Nottingham, Robin Hood's city

Nottingham is Robin Hood's city, but reducing it to the legend of the Sherwood outlaw would do it an injustice. The county town of Nottinghamshire, in the East Midlands, on the banks of the River Trent, it has more than 320,000 inhabitants, rising to over 700,000 across the urban area. It is a city built quite literally on top of hundreds of caves carved into sandstone, with a castle that saw the start of the English Civil War, an industrial past of lace, bicycles and chemists' shops, two universities with tens of thousands of students and one of the liveliest nightlife scenes in the country. Since 2015 it has also been a UNESCO City of Literature, in tribute to writers such as Lord Byron and D. H. Lawrence.

Trains from London St Pancras take about an hour and forty minutes, and East Midlands Airport is half an hour away by bus. It is also a handy base for Sherwood Forest, the Peak District and the region's great country houses.

A little history

The name comes from the Anglo-Saxon Snotingaham, "the homestead of Snot's people", after a local chieftain: the initial "S" was dropped in the Middle Ages, much to the relief of the inhabitants. The first settlers had already realised that the soft sandstone beneath the town was easy to dig: in the 9th century a Welsh chronicler called the place by a name meaning "house of caves". Taken by the Danes, the town became one of the Five Boroughs of the Danelaw, the part of England under Viking law.

After the Norman Conquest, in 1068 William the Conqueror had a castle built on the rocky outcrop overlooking the river. It became one of the most important royal fortresses in the country, and it was here, in August 1642, that King Charles I raised his standard, starting the English Civil War. After Parliament's victory the fortress was demolished, and in the 1670s the Duke of Newcastle built a classical mansion in its place. In 1831 the mansion was burned by rioters during the protests over electoral reform, and it remained a shell until 1878, when it was restored and opened as the first municipal art museum in the country outside London.

In the 19th century Nottingham became the world capital of machine-made lace. The Lace Market quarter, with its great red-brick warehouses, recalls those years: lace was designed, finished and sold here before being shipped across the empire. Industrial growth also brought poverty and unrest: the Luddites, workers who smashed mechanised frames, first appeared in the Nottinghamshire countryside in 1811. In the second half of the century came the companies that shaped the city's history: Boots, which grew out of John Boot's herbalist shop opened in 1849 and was turned by his son Jesse into a national chain; Raleigh bicycles, founded in 1887 and for decades one of the largest bicycle makers in the world; and Player's cigarettes.

Robin Hood, between history and legend

Nobody knows whether Robin Hood really existed. The earliest ballads about him date from the 15th century and place him between Sherwood and Barnsdale, in Yorkshire; only later did his story settle into the familiar form, with the outlaw who robs the rich to give to the poor, Little John, Friar Tuck, Maid Marian and the wicked Sheriff of Nottingham. The sheriff, on the other hand, is historical: he was the king's officer who governed the county and collected taxes, and the post still exists today, in a purely ceremonial role.

At the foot of the castle walls stands the famous bronze statue of Robin Hood, unveiled in 1952: it is the photo every visitor takes home. To find the legend in the landscape you have to head north to Sherwood Forest, now much smaller than the medieval forest but still atmospheric. At the heart of Sherwood Forest country park, near the village of Edwinstowe, stands the Major Oak, an oak tree probably between 800 and 1,000 years old, its branches propped up on crutches: tradition says it was the hideout of Robin's band. The visitor centre runs guided walks, and in summer there is a festival devoted to the hero.

What to see in Nottingham

The castle and Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem

Nottingham Castle does not look like a medieval fortress: it is the 17th-century mansion of the Dukes of Newcastle, built on a sandstone cliff around forty metres high. It houses a museum on the city's history, the 1831 riots and the Robin Hood legend, and an art gallery with works by local artists such as the Romantic painter Richard Parkes Bonington. The terrace offers a fine view over the city. Beneath the rock lie the castle caves, including Mortimer's Hole, a long passage cut into the rock and linked to an episode in 1330, when the young Edward III's men used it to seize his mother's lover, Roger Mortimer. In recent years the castle has had periods of closure: always check opening times before you go.

Built against the same cliff is Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, whose sign bears the date 1189 and which claims to be England's oldest inn. The date is legendary, and other pubs claim the same title, but the atmosphere is genuine: some rooms are carved straight into the rock, and tradition has it that Richard the Lionheart's crusaders stopped here before setting off for the Holy Land.

The city of caves

Beneath Nottingham there are more than 800 caves dug by hand into the sandstone over a thousand years: cellars, tanneries, storerooms, homes for the poorest and, during the Second World War, air-raid shelters. The best-known route is City of Caves, visited with costumed guides from the city centre: you see an underground medieval tannery, homes cut into the rock and wartime shelters. Many pubs and shops in the centre still have their own private caves beneath the floor, occasionally opened to the public for special events.

Old Market Square and the Council House

The heart of the city is Old Market Square, one of the largest public squares in the UK, where the market was held for centuries and, until 1928, the Goose Fair too. The square is dominated by the Council House, the city hall, opened in 1929, with its dome and portico: in front of the entrance two stone lions, nicknamed Leo and Oscar by locals, are the traditional meeting point. Beneath the portico is an elegant shopping arcade. In winter the square hosts a Christmas market and an ice rink, in summer an artificial beach.

