Old Notts Explorers, Nottingham (2026)

17/07/2023

long Stairs.

No longer in use, as well as the lower part demolished in the place of 1930s housing!

It is only thanks to a very small group of people that long stairs have not become an entirely forgotten part of our historical city!

long stairs are undoubtedly one of the oldest existing parts of Nottingham! So old in fact that we suspect at the very least they are of Anglo-Saxon era given there location as well as premise!
This we cannot exactly confirm but we will try to explain what we do know......

Historical notes by J. Holland Walker states that long stairs: -
"Probably began life ages ago! long before the Romans came to Britain! A covered way leading from the low ground or marshes, along the Leen, to the summit of the cliff some 90 feet above! Upon which stood the primitive settlement (Snottingham! Home of the Snotts people) that has since developed into Nottingham." He goes on to say that. "Long Stairs history is somewhat sordid, being mostly concerned with murders and the like. “
We are not entirely sure what he implies with “murders and the like.” but we are sure that this walkway of early Nottingham holds as many dark memory's as that of any location with such age! It is hard to imagine the early settlement “Snotta inga ham” atop the cliff!

Still to this day walking ‘Cliff Road’, being the southern border of the early Snotts settlement, you are dominated by a 90ft sandstone barrier. In fact this barrier still has very few points of access up into the city.

Standing at the bottom of this natural sandstone cliff face it becomes very easy to see how long stairs (along with Mallin hill) had such significant access to the old settlement of Snottingham!
With such little access comes ideal defensive strategy!
"The rise is from right to left and shows that they were constructed at a time when the upper part of the cliff was defended”
Ascending the steps by each tier up into the early settlement of snottingham would have demonstrated this very specific construction style perfectly but this is now very difficult to visualise given the 1930s housing that has taken place at the footing of the stairs!

We suspect that dwellings have resided at the foot of long stairs for longer than we could possibly assume, possibly even longer than snottingham itself! We cannot confirm this. One thing we can confirm is that a water source resided at the bottom of long stairs, specifically a well. Now very much filled and covered. We feel it is very unlikely that any remnant of this well would be visible in the modern day and we have, out of respect of those living at the foot of long stairs chose not to try and find any remnant of this! Instead, we can only go on J Holland Walker’s notes which states: -
"There was a well at the foot of Long Stairs which must have been very conveniently situated for collecting the drainage that came down the precipice, and also the outflow from the horrible tanners yards. At any rate, we are not surprised to find that in 1632 the Mickleton jury whose business it was to keep their eyes on nuisances and encroachments presented this well in the quaint language of the times as being "exceedingly annoyed and harmful," and one is rather glad to find that it was filled up and folk were prevented from poisoning themselves by drinking its waters!"

There are cave entrances that can be seen along long stairs. It can only be assumed that these caves were used as tanneries and likely responsible for tainting the well below. We are also aware the caves had been used by shoe makers Aswell as being used as dwellings. These now bricked up caves are very much sealing away parts of Nottingham’s history! Hidden by three courses of brick they are a time capsule waiting to be opened!

But it does not end there!
This sandstone staircase holds more than just its own story!

In roughly 1149 during the time of of King Stephen. " The country was in a turmoil, families were divided against themselves and the country full of rapine and bloodshed."

"Nottingham Castle was held by the younger Peveril on behalf of King Stephen and was attacked by the Earl of Gloucester" during this attack on the city an individual we only know as Sweyn owned a house atop of long stairs. He was suspected to hold a treasury and was Heald hostage by the soldiers of the earl of Gloucter and Sweyn was forced to lead them to his treasury! lets just say the soldiers did not survive!

