Tuesday, 01 April 2025
From idyllic and picturesque scenes to the realities of rural life, a brand-new free exhibition at Lakeside Arts explores how the English countryside has been used and depicted over the last 200 years, and the powerful and enduring impact it has had on people, especially in the local Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire areas.
Country Lives, which runs from 10 April to 21 September 2025 at Lakeside’s Weston Gallery, has been curated by Dr Sarah Holland of the University of Nottingham’s School of History, and colleagues in Manuscripts and Special Collections.
“This exhibition highlights how writers, artists, tourists, rural inhabitants and workers depicted the countryside, showing what it meant to different people,” explains Dr Holland, who is a historian of 19th and 20th century Britain, specialising in the history of the countryside.
The English countryside has long been a place to live, work, play, explore, protest and reimagine. Books, paintings and even board games meant the countryside was ever present in the cultural imagination. Children’s literature even used the countryside as an educational tool, displaying moral attitudes towards work, gender, social class and health.
Spring Ploughing, from The Country Year Book by Thomas Miller (19th century)
Exhibition highlights include a variety of beautifully illustrated books from popular 19th century authors such as Thomas Miller (The Country Year Book; The Boy’s Autumn Book), Mary Elliott (Rural Employments; Rural Scenes) and Nottinghamshire writers Mary and William Howitt. And an on-screen display showcases the incredibly detailed and realistic colour plates of farm animals published by David Low in The Breeds of the Domestic Animals of the British Islands in 1842.
The countryside was a place of immense change. The impact of coal mining in north Nottinghamshire is explored with maps relating to the growth of Forest Town near Mansfield, and a clergyman’s diary describing the inhabitants of Portland Row near Kirkby-in-Ashfield. The exhibition also looks at issues of health within the countryside, both as a place of healing and recovery and in contrast, as a place where poverty and pollution could cause illness.
Engravings, poems, photographs and maps contribute to case studies of rural landscapes which have changed markedly over time: The Meadows in Nottingham, whose crocus fields are long gone; and University Park Campus in Nottingham – where images of Lenton Firs Farm recall when cattle grazed where students now work, and photographs show the campus’s important role in food production during the ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign in the Second World War. The medieval history of University Park Campus is represented by a selection of pottery fragments from the deserted village of Keighton, lent by the University of Nottingham Museum. Photographs and documents from the Midland Agricultural and Dairy College, later the University of Nottingham’s Sutton Bonington Campus, also show how rural skills were taught.
The countryside was also a place of leisure and exploration. Printed guidebooks and maps are displayed, and mementoes of excursions and tours to places of interest. A remarkable (and tiny) photograph of members of the Bakewell Naturalists’ Field Club at Carl Wark hillfort in Derbyshire in 1898 has been specially digitised and enlarged for display in the exhibition and presented alongside other material collected by or written by Dr Edward M Wrench, an enthusiastic tripper who also drew amusing sketches of his travels in his letters to his children.
Access to the countryside has been contested, and items relating to disputed footpath closures can also be viewed. One exhibition case explores aspects of access to the Thoresby Estate in Nottinghamshire, including leaflets and menus relating to the opening of Thoresby Hall to the public in the 1950s and 1960s, and printed items relating to Sherwood Forest Country Park in the 1970s.
More information on the exhibition and opening times can be found here.
Story credits
More information is available from Kathryn Summerwill, Archivist in the University’s Manuscripts and Special Collections, via kathryn.summerwill@nottingham.ac.uk
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 24 in Europe and 15th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the third most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2024 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
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