It’s September, the start of the academic year – and with an increased number of student eyes on this magazine, we thought we’d highlight five qualities that make Nottingham culture special: literature, rebels, sport, innovation, and caves. Whether you’re new to Notts or a long-established resident, we hope that these historical tid-bits remind you why it’s great.
City of Literature
This isn’t just a boast; Nottingham is one of 53 cities in the world to hold the title of an UNESCO City of Literature, and when you ponder the subject it’s easy to see why. Nottingham has been home to some of the world’s greatest writers, including Lord Byron, D.H. Lawrence, and Alan Sillitoe.
The poet Lord Byron – known for his Romantic literature and controversial lifestyle – spent a good deal of his life living in Nottingham, and at his family’s ancestral home Newstead Abbey, which is a 45 minute drive out of the city centre. Notably, his first speech in the House of Lords backed Nottingham's lacemakers who were struggling to make ends meet as the country entered the Industrial Revolution.
D.H. Lawrence was born into more humble beginnings in the mining town of Eastwood, where you can visit the D.H. Lawrence Birthplace Museum. Lawrence won a scholarship to Nottingham High School before going on to have a successful and influential writing career. His most famous and scandalous book, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, took one of the first steps into changing society’s opinion on female sexuality and was heavily censored due to coarse language.
Alan Sillitoe was arguably Nottingham’s most famous post World War Two author. He was best known for Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, which were both adapted into films in the sixties and drew on his experiences in Nottingham, including his working class upbringing and his job at the city’s Raleigh Bicycle Factory.
City of Rebels
When you think of Nottingham as the city of rebels, you automatically think of Robin Hood, but Nottingham’s history of rebellion goes far beyond the Disneyfied man-in-green.
Nottingham Castle itself is a historical site for rebellion. In 1642, the English Civil War effectively began in Nottingham when King Charles I raised his royal standard in an attempt to form an army against an Irish rebellion, against Parliament’s wishes, just outside the castle walls. Ultimately, Nottingham was divided by loyalties and Charles left to find supporters elsewhere, leaving Nottingham to become a stronghold for Parliament during the remainder of the war.
In 1812, a group called the Luddites, named after their mythical leader Ned Ludd, emerged from Nottingham during the rise of industrial machine technology in textile workplaces. Opposing the impact such machinery had on their livelihood, they broke into factories in the Lace Market to smash up the looms and stocking frames. Nowadays, the term Luddites is used to describe people who oppose advanced technology, but that isn’t an accurate reflection of the history behind it.
After World War Two Jamaican RAF veteran Eric Irons married a local woman and settled down in Nottingham. Irons was a well-known campaigner for social justice and aided Nottingham City Council in addressing race riots that took place in 1958. In 1962 he was appointed as the first black magistrate in Britain, and in 1978 he was awarded an OBE for his work in social justice and racial equality.
City of Sport
Nottingham has a rich sporting history, being home to some of the world’s most famous athletic names. From football to boxing to ice hockey, the city has an abundance of sporting venues that have hosted some legendary names and faces.
Notts County F.C. is the oldest professional Football League team in the world - they were founded in 1862. In 1877, they competed in the FA Cup, and eleven years later, in 1888, they became one of the twelve founding member clubs of the Football League. Notts County settled in Meadow Lane in 1910, making it the club’s permanent residence.
In 1865 Nottingham Forest F.C., now residing at the City Ground, was formed at the Clinton Arms on Shakespeare Street. It was also here that the founding members decided to buy a dozen tasseled hats in ‘Garibaldi Red’, after the leader of the Italian ‘Redshirts’ freedom fighters, Giuseppe Garibaldi – officialising the teams signature colour.
Outside of football, Nottingham’s sports grounds include the National Ice Centre - which is made up of two ice rinks (including one Olympic-sized), Trent Bridge - which hosts Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, and Holme Pierrepont Country Park: home of the National Water Sports Centre - a world-class sports facility with the best white water course in the country.
Rebellion and activism are some of Nottingham's proudest and most traditional traits, with evidence of our opposition to overbearing power dating back thousands of years
City of Innovation
It’s thanks to Nottingham’s scientists that the inventions of revolutionary medical technology such as the MRI scanner, invented by Sir Peter Mansfield at the University of Nottingham, are readily available to the public today. But that’s not the only thing to have come from Nottingham’s brilliant minds, and many of them are a part of everyday life worldwide.
Ibuprofen was developed by a team led by Dr Steward Adams at Boots (which was founded in Nottingham in 1849) as a safer alternative to aspirin. It was the first non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory over the counter medication. This invention earned Dr Adams an OBE.
John Peake Knight was a British Railway engineer from our city, and is credited for the invention of the traffic light back in 1868. Knight was a Nottingham Grammar School drop out but his love for trains garnered him a long and successful career further south in Brighton. It was in 1865 that he proposed an idea for the railway signalling system to be replicated on the streets of London and in December 1868, the world’s first traffic lights were installed in the borough of Westminster.
Sticking to the theme, the first road to ever be tarmacked was right here in the city, in the West Bridgford area back in 1902. It was Edgar Hooley who invented the method – inspired by a spilled barrel of tar that was hidden under gravel as an attempt to hide the accident. There are many other Nottingham inventions beyond those, including the first genetically modified tomato, the first high pressure water system, and HP Brown Sauce.
City of Caves
The city has more to offer than just what you can see above ground, Nottingham also has the largest network of caves in the UK with over eight hundred beneath our feet. These caves were used as beer cellars dating back to the 13th century, as well as medieval tanneries – the only underground tanneries in Britain.
Beneath the city centre is a whole network of these caves. Some were also known as ‘home’ to the poorest residents of the city, and during WWII the caves once again provided a safe space for Nottingham people during air raids; consequently, more were cut into sandstone during this time.
Over in Creswell, the caves known as the Creswell Crags have provided some of the biggest archaeological studies in England. At the site, archaeologists discovered Britain’s only known Ice Age rock art in 2003. The walls of the caves are also scattered with the biggest concentration of witches’ marks in British caves.
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