J. Holland Walker, An itinerary of Nottingham again explains this very well:-

"One such prisoner was Sweyn, who was by profession a moneyer, for in those days Nottingham possessed a mint which worked under royal license. In order to save his life, and the lives of those near and dear to him, Sweyn promised to show his tormentors where his treasure was hidden and so he led them to his house which was situated somewhere at the top of Long Stairs just about where Commerce Square now stands. Leading them through the ground floor storey he took them into a rock-hewn basement underneath his house which was pitch dark, and in this basement, he declared they would find his stock of money. Eagerly they began to search and poke about in the darkness and while they were so engaged Sweyn managed to elude their vigilance and escape from their clutches.
He shut the door behind him and held his tormentors prisoners. In order to make assurance doubly sure, he set fire to his house and so consumed the robbers. But the remedy proved worse than the disease. The fire spread throughout the town of Nottingham, and so much damage was done that when Henry II. succeeded to the throne he was fain to assist the townsfolk in re-building their town and in constructing a great wall of defence round their homes in order to prevent a repetition of the disaster. Exhibited in the Castle Museum are a number of coins which show evidence of fire and whose provenance shows that they have been through this terrible fire of Nottingham.".

We even find (given the stairs location and adjoining areas) that the stairs were very likely used by the infamous highwayman Dick Terpin and many of his Nottingham accomplices.
"What we know about Dick Turpin and his dealings with Nottingham is contained in a little pamphlet published in 1924 by Mr. Louis Mellard. It is a series of extracts from a diary kept by a Lincolnshire farmer, whose name is suppressed but who goes under the title of "Tobias 'K'". Dick Turpin had a number of dealings with individuals residing in and around the pubs of Narrow marsh to which long stairs descend. Kings head and loggerheads were two pubs mentioned within this text (loggerheads still exists to this day!).

Once again j walker speaks volumes!

""King's Head," for it was the historic spot upon which Tobias and Turpin first met in 1726. Tobias had come to Nottingham upon his lawful occasions. As a matter of fact, I think he was selling sheep and he stopped at the "C**k" which Mr. Mellard says was on High Pavement, probably the "C**k and Hoop," which stood where the County Police Station now stands".
It can only be assumed that one of the easiest routes to high pavement would have of course been, long stairs.

The Nottingham legend Robin hood also possibly used the stairs but we only speculate this given the legendary storeys of st Marys church and the shire hall that both resided and (to some extent) still reside not far from the top of long stairs.

We however have done not much other than scratch the surface as to the century's of stories that long stairs must hold!

To finish we must thank our good friend Janine Tanner for making sure that these stairs are not forgotten! For giving us the opportunity to walk these steps! Also we give a big thankyou to all members of Notts History - Honour Our Heritage https://www.facebook.com/groups/523520474675066/ that have worked hard to look after this incredible part of our local history. Its about time us, at old Notts explorers, can give good news that an extraordinarily old and hidden part of Nottingham history has not been forgotten!!!!

12/09/2022

"The district was called 'Gallows Hill', but rather more than a hundred years ago its name was changed to 'Mars Hill' (in roughly 1827) out of deference to the wishes of the local inhabitants."

"There are many tales of the condemned being driven up Mansfield Road, being allowed a last pint in the Nags Head, before finishing their journey at the top off the hill."

Many people will know of Mansfield Road hill as a hill that boasts of the historic 'church rock cemetery' and ‘ST Andrews church’.

Over many years gallows hill has undoubtedly been a place of hard work, sadness, anxiety and excitement.
With a history consisting of quarry's, windmills along with the darkest of all, the gallows!

In the modern day much of the sandstone quarry faces and sand-mines have become hidden away from the public view however they are of course still there!
A great example of this (still open to the public) is a walk-through church rock cemetery where the sandstone faces of the quarries with inbuilt sand mines in which the entrances are now sealed and lost amongst the field of gravestones!

Remove the grave stones and you would have a far better idea of what had previously existed before the 1845 Nottingham Enclosures Act! At this time the hill was described as, "a bare and barren hill,”.

This hill has played host to many lost lives for possibly over 500 years!

Today we see peaceful graves but, prior to the church rock cemetery you would have instead seen individuals hung from a rope! Bodies would be left to swing in the wind as a warning to anybody entering Nottingham planning to commit crimes within the city!

The gallows could possibly date back further than 1496! they are said to have resided within the gates of the church rock cemetery and where St Andrew's church now stands. The gallows had certainly moved location at top of the hill over the many years and these 2 locations appear to be the most likely.

