
Taoism. The
Synagogue on
Shakespeare Street is particularly well appointed.
Nottingham is generally regarded as a cathedral city, with
Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Barnabas on Derby Road. Designed by the
architect Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, was consecrated in 1844 it is the cathedral church for the which covers
