Archaeological work at King's Clipstone

Archaeologist James Wright has been in touch to tell me about fieldwork and excavation at King's Clipstone, near Mansfield. King John's Palace was the subject of a Time Team dig back in 2011 and, more recently, James and colleagues have been working on "a condition survey of the ruin of King John's Palace, loose masonry recording, an 11 acre resistivity survey, two evaluation excavations and test pitting." In addition, the team have conducted "a standing building survey of two properties ... which contain partial remains of the medieval boundary wall and buildings associated with the ... palace complex." Photographs of work in progess and further information on the programme of work are available here:

• Archaeology and History of King's Clipstone, Nottinghamshire (Facebook)
• Mercian Archaeological Services CIC (Facebook)
• King John's Palace (Wikipedia)

Event: 'Stories of Ordinary Folk', 23 March 2013

The Spring meeting of the Nottinghamshire Local History Society on 23rd March at Ravenshead Village Hall is devoted to 'stories of ordinary folk'. The programme includes the following talks:

• 'Reading between the lines - stories from parish registers'
• 'Joseph Woolley - the diary of a framework knitter'
• 'A common fate - people in the workhouse'
• 'When the bands played on'

Further information on the NLHA website.

The Nottinghamshire Historian

The latest edition of The Nottinghamshire Historian ('a bi-annual magazine of news, views and articles concerning Nottinghamshire local history and conservation')  journal has just arrived. Content includes:

• 'Nottingham Cinemas, Part Two' by Michael Payne
• 'After the Ides of March' (World War II German PoW camp near Carburton) by Robert Ilett
• 'Help at Hand' (the medical team of the 7th (Robin Hood) Battalion in World War I) by Stuart Wilson and others

Further information on the Nottinghamshire Local History Association website.

People's Histreh YouTube Channel

People's Histreh (Nottingham Radical History Group), have uploaded recordings of the following events to their YouTube Channel:

• 'Rethinking Luddism in Nottinghamshire' - a talk by Dr Mathew Roberts, Senior Lecturer in Modern British History at Sheffield Hallam University
• 'To the Castle!' - A walk retracing the 1831 Reform Riots in Nottingham

Talk on poachers and poaching in Nottinghamshire

Rosemary Muge is researching poaching and poachers in Nottinghamshire for a PhD and will be giving a talk about the subject at The Swallow's Nest in Nottingham on the 17th February at 2pm.

Further information is available on the People's Histreh website.

New book: 'Lowdham, Caythorpe & Gunthorpe Through Time'

Another attractively produced volume in Amberley Publishing's 'Through Time' series has arrived for review. The book focuses on the large village of Lowdham which is located in the Trent valley, some 8 miles north-east of Nottingham, and also covers the neighbouring villages of Caythorpe and Gunthorpe.

The book has been compiled by members of the Lowdham Local History Group and the selection of photographs is both interesting and varied. Each page is a 'then and now' illustration of the ways in which the villages have changed over time.

One of the most intriguing set of photographs is the one covering the development of the house with the misleadingly understated name of 'The Hut'. The house was originally built in the early 1920s to the north of Lowdham and incorporated two American Pacific Railway coaches that the owner had bought after they had been displayed at the 1926 Great Exhibition in Paris. In the 1980s this unusual building was replaced by a grandiose country house.

I also enjoyed the images of 'Gunthorpe on Sea', a popular destination for locals and Nottingham residents in the mid-20th century. Apparently, the nearby lock on the River Trent was a tourist attraction (particularly for children who enjoyed watching the boats being raised or lowered) and this was often followed by a picnic on the extensive common between the Unicorn pub and the Trent.

'Roman Nottinghamshire' nominated for an award

Roman Nottinghamshire by Nottingham-based writer Mark Patterson has been nominated for Book of the Year by Current Archaeology. The book is a well written and comprehensive introduction to the area during the Romano-British period and a worthy contender.

You can vote online for it on the Current Archaeology website.

Mark's Roman Nottinghamshire blog is also worth a look.

New books for December 2012

The following books have recently been sent to me for review.

The north Nottinghamshire market town of Retford is the subject of the first book and forms part of Amberley Publishing's attractive and numerous 'Through Time' series. 'Retford through time' by Nicola Davison Reed shows past views of the town alongside the same view today - a 'then and now' approach. The older images come courtesy of Bassetlaw Museum's impressive photographic collection, a large proportion of which are the work of professional photographer, Edgar Welchman and Son.

The author has selected well and there are many fascinating shots full of human interest. For example, there is an interior shot of Bowskill's newsagents on Chapelgate from 1933. The shop was still around until the early 1980s and I remember it as a claustrophobic, labyrinthine place. Billy Bowskill established an adventure playground in the back garden and I'm sure you could still see crumbling remnants of it from the adjacent car park in the 1970s.

Refreshment Room staff at Retford GNR station, c.1910. Photo courtesy of Bassetlaw Museum/Amberley Publishing.

Other favourites include a photograph of the 1932 Pigeon Show in the Corn Exchange (looks fun), a circus elephant and camels parading through the market square in 1894 and a wonderfully stiff and formal portrait of the Great Northern Railway station Refreshment Room staff from 1910. Not a smile to be seen anywhere: clearly, serving refreshments was a serious business in Edwardian Retford.