Recollections of a Nottingham Old Boy. Weekly Guardian. 1904 -
"I remember the last ex*****on on the Forest, I think it was about the year 1829. I saw people running and heard some terrified women shout “they are just taking him”. There was a great crowd round the cart, but the condemned man was conspicuous, being bare-headed, with his arms pinioned to his sides by thick ropes. Near him was the hangman and two friends. Some of the crowd were singing a plaintive hymn."

"Executions on Gallows Hill having become a public danger, and a scandal, the custom was abolished and convicts were publicly executed in front of the jails in which they were confined. I saw three executed together in front of the House of Correction (Glasshouse street). I think that was about the year 1830, and afterwards I saw several others. At the last I saw a number of people were trampled to death in the crowd."

The criminals would be transported from the county hall (Gallery's of justice high pavement). some were said to have been moved the night previous to the House of Correction (glasshouse street, parliament street junction), "so that his last journey should be shortened."
The convicted were transported along Bridle smith gate, high street, clumber street, Milton Street and possibly stopping at Nag's head within sight of the gallows!

Historical notes by J. Holland Walker-
"Gradually the custom arose that the landlord of the Nag’s Head, which stood just at the point where the gallows came into view, should provide the unfortunates with a last drink of Nottingham ale, and should receive whilst in exchange of their posies."

Windmills adorned the hill with a row of 13 following the the northern peak of church rock cemetery and following on through forest road east. Many of these mills were built with a bake house alongside (some of which do still exist. The mills were simple wooden structures that were easy to dismantle and relocate. A large building named Mount Vernon/Vernon Arms resided across the road, sadly these windmills and mount Vernon no longer exist. maps and many paintings beautifully demonstrate the location and style of these mills.

"The Mayor and Council, as Lord of the Manor, tried to control the mills and the encroachment of their gardens and houses on the Forest. They insisted in 1797 that the fences were to be removed and the gardens laid open to the Forest. This did not apply to the fences around the mills themselves, for the purpose of preventing anyone’s approach within the Range of the Mill Sails.”

It appears that this precaution was not always taken, with one unfortunate kid finding out the hard way.

“As we used to play about these mills, not preventing the danger we were in as the sails whirled round, until one struck a playmate and killed him, much to our grief and dismay” (Weekly Guardian, 1928)."

Nottingham is of course known for its many sandstone caves and gallows hill was indeed no exception! In the 18th and 19th centuries, Gallows Hill was the site of a number of sand mines and as far as we are aware three sandstone caves remain, a fourth is said to have been filled with concrete.

Gallows hill sand mine appears to have begun as three separate caves. These caves were later developed into a single mine residing within the east quarry of the hill via two tunnels linking the three. The intense, sweat inducing effort that had been put into this large sand mine was exemplified by the countless scars created by the pickaxe. These scars gave the walls a story of hard manual labour! many collapses have occurred over the years and the mine is generally seen as unstable.

Sandstone Caves of Nottingham, Tony Waltham -
"The mines were associated with sand quarries dug in the 1700s in the waste land on both sides of the Mansfield Road. Because this area was waste, these were uncontrolled public sand pits, where people dug for their own sand. The early workings were therefore rather chaotic, and only some remain, with modifications from the 1800s. There were three original quarries, in a line, each working southwards into the steep slope. There must then have been either some restrictions on land take or some variation in the sandstone, because two of the quarries were extended southwards into mines. Entered by level drifts, these were both pillar-and-stall workings, very similar to Rouse’s except that they were not so extensive. They successfully exploited a zone of the sandstone much weaker and more friable than the rock forming the walls of most of the other caves in Nottingham."

"The Nottingham Castle Sandstone is too weak to yield decent building stone, but it is so friable that it is easily excavated to produce loose sand. In historical times this was in demand, as building sand, and also for spreading on the floors of houses and public buildings to absorb the dirt, long before carpets were in use".

Many of the sand mines within Nottingham had been used as bomb shelters during WWII and this is very evident within gallows hill with a lot of additional brick support and entrances having been added.

