Nottingham Sights

Sights in Nottingham

  1. A

    Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery

    Set atop a sandstone outcrop worm-holed with caves and tunnels, the original Nottingham castle was founded by William the Conqueror and held by a succession of English kings before falling in the English Civil War. Its 17th-century replacement contains a diverting museum of local history, with an extensive collection of costumes, jewellery, Wedgwood jasperware and paintings, including works by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Your ticket also gains you entry to the Museum of Nottinghamshire Life at Brewhouse Yard.

    reviewed

  2. B

    Wollaton Hall

    Built in 1588 by Sir Francis Willoughby, land and coal-mine owner, Wollaton Hall is a magnificent example of Elizabethan architecture at its most extravagant. Architect Robert Smythson was also responsible for the equally avant-garde Longleat in Wessex. It was undergoing restoration works at the time of research; call ahead to check opening hours. The hall also houses a mediocre natural-history museum.

    reviewed

  3. C

    Caves of Nottingham

    Nottingham stands on Sherwood sandstone riddled with man-made caves that date back to medieval times. Bizarrely, the entrance to the most fascinating, readily accessible Caves of Nottingham is inside Broadmarsh shopping centre, on the upper level. These contain an air-raid shelter, a medieval underground tannery, several pub cellars and a mock-up of a Victorian slum dwelling.

    reviewed

  4. D

    Mortimer’s Hole

    Burrowing through the bedrock beneath the castle, this atmospheric underground passageway emerges at Brewhouse Yard. In 1330, supporters of Edward III used this tunnel to breach the castle security and capture Roger Mortimer, the machiavellian Earl of March, who briefly appointed himself ruler of England after deposing Edward II.

    reviewed

  5. E

    Brewhouse Yard Museum

    Housed in five 17th-century cottages carved into the cliff below the castle, this engaging Brewhouse Yard Museum re-creates everyday life in Nottingham over the past 300 years with particularly fine reconstructions of traditional shops.

    reviewed

  6. F

    Industrial Museum

    The Industrial Museum , in the 18th-century stable block, displays lace-making equipment, Raleigh bicycles, a gigantic 1858 beam engine and oddities such as a locally invented, 1963 video recorder that never got off the ground.

    reviewed

  7. G

    Nottingham Contemporary

    Housed in an eye-catching building fronted with lace-patterned concrete, this sleek gallery lives up to its name, with lots of edgy, design-oriented exhibitions of paintings, prints, photography and sculpture.

    reviewed

  8. H

    Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery

    Set atop a sandstone outcrop worm-holed with caves and tunnels, the original Nottingham castle was founded by William the Conqueror and held by a succession of English kings before falling in the English Civil War. Its 17th-century replacement contains a diverting museum of local history, with an extensive collection of costumes, jewellery, Wedgwood jasperware and paintings, including works by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Your ticket also gains you entry to the Museum of Nottinghamshire Life at Brewhouse Yard.

    Museum of Nottingham Life at Brewhouse Yard

    At the foot of the cliffs, housed in five 17th-century cottages and accessed on the same ticket as Nottingham Castle, this char…

    reviewed

  9. I

    Galleries of Justice

    Set in the grand Georgian precincts of the Shire Hall building, the Galleries of Justice offers an entertaining stroll through centuries of British justice, from medieval trials by fire and water to the controversial policing of the Miners Strike. Audio tours run on Monday and Tuesday; live-action tours with 'gaolers' run Wednesday to Sunday.

    reviewed

  10. City of Caves

    Over the centuries, the sandstone underneath the city of Nottingham has been carved into a veritable Swiss cheese of caverns and passageways. From the top level of the Broadmarsh shopping centre, atmospheric audio tours (or guided tours at weekends) plunge into the wormholes, visiting a WWII air-raid shelter, a medieval underground tannery, several pub cellars and a mock-up of a Victorian slum dwelling.

    reviewed

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