Tales from the Caves: Exploring Nottingham's underground stories
This exhibition runs from Thursday 3 October 2024 until Sunday 9 March 2025, at the Weston Gallery, Lakeside Arts.
Delve beneath the surface at this new exhibition uncovering the many-layered history of Nottingham’s famous caves and the stories of the people who have carved out a life within their walls for over a thousand years. From medieval tanneries and breweries to the overcrowded slums and makeshift air-raid shelters of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, people have sought everything from refuge to recreation below ground, leaving behind traces of their lives which survive in our collections. The caves have also made their mark on the local imagination, as the backdrop to the dramatic capture of Roger Mortimer in a rock-cut passage beneath Nottingham Castle and the hatching of secret Luddite plots alike. These stories – whether legends of Robin Hood or adventures of latter-day urban explorers – are now brought together for the first time.
Tales from the Caves has been created by Dr Chris King and Dr Charlotte May of the Department of Classics and Archaeology at the University of Nottingham. We would also like to thank colleagues across both the university and the wider community for their valued contributions.
Exhibition themes
Six exhibition boards are on display in the Gallery. One of the boards can be downloaded or viewed online as Adobe PDF.
Further Research
Items from our collections are available to consult in the Manuscripts and Special Collections reading room on King's Meadow Campus.
Links to collections and projects relating to the themes featuring in the exhibition can be found below.
Films
William Stukeley: An Origin Myth for Nottingham's Caves?
Dr Chris King, of the Department of Classics and Archaeology, presents a sketch which illustrates the centuries-old belief that Nottingham's caves were ancient underground dwellings created for pagan rituals...
Rambling Around Rock holes with William Parsons
Chloe Highton, Archivist at Manuscripts and Special Collections, presents an 1844 diary entry by William Parsons where he reminisces about how the Enclosure Act would deny future generations access to the Nottingham caves he played in as a youth.
Charles Deering's Nottinghamia Vetus et Nova
Dr Charlotte May, Impact and Outreach Officer at Manuscripts and Special Collections, presents 'Nottinghamia Vetus et Nova' (1751) by Charles Deering, and outlines its importance as an early source for information about Nottingham's caves.
From the blog
Read our blog about items featured in the Tales from the Caves exhibition - there will be more coming soon!
Dead End? Tunnels under Nottingham in fact and fiction
Over the years, a tangled web of stories has developed which imagines a secret network of tunnels beneath the city. The details vary, but the central myth remains the same: legendary figures in the history of the city, be they aristocrats or bandits, traverse the town under cover of night by means of hidden passage...Is there any truth to these rumours?
Go to blog post
Rambling around rock holes
Join Nottingham solicitor William Parsons on a trip down memory lane, interweaving history and myth into his own nostalgic memories of The Park rock holes as they are undergoing a radical transformation in the 19th Century...
Go to blog post
Events
A programme of associated talks and events will be held at Lakeside Arts.
Recordings of some of these talks will be made available on this webpage shortly.
Lunchtime Talks
A series of special events being held to accompany the exhibition. Places are limited so please book in advance: +44 (0)115 846 7777.
Tales from the Caves: Myths and Reality SOLD OUT
Nottingham is famous for its unique heritage of hundreds of sandstone caves beneath the city, and from the beginning, caves have been tightly woven into the stories of the city’s past. The exhibition curators Dr Chris King and Dr Charlotte May of the Department of Classics and Archaeology will explore both the myth and reality of Nottingham’s underground history, and some of the many characters who have been associated with the city’s caves over the centuries.
Thursday 17th October 2024, 1pm-2pm; £3 (free concessions)
Book Here
The Caves of Medieval Nottingham – the documentary evidence SOLD OUT
Dr Richard Goddard of the Department of History at University of Nottingham will examine Nottingham’s medieval caves using the borough court rolls and other records from the city. These reveal a huge amount of information about what the caves were used for, who owned them and their value to their owners. Importantly they reveal the experiences of everyday living in medieval Nottingham.
Thursday 21st November 2024, 1pm - 2pm; £3 (free concessions)
Book Here
The Archaeology of Nottingham’s Caves SOLD OUT
Gavin Kinsley is a professional archaeologist who has been researching and recording Nottingham’s historic caves for over four decades. He will talk about how we can use archaeological methods to understand the construction and chronology of the caves, show how they relate to the development of the urban landscape, and the many and varied uses of caves over the centuries.
Friday 17th January, 1 - 2pm; £3 (free concessions)
Book Here
Other events
Guided walk: health and disease in medieval Nottingham SOLD OUT
Explore places of health, illness and pollution in the pre-modern urban landscape with Dr Chris King. Were medieval towns really as dirty and disease-ridden as popular myth would have us believe? How did Nottingham make use of its caves for managing waste and disease?
Saturday 26th October 2024, 11am - 1pm and Saturday 16 November 2024, 11am - 12.30pm; £5, free concessions
Weston Gallery tours SOLD OUT
Join us for a walk through the exhibition and learn about the stories behind the items on display.
Tuesday 17th October 2024, 11am – 12noon and Thursday 21st November 2024, 11am-12noon; Free (advanced booking required)
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