Caves of Nottingham

Having lived close to Nottingham for a few years now, one attraction which seems to stand out is the Nottingham Caves. As you drive into Nottingham you cannot but fail to notice that the town is situated on sandstone, and the prominence of caves are apparent in the Castle area and Brewers Yard. The part I never fully understood was the shop front within the 1970s shopping arcade known as the Broadmarsh advertising the city caves and yet seemed to sell nothing but miniscule rock trinkets, but which in fact is the modern façade built on top of several hundred years of Nottingham history. The Broadmarsh shopping centre in itself is one of those modern buildings ...

~ BRIEF HISTORY ~ Nottingham City centre is built on BUNTER Sandstone, which has a depth of around 200 feet in places. Now Sandstone is very easy to carve into and so Nottingham has approximately TWO HUNDRED caves and all of them are MAN MADE. The first recorded record of the caves comes in 868AD and unquestionably these first caves were dug out for the purpose of dwellings. Lets face it. You have no home but you need shelter. Find a shovel or any other implement and dig! As the centuries passed by, caves were dug for tradesmen to use for their businesses. Caves have a constant temperature so were excellent for brewing beer and the Sandstone filters ...

Think of Nottingham, and what do you think of? Robin Hood and the Sheriff? Yeah, I'll give you that. Lace and textiles? Okay, fair point. One of the best places for shopping in the country? Good one. How about caves? No? Think again! Nottingham is a city of caves. It's built on sandstone, y'see, which is soft and really easy to dig into. Many early inhabitants lived in caves they made along the cliff line which runs through the city, and they've been used for many things since. The Caves of Nottingham is a fairly new attraction (1994) which aims to show visitors this secret, underground side of Nottingham. The amazing thing is ...