Nottingham Castle

Nottingham Castle
Part of Nottinghamshire
Nottingham, England
Nottingham Castle - The Castle Gate House - Showing the Medieval architecture of the bridge and lower towers with the Victorian renovation of the upper towers and gate house.
Shown within Nottinghamshire
Type	Enclosure castle
Coordinates	52°56′57″N 1°09′17″W / 52.9493°N 1.1546°W / 52.9493; -1.1546Coordinates: 52°56′57″N 1°09′17″W / 52.9493°N 1.1546°W / 52.9493; -1.1546
Built	1067 Remodeled in 1678
Built by	William the Conqueror William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle
In use	Museum and art gallery
Events	English Civil War

Nottingham Castle is a castle in Nottingham, England. It is located in a commanding position on a natural promontory known as "'Castle Rock'", with cliffs 130 feet (40 m) high to the south and west. In the Middle Ages it was a major royal fortress and occasional royal residence. In decline by the 16th century, it was largely demolished in 1649, but sufficient fragments remain to give an impression of the layout of the site. A ducal mansion later occupied the summit of the promontory. This was burnt out by rioters in 1831, and later adapted as an art gallery and museum, which remains in use today.

Medieval history

There is some uncertainty whether a castle existed on the site before the Norman Conquest. If there was it would have been smaller and far less elaborate in design than the one that stood there afterwards, keeping in line with Anglo-Saxon architectural tradition.

The first Norman castle was a wooden structure and of a motte-and-bailey design, and was built in 1067, a year after the Battle of Hastings, on the orders of William the Conqueror. This wooden structure was replaced by a far more defensible stone castle during the reign of Henry II, and was imposing and of a complex architectural design, which eventually comprised an upper bailey at the highest point of the castle rock, a middle bailey to the north which contained the main royal apartments, and a large outer bailey to the east.

For centuries the castle served as one of the most important in England for nobles and royalty alike. It was in a strategic position due to its location near a crossing of the River Trent; and it was also known as a place of leisure being close to the royal hunting grounds at Tideswell, which was the “Kings Larder” in the Royal Forest of the Peak, and also the royal forests of Barnsdale and Sherwood Forest. The castle also had its own deer park in the area immediately to the west, which is still known as The Park.

Whilst Richard the Lionheart was away on the Third Crusade, and a great number of English noblemen were away with him, it was said that Nottingham Castle was left derelict and it was occupied by the Sheriff of Nottingham. In the legends of Robin Hood, Nottingham Castle is the scene of the final showdown between the Sheriff and the hero outlaw in many tales.

In 1194, a historic battle took place at Nottingham castle when the supporters of Prince John captured it. The castle was the site of a decisive siege when King Richard I, returned to England and besieged the castle with the siege machines he had used at Jerusalem. Richard was aided by Ranulph de Blondeville, 4th Earl of Chester, and David of Scotland, 8th Earl of Huntingdon.

Shortly before his 18th birthday, Edward III, with the help of a few trusted companions, staged a coup d'état at Nottingham castle (19 October 1330) against his mother Isabella of France, and her lover, Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March. Both were acting as Regents during Edward's minority following their murder of his father Edward II at Berkeley Castle. The young king entered the castle via a secret passageway and arrested both Isabella and Roger Mortimer. Mortimer was sent to the Tower of London, and hanged a month later. Isabella of France was forced into retirement at Castle Rising Castle. With this dramatic event, the personal reign of Edward effectively began.

Royal residence

Victorian reconstruction of the likely appearance of the castle in the late medieval period

Edward III used the castle as a residence and held Parliaments. In 1346 King David II of Scotland was held prisoner. In 1365 Edward III improved the castle with a new tower on the west side of the Middle Bailey and a new prison under the High Tower. In 1376 Peter de la Mare, speaker of the House of Commons was confined in Nottingham Castle for having 'taken unwarrantable liberties with the name of Alice Perrers, mistress of the king'.^[1]

In 1387 the state council was held in the castle. Richard II held the Lord Mayor of London with Aldermen and Sheriffs in the castle in 1392, and held another state council to humble Londoners. The last visit recorded by Richard II was in 1397 when another council was held here.