The Lace Market and Hockley

East of the square lies the Lace Market, with narrow streets and Victorian brick warehouses turned into offices, flats, bars and colleges. Here you will find St Mary's, the city's oldest church, the present building largely 15th-century, and the National Justice Museum, in the old county court and gaol, where you can visit the courtrooms, the cells and the site of public executions. Nearby is Nottingham Contemporary, one of the country's leading contemporary art galleries, in a building clad in panels decorated with a lace pattern.

Next to the Lace Market is Hockley, the alternative quarter, with record shops, vintage clothing, independent cafés, restaurants from around the world and the Broadway arts cinema.

Wollaton Hall

West of the centre, in a park with free-roaming deer, stands Wollaton Hall, one of England's most spectacular Elizabethan houses, built in the 1580s for Sir Francis Willoughby, who had grown rich from coal mining. With its corner towers and tall central hall lit by great windows, it looks like a fairytale castle: no wonder director Christopher Nolan used it as Batman's home, Wayne Manor, in The Dark Knight Rises in 2012. Inside is the city's natural history museum and, in the stables, an industrial museum. The park is free to visit.

More places

• Green's Windmill, in Sneinton: a restored windmill that belonged to the family of George Green, a miller and self-taught mathematician whose theorems are still used in modern physics.
• Newstead Abbey, some twenty kilometres north: an Augustinian priory turned country house, ancestral home of the poet Lord Byron, with his rooms, gardens and the tomb of his dog Boatswain.
• Eastwood, to the west: the mining town where D. H. Lawrence was born in 1885, with his birthplace now a museum and the settings of Sons and Lovers.
• Attenborough Nature Reserve, along the Trent: lakes created from old gravel pits, now a reserve for water birds.

Sport: football, cricket and ice

Few cities are as sporting as Nottingham. It has two professional football clubs whose grounds face each other across the Trent, less than 300 metres apart: the two closest professional grounds in England. Notts County, founded in 1862, is considered the oldest professional football club in the world still in existence. Nottingham Forest, founded in 1865, enjoyed a golden age under manager Brian Clough: promoted to the top flight, they won the league in 1978 and then two consecutive European Cups, in 1979 and 1980, a unique feat for a city of this size. A curiosity: Juventus owe their black-and-white stripes to Notts County. In 1903 an English member of the Turin club, John Savage, asked a contact in Nottingham to send new shirts, and the local team's striped kit arrived.

Trent Bridge, in West Bridgford, is one of English cricket's great grounds and hosts international matches. The National Ice Centre recalls that Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, the skaters who won Olympic gold in 1984 with their famous Boléro, are from Nottingham.

Culture, festivals and nightlife

The city has a busy cultural life: the Theatre Royal and the Royal Concert Hall, side by side in the centre, host musicals, opera and concerts; the Nottingham Playhouse is one of the most respected producing theatres in the country; and Rock City is one of the best-known live music venues in the north. The oldest festival is the Goose Fair, held every year at the beginning of October: it began centuries ago as a goose market and is now a huge funfair with rides and food stalls, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors.

Thanks to its two universities, the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University, the student population exceeds 60,000 and the nightlife is buzzing, especially around Hockley, the Lace Market and the castle area. The city is also known for its historic pubs and the region's brewing tradition.

Living in Nottingham

For those thinking of moving, Nottingham offers a lower cost of living than London and the south of England, a job market built on the universities, healthcare, services and regional businesses, and fast links to London and Birmingham. Its public transport is among the best of any mid-sized British city: two tram lines, opened from 2004 onwards, and a dense network of publicly owned buses. Like many English cities, however, Nottingham has its problems: in 2023 the council declared it could no longer balance its budget, leading to cuts in services, and some neighbourhoods remain among the most deprived in the country.

Getting there and getting around

• By train: East Midlands Railway trains from London St Pancras take about an hour and forty minutes; there are also direct services to Birmingham, Sheffield, Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool. The station is a few minutes' walk from the centre and the Lace Market.
• By air: East Midlands Airport is linked to Nottingham by Skylink buses in about 45 minutes.
• In the city: the centre is easily walkable; buses and trams serve Wollaton Hall, Trent Bridge and the university areas. For Sherwood and Newstead Abbey a car is most convenient, but there are buses too.

For travel around the rest of the country see trains and transport, and to discover other cities see British cities.

Tips for your visit

• How long: a full day is enough for the centre, the castle and the caves; add half a day for Wollaton Hall and a day for Sherwood and Newstead Abbey.
• When to go: early October for the Goose Fair, summer for events in Sherwood; in winter the square comes alive with the Christmas market.
• Don't miss: a pint in the rock-cut rooms of Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem and a guided tour of the caves.
• For sports fans: a match at the City Ground or Meadow Lane, or a Test match at Trent Bridge, tells you more about the city than any museum.

Nottingham on the map

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