Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Upper Level, Broadmarsh Shopping Centre.
&
0115/9881955.
www.cityofcaves.com. Admission £5.95
adults, £4.50 children. Mon-Fri 11:30am-4:30pm, Sat-Sun 10:30am-4:30pm.
Galleries of Justice Museum
MUSEUM Set inside Nottingham's old
courtyard and county jail, this museum expands the local outlaws theme into a gen-
eral exploration of crime and punishment via audio tour (Mon-Fri 10:30am-5pm), or
you can choose a performance tour with costumed actors leading you through the
magistrate's court down into the cells and then out into the exercise yard, where
hangings often took place.
Lace Market.
&
0115/9520555.
www.galleriesofjustice.org.uk. Admission for performance tours £8.95
adults, £6.95 children 4-14. Sat-Sun and bank and school holidays 10:30am-5pm.
Nottingham Castle
MUSEUM Not a castle at all but a ducal mansion
erected on the site of the city's medieval castle, this is now a cutting-edge museum
and art gallery with collections of silver, glass, decorative items, and visual arts (much
of it contemporary and global in scope), as well as local archeology and history. If that
makes it sound a bit heavy-going, know that there are interactive displays and activi-
ties aimed at families, a medieval-style playground, and a picnic area.
Off Friar Lane.
&
0115/9153700.
www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk. Admission £5.50 adults, £4 children 15
and under. Tues-Sun 10am-5pm (4pm in winter).
EASTERN NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
Beyond Sherwood Forest and Nottingham, the county is low-key, but there are a few
gems. The town of Southwell, 15 miles northeast of Nottingham, has an interesting
array of historic buildings, the highlight being
Southwell Minster
(
&
01636/
812649;
www.southwellminster.org), a splendid example of Norman and Early Eng-
lish architecture with pyramidal spires of lead unique in Britain. In addition to the
stunning interior, you can admire part of a Roman mural from the remains of a large
and opulent villa excavated beneath the minster and churchyard in the 1950s. The
cathedral is open daily 7am to 7pm, with free entry.
Lord Byron stayed in Southwell in his mother's rented house during holidays from
school and then Cambridge University—though he had by then inherited Newstead
Abbey (p. 546), he couldn't afford to make it habitable. Earlier, during the English
Civil War, King Charles I spent his last night as a free man in the King's Head (now
the Saracen's Head pub), before capitulating to the Scottish army at nearby Kelham.
Cromwell may also have stayed in the King's Arms; his troops sequestered the arch-
bishop's palace as stables, contributing to its ruin, and ransacked much of the town.
Southwell's main sight today is
The
Workhouse
(
&
01636/817260;
www.
nationaltrust.org.uk), the most complete in existence, giving a powerful overview of
how life was for the 19th-century poor through its segregated work yards, day rooms,
dorms, master's quarters, cellars, and recreated 19th-century garden, which produces
fruit and vegetables for the shop. Living History events bring the venue, which is
open March to October daily noon to 5pm, most vividly to life. Admission is £6.75
for adults, £3.40 for children 5 to 16.
There's more highly impressive ecclesiastical architecture not far away, at
Haw-
ton,
south of Newark-on-Trent near the border with Lincolnshire. Art and architec-
ture scholar Nikolaus Pevsner described its medieval
All Saint's Church
14
(
&
01636/704811;
www.farndon-hawton.org.uk) as one of the most exciting build-
ings in all Britain, by virtue of the outstanding carvings on its Easter Sepulchre and
on its sedilia. No one has ever solved the mystery of why a small village church was
endowed with such incredible carvings.