From 1403 until 1437 it was the main residence of Henry IV's queen, Joan.

After the residence of Joan maintenance was reduced. Only upon the Wars of the Roses did Nottingham Castle begin to be used again as a military stronghold. Edward IV proclaimed himself king in Nottingham, and in 1476 he ordered the construction of a new tower and Royal Apartments. This was described by John Leland in 1540 as:

the moste bewtifullest part and gallant building for Lodgyng... a right sumptuus pece of stone work.

During the reign of King Henry VII the castle remained a royal fortress. Henry VIII ordered new tapestries for the castle before he visited Nottingham in August in 1511. By 1536 Henry had the castle reinforced and its garrison increased from a few dozen men to a few hundred.

In 1538 the Constable, the Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland, reported on the need for maintenance. A survey in 1525 stated that there was much 'dekay and ruyne of said castell' and

'part of the roof of the Great Hall is fallen down. Also the new building there is in dekay of timber, lead and glass'.

Civil war

Painting by Henry Dawson 1847 of King Charles I raising his standard at Nottingham Castle 24 August 1642

The castle ceased to be a royal residence by 1600 and was largely rendered obsolete in the 16th century by artillery. A short time following the break out of the English Civil War, the castle was already in a semi-ruined state after a number of skirmishes occurred on the site. At the start of the Civil War, in August 1642, Charles I chose Nottingham as the rallying point for his armies, but soon after he departed, the castle rock was made defensible and held by the parliamentarians. Commanded by John Hutchinson, they repulsed several Royalist attacks, and they were the last group to hold the castle. After the execution of Charles I in 1649, the castle was razed to prevent its re-use.

The present 'Ducal Mansion'

After the restoration of Charles II in 1660, the present 'Ducal Mansion' was built by Henry Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Newcastle between 1674 and 1679 on the foundations of the previous structure. Despite the destruction of the keep and fortifications of the upper bailey, some rock cut cellars and medieval pointed arches survive beneath the mansion, together with a long passage to the bottom of the rock, commonly known as Mortimer's Hole, through which guided tours take place, starting at the Castle and ending at Brewhouse Yard.

The mason for the Mansion was Samuel Marsh of Lincoln, who also worked for the Duke at Bolsover Castle. His designs are generally thought to have been strongly influence by Rubens's published engravings of the Palazzi di Genova.^[2] The Duke's mansion is a rare surviving example in England of Artisan Mannerist architecture.

However, it lost its appeal to the later Dukes with the coming of the Industrial Revolution, which left Nottingham with the reputation of having the worst slums in the British Empire outside India. When residents of these slums rioted in 1831, in protest against the Duke of Newcastle's opposition to the Reform Act 1832 they burned down the mansion.

The original exterior stairs on the eastern façade of the mansion were subsequently demolished to create a parade ground for the Robin Hood Rifles.

The mansion remained a derelict shell until it was restored in 1875 by Thomas Chambers Hine, and opened in 1878 by the Prince of Wales, (later King Edward VII) as Nottingham Castle Museum,^[3] the first municipal art gallery in the UK outside London. The new interiors ignored the original floor levels and fenestration to accommodate a top-lit picture gallery modelled after the Grande Galerie of the Louvre. The obtrusive new pitched roofs gave rise to adverse comment, and the walls were subsequently raised and topped by a pierced stone balustrade a few years later, changing the proportions of the façades. Behind the balustrade was a board walk above the leads, which originally allowed visitors to promenade around the roof to enjoy views over the city and the Trent valley.

The gatehouse of the medieval castle and much of the walling of the outer bailey was retained as a garden wall for the Ducal mansion. However, the northernmost part of the outer bailey was lost when an approach road was constructed in the 1830s for the development of The Park Estate on the former deer park, and this part of the castle site was later used for the expansion of Nottingham General Hospital. Most of the stonework of the outer fortifications which is now visible dates from an Edwardian reconstruction.