For the small Old Notts Explorers team this entire research trail became never ending! We will not have the chance to explain every detail we have learned since our visit to the hill and sand mines, there is however far more information within the images of this post.

09/04/2022

23 High Pavement. Lady Hutchinson's House, Judges lodgings, County House.

From colonels to judges, from mayors to royalty this place has certainly seen its history with parts dating back to the 1500s!

Grand fireplaces and staircases adorned the property. The property has been deemed unsafe with fallen beams now supported by metal supports aswell as unstable staircases and floors.

A house did exist on this site since at least the 16th century, the timber frame of the 1500s house is said to still exist.

In 1646 it was owned by Colonel Thomas Hutchinson and occupied by Lady Hutchinson, mother of Thomas Hutchinson.

King Charles the first had raised his standard in Nottingham on 22 August 1642. the Civil War had begun. Moving to Shrewsbury the king left the town and Colonel Thomas Hutchinson came out of hiding, he had assumed control of the castle and held Nottingham for the Parliamentarians.

Very little is known of the earlier buildings which occupied this site, it is said that “The plan of the present house, together with surviving structural evidence, suggests that the original building was a timber-framed house of late-medieval plan, having a central hall, presumably with a cross-passage, and a wing at either end”.

The earliest title deed of 23 High Pavement, dated 1710, provides the names of former owners and tenants. The first recorded owner was Humphrey Bonner, an influential alderman of the town, who served as mayor three times, and died in 1613. He sold the house to John Martin, a gentleman, who seems to have died in 1628.

The front of the property was reconstructed in 1728-33 for Samuel Hallowes who had purchased the property in either 1660s or 1670s.

The probate inventory of Samuel Hallowes in 1715 gives a good idea as to the function of 15 rooms: “a hall, kitchen, great parlour, little parlour, ‘backward parlour’, pantry, cellar, brewhouse, garret, ‘inward chamber’, little chamber, maids’ chamber, great chamber, ‘backward chamber’ and the men’s chamber. “

Also in 1728 William Hallowes paid the Corporation £80 for the purchase of the dwelling-house on the east side of his house, apparently for the purpose of creating stables and other outbuildings as well as providing new access to the rear of his house.

In 1771 the property was purchased by John Fellows, owner of a successful silk hosiery business, who resided in the house immediately west of County House. Further alterations were made to the property in 1742. Fellows’ son John inherited the property in 1791, and following his death in 1822, his widow lived there until her death ten years later.

The house was purchased in 1833 after Mrs Fellows’ death for £5,000.

It was again remodelled in 1833 when it was converted into the Judges' lodging by the well-respected architects, Henry Moses Wood and John Nicholson. The building was extended to the east and north-east “in the Regency style, with emphasis on then-fashionable Greek Revival motifs, having ashlar stone walls.”

Consisting of cast-iron Greek Doric columns and a magnificent judges’ dining room on its first floor with grand tall windows through which the judges Aswell as their guests would watch the public hangings at the steps of what we today call “the galleries of justice"! The façade of the Georgian house was updated in keeping with the new extension adding balconies, window surrounds (and possibly extra windows), a decorated eaves course, and probably the hipped roof and chimneystacks were all added at this time.

For a brief period in 1887 it was lived in by Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll (the sixth child and fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert). The lodgings had to be specially furnished for her stay at the expense of the Mayor of Nottingham.

In 1922-23, the magistrates moved the judges’ lodgings to a house in The Park. County House then became the offices of the Clerk of the Peace and of the County Council. The judges’ drawing room over the entrance hall became the Clerk’s office, the breakfast room adjoining became the Belper Library (housing a collection of books donated by Lord Belper), and the large dining room was partitioned off into small offices. The servants’ hall of the 1833 building was adapted as a muniments room, and a second muniments room was added in a new two-storey office wing, constructed in 1930 to the rear of the servants’ hall on the site of the former stables. This early-C20 extension was extended in 1949, with a new suite of three single-storey rooms for the County Archivist.

