Nottingham is internationally known for its connections to the Robin Hood legend, but locally it is also known as the 'City of Caves'. Nottingham has the UK’s largest network of caves, with over 800 just below the city streets bustling with students from the two universities, sports fans attending the football and cricket grounds, or visiting one of the several pubs each laying claim to being the oldest in England.

The caves have been used as beer cellars continuously since the 13th century. Other caves were used as medieval tanneries, and Nottingham is unique in having the only underground tannery in Britain.

One of the ghosts said to haunt Nottingham Castle, is Isabella of France, whose screams for mercy as her lover Sir Roger Mortimer was dragged away to face execution can still be heard on occasion. The couple plotted to depose and possibly kill her husband, Edward II. In 1330, her son and his supporters used the caves now known as Mortimer’s Hole to capture the couple and avenge Edward II’s death.

For the very poorest residents of Nottingham, the caves were simply the place they called home. Medieval and early modern Nottingham had areas of immense wealth, but until 1845 when legislation was passed to ban the renting of cellars and caves as homes, families lived underground in overcrowded and unsanitary slums.

During WWII, the population of Nottingham once again sought shelter in the caves, this time from the bombing raids. Nottingham suffered a dozen air raids over the course of the war, which killed or injured over 500 people. Around 10% of the caves were used as air raid shelters, a mix of the older existing caves, and new ones cut out of the sandstone, which was used to fill sandbags to protect the buildings above ground.

The caves are listed as a scheduled monument by Historic England, in part due to the passionate involvement of the local community archaeology and history groups that fought against plans in the 1960s that would have seen the caves sealed off or filled in with concrete as part of plans to modernise Nottingham. Although they were and are an integral part of Nottingham’s identity, history, and current tourism, many are currently inaccessible or unsafe, especially the deeper ones. They are in danger of becoming out of sight, out of mind. With the caves once again under threat, our project aims to keep alive the rich and unique role the caves have played in the history of this city.

Our project involves an exhibition, events such as guided walks and talks, and an oral history project that will allow the local community to explore the fully through original documents, photos, reminiscences, and interactive displays. A virtual version of the exhibition, including text, images, oral history clips, and recordings of the talks, will be freely available online. We are developing an interactive activity designed to tell stories through maps and imagery projected down onto a three dimensional landscape model of the city. Visitors to the exhibition will better appreciate the true extent of the cave network beneath their feet by orientating it with familiar buildings on the model, and understand see how the caves have changed and developed over the centuries. 

Alongside our own archives and archaeological collections, we will collaborate with other Nottingham heritage organisations to display previously unseen archaeological finds excavated from the caves and to coordinate outreach activities. Many of these excavations and the cleaning of finds have involved community archaeology groups and volunteers, and this exhibition is a chance to recognise and celebrate their contribution more widely.

By including the voices and experiences of local people, we will encourage a sense of shared ownership and a deeper connection to the caves, their history, and the intrinsic role in shaping modern Nottingham.

Nottingham was once at the heart of European trade, especially in the lace and textile industry. Nottingham lace was world famous and employed hundreds of people until the 1960s. Although lacemaking factories required rooms well-lit with natural daylight, the factories sat above the vast network of caves. The finished lace was exported all over Europe, especially France and Germany. It made Nottingham rich, and caves were a valuable commercial commodity.

Venetian glass found in the caves, especially those underneath pubs, shows a vibrant import trade from Italy spanning centuries. Further archaeological and archival records show that the wealthy residents of Nottingham had a taste for a variety of European wines, and at least one stately home expanded and improved a cave specifically for entertaining. Many of these expensive foreign goods would have been transported to landlocked Nottingham via the river and canals, which ran under the cliffs, and would have been stored in caves before making their way to their final destinations.