On Christmas Day 1996 a landslip, caused by a leaking water main, led to 80 tonnes of earth and retaining wall from the Restoration terrace next to the Mansion falling to the bottom of the Castle rock. This revealed some remains of the original castle foundations and the bedrock. After a lengthy controversy on the best conservation/restoration approach, the terrace was reinstated in 2005 with a traditional stone façade. This conceals a concrete structure, which allows the medieval masonry to remain accessible to visitors. The terrace offers great views to the south of the city, and appeared in the film Saturday Night, Sunday Morning, a groundbreaking film about the changing attitude of youth in a changing industrial society during the late 1950s.

A drawing of the Ducal Mansion appeared on millions of packets of rolling tobacco and cigarettes made by John Player & Sons, a Nottingham firm. Most packets had the phrases Nottingham Castle and Trade Mark bracketing the image of the non-fortress-like structure. This led the novelist Ian Fleming to refer to "that extraordinary trademark of a dolls house swimming in chocolate fudge with Nottingham Castle written underneath." in Thunderball in the knowledge that his British readers would be familiar with the image.

Nottingham Castle Museum

The ducal mansion is still in use as a museum and art gallery. It houses most of the City of Nottingham's fine and decorative art collections, galleries on the history and archaeology of Nottingham and the surrounding areas, and the regimental museum of the Sherwood Foresters.

Ticketing for the museum is now combined with admission to the Museum of Nottingham Life at Brewhouse Yard located nearby in five 17th- century cottages at the bottom of the castle rock.

Notable elements of the collections are:

• 15th Century Nottingham alabaster carvings, including those found in 1779 at St. Peter's Church, Flawford
• Watercolours by Richard Parkes Bonnington and Paul Sandby
• The Joseph Collection of Wedgwood Jasperware
• The Ballantyne Collection of contemporary ceramics
• Salt-glazed stoneware, including locally-made "bear jugs"
• A costume collection including Nottingham lace making
• Roman votive offerings from the Temple of Diana Nemorensis at Lake Nemi (mostly no longer on public display)
• Works by George Wallis, whose son George Harry Wallis was the museum's first Director.

In 2005, the Castle was the only venue outside the USA to host the 'Waking Dreams' touring exhibition of Pre-Raphaelite art. The show attracted visitors from all over Europe and brought the Castle Museum to international attention as a gallery space.

Events

Nottingham Castle now plays host to a number of public annual events. This includes the Nottingham Beer Festival, the Robin Hood Pageant and even played host to the world record breaking attempt for the most people dressed as Robin Hood in one place in 2008.

See also

• History of Nottingham

Gallery

• 

  The towers in the foreground are the HM Revenue and Customs headquarters, designed by Michael Hopkins.

• 

  The steps up to the Ducal Mansion.

• 

  The walk from the Gatehouse.

• 

  The castle gatehouse and main entrance to the public.

• 

  View of the grounds below the mansion.

• 
• 

  The Gatehouse, Nottingham Castle

• 

  Memorial to Albert Ball

• 

  Detail of memorial to Albert Ball

External links

• Nottingham Castle on the Nottingham City Council website
• 360 degree virtual tour of the present mansion at the BBC website
• History of Nottingham Castle
• nottshistory.org.uk
• Containing a sketch of the medieval castle
• From Blackened Ruin to Museum and Art Gallery - article on Nottingham Civic Society website
• Photographs of Nottingham Castle from Nottingham21
• More photos, slide show and information from Rise Park Nottingham web site

References

1. ^ Old and New Nottingham. William Howe Wylie. 1853
2. ^ Sir John Summerson Pelican History of Art: Architecture in England 1530-1830, Harmondsworth 1953 p104
3. ^ "Culture 24". http://www.culture24.org.uk/em000016.