In 1959-60 the Clerk’s office moved to the new County Hall at West Bridgford, and for the next six years County House accommodated various County Council departments. The former dining room of the 1833 extension was converted for use as a public search room, the old kitchen used as the document-repairer’s room, and the panelled entrance hall as an exhibition space. The building was used by the County Record Office until 1992, and has since been vacant.

In 2009 it was bought by Finesse Collection, the owners of the Lace Market Hotel but the extension of the hotel did not proceed, and it was put into the hands of receivers after a legal dispute. In 2014 it was up for sale again.

07/04/2022

Victoria Station remains part 3.
The tunnel.

Mansfield road tunnel at north end of the station. One very interesting location!

From the remains of the Victorian railway through to a somewhat more modern time.

Soot coated ledges, wooden cable runs, the remaining shells of decaying lanterns, shopping trolleys, parts used for what we assume to be student studying and so much more that we didn't fully understand.

we are happy that we can finally add to our catalogue of Victoria station explores after so long!

This tunnel really is a walk through time.

12/03/2022

Barton Bus Depot, 270-276 Huntingdon Street,

whilst exploring a building on glasshouse street (that no longer exists) we could not help but notice a seemingly forgotten building just down the road.

We were to later learn that this building was in fact a Barton bus depot that had been facing the Huntingdon Street Bus Station. The bus station itself (residing in close proximity to the central market and the very well-remembered Palais de Dance) has since disappeared.

The Barton bus company was founded in 1908, close to 30 years prior to the Huntingdon depot opening. In 1989 Barton eventually merged with Trent Buses to become what we now know in the current day as Trent Barton.

Barton Bus Depot, Huntingdon Street, was opened in 1939 and had been designed by Architect HH Dawson to be a “statement” for the Barton transport bus company.

It is one of the final remaining Nottingham buildings to reflect the 1930s ‘Moderne’ style of architecture providing a perfect demonstration of Nottingham's inter-war road and transport development!

In the recent year of 2019 there were plans to carefully dismantle this building. The building was to then be reassembled at Bartons headquarters in Chilwell. This created fear of demolition and the loss of a rare Nottingham building.
Because of this, grade II listing was given to the Huntingdon Street bus depot on August the 16th. It does also appear, the year of 2019 was the year scaffolding and abandonment began taking a hold.

A building of quite ornamental frontage comprises of a ground floor and first floor.

The first floor would have looked out onto Huntington Street bus station through some rather impressive decorative windows. This floor appears to have provided office and mess spaces.

The ground floor with an impressively supported roof span had enough space to maintain Bartons buses along with further frontal space.

The Barton depot was later used as a car garage and showrooms and at a more recent time was used as an event space with close to 500 people in attendance.

This beautiful building of art deco design is now just hidden away by the cover of steel and wooden boards!

As happy as we are to see this building in its original location, we understand Bartons frustration with the difficulties a grade II listing must have caused. It is a beautiful building of Nottingham's interwar history and we hope that with the growing student economy in the area of this listed building, Barton will find an opportunity to remove the scaffolding and bring this building back to use!

12/02/2022

Thomas Danks & Co LTD.

As writer and fellow researcher for old Notts, this has to be the hardest and most time-consuming post I have ever undertaken.

Having explored the building of Walter Danks, it only seemed right to investigate the Thurland Street building that was more closely linked to Walter's father, Mr Thomas Danks.

The construction of Thurland Street came very shortly after the demolition of the original Thurland Hall in the 1830s. The hall itself dated back to the middle of the 15th century and was “second only in splendour to that of the castle” - bypaths of Nottingham (1905)

Thomas Danks headquarters was one of the original buildings on Thurland Street.

Its existence and history has however become lost in the shadow of the surrounding Nottingham history.
Thurland street also boasts of a Victorian railway tunnel that was built on the doorstep of Thomas Danks ironmongers and is still inches below the road of Thurland Street.

At around 1882 limited company was appointed to Thomas Danks and co.

Being old Notts Explorers, there was obvious disappointment that the building of Thomas Danks no longer existed! Instead in its place is a building with as much history as Victoria shopping centre (built in the 1970s).

