The Nottingham Trail - Part 1 - Slab Square to Castle Rock
w/e 04 December 2016
All of this week's pictures were
taken with a Kodak DX6490
Sixteen or so locations around the city centre have
recently been linked in a tourist route exploring some of the
landmarks and attractions within easy walking distance and published
as a leaflet under the title of "The Nottingham Trail".
At various times we have already visited many of the locations
not least in our Historic
Nottingham series but also in The Show Must Go On page but there are a
number of sites that have not been seen previously on this website
so another walk around Nottingham won't do any harm.
The Trail begins at the Nottingham Tourist Centre in Smithy Row
which is where we picked up a copy of the leaflet describing
the route with the locations marked on a map. At this time of
year Smithy Row is one of the city centre streets housing the
Winter Wonderland Festival with cabins selling seasonal food,
drink and crafts plus a number of fairground rides like the Helter
Skelter seen here.
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The second location marked on the map is labelled "Old Market
Square & Brian Clough Statue" but the statue stands
a little way off the square. It is visible though in the centre
of this image at the junction of Queen Street (left) and King
Street (right).
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The Old Market Square itself, often referred to locally as Slab
Square, is said to be one of the UK's largest pedestrianised
squares although it doesn't look it when filled with the Winter
Wonderland attractions which as well as the cabins and fairground
rides also features an ice rink.
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At the end of the square, the leaflet advises a look up Market
Street to see Nottingham's grandest theatre, the Theatre Royal
which first opened in 1865 and is now part of the Royal Centre
complex including the Royal Concert Hall. I can never pass this
street without thinking back to the time in my working life when
I accessed a service tunnel near the theatre and walked the length
of the road underground. That was before the tram tracks were
laid - I can only hope the tunnel was reinforced during the construction
works!
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Next up on the Trail is another theatre, the Nottingham Playhouse
- or to be more precise the next thing featured on the leaflet
is the Sky Mirror at the Nottingham Playhouse. Six metres across
and weighing ten tonnes the Anish Kapoor sculpture was forged
from stainless steel strips.
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 From the Playhouse, the Trial
now wends its way along East Circus Street, up Park Row towards
the former site of the Nottingham General Hospital before turning
along Postern Street to reach Lord Byron's house at the top of
St James' Street. A plaque on the wall shows that the poet (1788-1824)
lived here on 1798 and 1799. The leaflet adds that it is rumoured
that he wrote his first verses here before returning to his ancestral
home at Newstead Abbey. He later went on to become not only a
world renowned poet but also, according to Lady Caroline Lamb
"mad, bad and dangerous to know."
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From Lord Byron's house it just a short walk down St James' Terrace
and Standard Hill to the entrance to Nottingham Castle. Originally
built in 1087 the present "castle" seen here in the
background behind the entrance gatehouse, has been rebuilt twice
and now houses a museum and gallery.
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Location seven on the Trail, like the Clough/Square site covers
two separate features, the first being the Robin Hood Statue
beneath the castle walls. By this time on our walk the fine drizzle
that had started when we were at the Playhouse had turned into
a full blown shower so we didn't spend time doing a closer inspection
but took this shot from a distance. Suffice it to say that the
statue was unveiled on July 24th 1952.
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Opposite Robin Hood is "the house that moved." Severn's
House is thought to have been built about 1340 and originally
stood in Middle Pavement but was moved here in 1969/70 and previously
housed a Lace Museum but this has now closed.
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You may have noticed the raindrops on some of the previous images
so it was quickly down the hill of Castle Road to the next location,
Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem pub which roughly marks the half way
point of the Nottingham Trail. Sitting at the foot of Castle
Rock with the castle being visible above and dating back to 1189
it claims to be the oldest inn in the UK.
On the way down Castle Road we had passed some caves in Castle
Rock and more were visible from Castle Boulevard. The white van
below the caves was emblazoned with the words "Nottingham
City Homes" and although the caves may have been inhabited
at some point in the past, I don't think it was intended to advertise
them as such now. Location nine on the Trail is the "City
of Caves" but the entrance to these is in the Broadmarsh
Shopping Centre which is reached by returning up Castle Road
and proceeding along Castle Gate and Low Pavement according to
the map in the leaflet. As the rain was now quite heavy we decided
to leave that for another day and Part 02.
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