The images are accompanied by informative captions, though I did notice a couple of minor errors. Castle Hill Wood to the north of Grove is described as having featured "a castle on a mound" (page 55):  the earthworks have not been conclusively identified as those of a castle and have instead been interpreted as a hill fort, a hunting lodge, a civil war earthwork and a Roman fort so take your pick! The caption for the hotel depicted on page 82 reads "Howards Community Hotel" whereas it clearly says "Howard's Commercial Hotel" in the photograph. The website addresses on the Acknowledgements page should have been checked: the link for my Nottinghamshire History website is incorrect and several other URLs are mis-spelled.

Minor issues aside, this is an excellent selection of photographs of past and present Retford and would make a delightful Xmas present for any Old Retfordians you might know!

• Amberley website
• Bassetlaw Museum's Welchman Archive

The second book, 'British Railways Steam: King's Cross to Aberdeen' by Peter Tuffrey, is a collection of Bill Reed's superb photographs of steam locomotives on the East Coast route. Nottingham-born Reed was a fireman on steam locomotives before graduating to being a driver on diesel-electrics. After work and at weekends and holidays he travelled throughout Great Britain recording the last days of steam. Another book of his photographs, 'The last days of steam in Nottinghamshire from the Bill Reed Collection', was published in 2010 and includes a fine series of images of steam around Nottingham in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Nottinghamshire appears briefly in Chapter Two of the book with nine photographs of trains roaring over the Muskham Water Troughs (just to the north of Newark) and four images of locomotives parked in sidings at Retford.

Further information is available on the Fonthill Media website.

Ambitious plans announced for Nottingham Castle

Nottingham City Council have recently announced plans for a £26 million redevelopment of Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery should their bid for Heritage Lottery Funding be successful.

According to a council press release, the aim is to develop "a world class heritage attraction offering fun and excitement for all the family and a nationally significant centre for learning about protest and rebellion." There are ambitious claims that the project will bring in an additional £77 million and 1,300 jobs to the local economy. Predictably, our old friend, Robin Hood, will be a key attraction.

While welcoming the proposals to improve the existing museum and art gallery facilities I was slightly worried to find that they also intend "re-establishing the mediaeval moat and bridge" and wonder what English Heritage's reaction will be!

• Nottingham City Council Press Release
• Nottingham Evening Post article

Millgate Museum in Newark closes

Millgate Museum in Newark opens for the last time today. Newark & Sherwood District Council took the decision to close the  museum a while ago, describing it as having served its purpose and having "become tired."

A museum of the English Civil War is being developed. It will "tell the story of Newark and its residents and  demonstrate the resilience of ordinary lives set against affairs of the nation and the world and interpret the British Civil Wars and Newark’s key role in them."

The new centre will be based at the Old Magnus Buildings on Appletongate which once housed the town's museum until it closed in 2005.

• Newark Advertiser article
• Friends of Newark & Sherwood Museums Service - Civil War Centre

'The Lost Houses of Nottinghamshire': Aspley Hall

The third episode of 'The Lost Houses of Nottinghamshire' went out this morning on Andy Whittaker's BBC Radio Nottingham show. The subject is Aspley Hall in Nottingham and contains more from me!

• Andy Whittaker Show, 12 October 2012 (move the slider to 2:19 to hear 'Aspley Hall')

Further information on Aspley and other houses covered can be found on the BBC Radio Nottingham Facebook page.

'Balls, Boots and Players - celebrating 500 years of Nottingham High School in its communty

Lakeside is hosting an exhibition that "explores the relationship between Nottingham High School and its community, illustrated through the lives of the people who belong to it."

A series of free lunchtime talks to accompany the exhibition has also been organised:

• 'Pure and Constant' (Wednesday, 10 October, 1-2pm, in A09, Engineering & Science Learning Centre) - the life and work of Thomas Hawksley, engineer
• 'Ken Clark talks' (Friday, 9 November, 1-2pm in the Senate Chamber, Trent Building) - the High School's best known living old boy discusses his schooldays and career in politics
• 'Balls, boots and players' (Tuesday, 13 November, 1-2pm in the Senate Chamber, Trent Building) - Tony Palfreyman shares his passion for sport and sport in Nottinghamshire
• 'Karachi and the wilds of interior Sindh' (Tuesday, 4 December, 1-2pm,  in A09, Engineering & Science Learning Centre) - BBC journalist Aleem Maqbool discusses his work as a journalist in Pakistan

Further details are available on the Lakeside website.

Romano-British settlement found near Clifton

A team from Wessex Archaeology have uncovered a late Iron Age/Romano-British rural settlement near Clifton as part of survey work in advance of the widening of the A453 road between Nottingham and the M1.
Two burials (one crouched), the remains of a structure, Samian ware pottery and a jet bracelet have been found so far.

• Nottingham Evening Post article
• ITV Central News video clip

New book: 'Fothergill: Catalogue of the Works of Watson Fothergill, Architect'

Darren Turner has recently self-published an impressive catalogue of the distinctive buildings of the Nottingham architect, Watson Fothergill.

Darren states that the catalogue aims "to provide a comprehensive schedule of all of his works and in doing so to bring together as much information as possible about each project to provide an invaluable  resource."

See the book's website for further information and a preview of the book:

• The Watson Fothergill Archive

'Nottingham - A Reluctant City' by Adrian Jones

Maid Marian Way in 1968 (photo: Ben Houfton)

Chris Matthews has alerted me to a fascinating online article on current and historic planning issues in Nottingham by Adrian Jones, former Director of Planning at Nottingham City Council. It is a refreshingly honest and critical assessment of planning successes and failures and well worth a look:

• Nottingham - A Reluctant City
• Flickr photo set