We would not however be Old Notts Explorers without some exploration and we just so happened to notice that the "Thurland Passage" appeared in every single map, even to this day!

some beautiful history can be seen down here but we are again disappointed to find absolutely no remnants of Thomas Danks headquarters.

Thomas Danks had owned properties on Thurland Street, Sherwood Street and the Cattle Market (all of which no longer exist!)

these three locations had formed the Largest Ironmongery and Hardware Stores within the Midland Counties.

We may not have had the opportunity to see the showrooms for ourselves however ‘Nottingham illustrated 1898’ gives a good picture of what was: -

"On the ground floor was an extensive assortment of builders, ironmongery, engineers and joiner's tools'

along with 'an extensive stock of Milner's and Perry safes, for whom the firm are agents."

"The upper floors are occupied as store rooms for black iron goods,

stoves, builders' ironmongery, agricultural and garden implements, and general stock of a heavy character."

The headquarters included a dark Show Room that exaggerated and beautified the electric light fittings on display.

Electric lighting was a speciality of Thomas Danks and co LTD, so much so that they were made responsible for the lighting of the old exchange building in the city centre during the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902.

Danks also specialised in Heating, Agriculture, Marble Chimney Pieces, Steam Cooking Apparatus and so much more!

our research of Thomas Danks & Co LTD, was a deep rabbit hole of which we are yet to find an end.

with sons successful in football, athletics, freemasonry and of course ironmongery the research trail is seemingly endless!

We are unsure of the demise of Thomas Danks & co LTD. It had survived the mass demolition that made way for our frequently mentioned Victoria Station. Thomas Danks appears to have disappeared around the time of the opening of Victoria Shopping Centre.

01/07/2021

Walter Danks LTD, 66 London RD.

Having investigated this building we did not expect
to find parts dating to the 1700s!

the building itself is said to be built in 1885 - 1900.
But, we are however aware that the Walter Danks building was used by the church.
It was quite the step up from a small rented room that had opened in 1884 to serve the north-eastern part of the parish
("St Margaret’s Mission").
The room was just no longer big enough so this building was instead used.
The date they moved to Walter Danks building seems unknown but by 1891 the Walter Danks Ironmongery
shop had decided to expand requiring the upper floors.
The church then moved to the corner of Crocus Street and Wallet Street.

In earlier years this part of London road was more like marshland!
It passed two great pools "Chainey Flash" and "Chainey Pool".
Chainey Pool was the larger pool of the two and resided around the location of the Walter Danks building.
The term "Chainey" refers to the wooden bridges stopped up by a great chain fastened across them allowing access through a very
different London road to what we see today!

At around 1766 the bridges were converted to stone structures and then at around 1790 a bridge of 10 arches was built. We assume these are the arches that we discovered on the lowest floor!

the building was later used for building contracting and training, accommodation and recliner sales.

walking around the building, it became immediately obvious why a survey of the internal structure was not permitted.
much of the buildings main structure appeared to be fine but the floorboards were totally rotten with human sized gaps between the joists.
the roof was in very poor condition allowing excess rain water into the building.

the building had a very interesting layout of staircases and floors of varying levels.

the material for the future plans was sat ready and waiting to be constructed
but we are very happy to hear the Walter Danks building will be renovated instead of being demolished!

10/06/2021

24-26 Glasshouse st/Howard st
Part 2 (The Explore)

A building we believe to be of early 1900s with a basement we did not expect to see!

Looking at the ground and upper floors there was nothing overly surprising, a shop unit and flats much as we expected.

The demolition team had however removed a dividing wall between the shops and accommodation revealing a beautiful staircase to the upper floors.

Things got interesting when entering the basement. a shallow stone basin, fireplace, coal shoot with iron bracket seeming to assist with moving/hinging the coal (still functional but without the bucket).

Part 1 (the reserch) https://www.facebook.com/103056321624822/posts/229501805646939/?app=fbl

Old Notts Explorers

17/07/2023

12/09/2022

09/04/2022

07/04/2022

12/03/2022

12/02/2022

01/07/2021

10/06/2021

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