Nottinghamshire

Robin Hood Statue, Sherwood Forest

Nottinghamshire lies on the Roman Fosse Way, and there are Roman settlements in the county; for example at Mansfield, and forts such as at the Broxtowe Estate in Bilborough. The county was settled by Angles around the 5th century, and became part of the Kingdom, and later Earldom, of Mercia. However, there is evidence of Saxon settlement at the Broxtowe Estate, Oxton, near Nottingham, and Tuxford, east of Sherwood Forest. The name first occurs in 1016, but until 1568, the county was administratively united with Derbyshire, under a single Sheriff. In Norman times, the county developed malting and woollen industries.

King William I the Conqueror in 1066 made Sherwood Forest a Royal Forest for hunting which was frequently visited by the Mercian and later Kings.[4][5][6]

King William I the Conqueror's 1086 Domesday Book identified certain areas in Nottinghamshire being under the land of King Edward the Confessor these included Mansfield and Sutton in Ashfield, amongst other places including Skegby, Dunham-on-Trent, East Drayton, East Markham, Farnsfield, Warsop, Carburton, Edwinstowe, Carlton-on-Trent, Budby, Perlethorpe and Walesby.[7]

King John's Palace ruin near Kings Clipstone was a royal residence for King John, the area being near to Sherwood Forest. King John's Palace was a place where King William the Lion of Scotland met King Richard I of England to congratulate him on his return from the crusades.[8]

John, King of England died at Newark Castle in 1216.[9]

During the industrial revolution, the county held much needed minerals such as coal and iron ore, and had constructed some of the first experimental waggonways in the world; an example of this is the Wollaton wagonway of 1603–1616, which transported minerals from bell pitt mining areas at Strelley and Bilborough, this led to canals and railways being constructed in the county, and the lace and cotton industries grew. In the 18th and 19th centuries, mechanised deeper collieries opened, and mining became an important economic sector, though these declined after the 1984–85 miners' strike.

Hand-drawn map of Lincolnshire and Notthinghamshire from 1576.

Until 1610, Nottinghamshire was divided into eight Wapentakes. Sometime between 1610 and 1719, they were reduced to six – Newark, Bassetlaw, Thurgarton, Rushcliffe, Broxtowe, and Bingham, some of these names still being used for the modern districts. Oswaldbeck was absorbed in Bassetlaw, of which it forms the North Clay division, and Lythe in Thurgarton.

The flag of the historic county of Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire is famous for its involvement with the legend of Robin Hood. This is also the reason for the numbers of tourists who visit places like Sherwood Forest, City of Nottingham, and the surrounding villages in Sherwood Forest. To reinforce the Robin Hood connection, the University of Nottingham in 2010 has begun the Nottingham Caves Survey, with the goal "to increase the tourist potential of these sites". The project "will use a 3D laser scanner to produce a three dimensional record of more than 450 sandstone caves around Nottingham".[10]

Nottinghamshire was mapped first by Christopher Saxton in 1576; the first fully surveyed map of the county was by John Chapman, who produced Chapman's Map of Nottinghamshire in 1774.[11] The map was the earliest printed map at a sufficiently useful scale (one statute mile to one inch) to provide basic information on village layout, and the existence of landscape features such as roads, milestones, tollbars, parkland, and mills.

Nottinghamshire saw a slight change to its overall boundary in the extreme northern part of the county in 1974, when the villages of Blaxton, Finningley and Auckley (part) were merged into the City of Doncaster in South Yorkshire.

Nottinghamshire, like Derbyshire, and South Yorkshire, sits on extensive coal measures, up to 900 metres (3,000 feet) thick, and occurring largely in the north of the county. There is an oilfield near Eakring. These are overlaid by sandstones and limestones in the west, and clay in the east.[12] The north of the county is part of the Humberhead Levels lacustrine plain. The centre and south west of the county, around Sherwood Forest, features undulating hills with ancient oak woodland. Principal rivers are the Trent, Idle, Erewash, and Soar. The Trent, fed by the Soar, Erewash, and Idle, composed of many streams from Sherwood Forest, run through wide and flat valleys, merging at Misterton. A point just north of Newtonwood Lane, on the boundary with Derbyshire is the highest point in Nottinghamshire; at 205 metres (673 feet),[13] while Silverhill, a spoil heap left by the former Silverhill colliery, a human-made point often cited as the highest, reaches 204 metres (669 feet). The lowest is Peat Carr, east of Blaxton, at sea level; the Trent is tidal below Cromwell Lock.[14]

Nottinghamshire is sheltered by the Pennines to the west, so receives relatively low rainfall at 641 to 740 millimetres (25 to 29 inches) annually.[15] The average temperature of the county is 8.8–10.1 degrees Celsius (48–50 degrees Fahrenheit).[16] The county receives between 1321 and 1470 hours of sunshine per year.[17]

Nottinghamshire is represented by eight members of parliament. The Nottinghamshire seats are represented by Conservative MPs.

Following the 2017 County Council elections, the County Council is controlled by a coalition of Conservatives and Mansfield Independent Forum, having taken control from the Labour administration. The seats held are 31 Conservatives, 23 Labour, 11 Independents, 1 Liberal Democrat. In the previous 2013 election, the County Council was Labour controlled, a gain from the Conservatives.

Local government is devolved to seven local borough and district councils. Ashfield is Ashfield Independents controlled; Bassetlaw, Gedling, and Mansfield are Labour controlled; while Broxtowe, Newark and Sherwood, and Rushcliffe are Conservative controlled.

Westminster Parliamentary

General Election 2019: Nottinghamshire

Conser­vative	Labour	Liberal Democrats	Brexit	Green	Others	Turnout
258,794 ​(47.4%) 16,343	204,011 ​(37.4%) 61,062	33,585 ​(6.2%) 17,567	15,922 ​(2.9%) New party	10,375 ​(1.9%) 4,657	23,241 ​(4.3%) 419	545,844 6,238

Overall number of seats in 2019

Conser­vative	Labour	Liberal Democrats	Brexit	Green	others
8 3	3 3	0	0	0	0

The regional economy was traditionally based on industries such as coal mining in the Leen Valley, and manufacturing. Since the invention of the knitting frame by local William Lee, the county, in particular Nottingham, became synonymous with the lace industry.[19]

In 1998, Nottinghamshire had a gross domestic product (GDP) per-capita of £12,000, and a total GDP of £12,023 million. This is compared to a per-capita GDP of £11,848 for the East Midlands, £12,845 for England, and £12,548 for the United Kingdom. Nottingham had a GDP per-capita of £17,373, North Nottinghamshire £10,176, and South Nottinghamshire £8,448.[20] In October 2005, the United Kingdom had 4.7% unemployment, the East Midlands 4.4%, and the Nottingham commuter belt area 2.4%.[21]

National and County cricket player Harold Larwood

Newstead Abbey

Nottinghamshire is home to the Sherwood Forest, known for its association with the legend of Robin Hood.[23][24]

Nottinghamshire contains the ancestral home of the poet Lord Byron, Newstead Abbey, which he sold in 1818. It is now owned by Nottingham City Council, and is open to the public. The acclaimed author D. H. Lawrence was from Eastwood in Nottinghamshire. Toton was the birthplace and home of English folk singer-songwriter Anne Briggs, well known for her song Black Waterside. The north of the county is also noteworthy for its connections with the Pilgrim Fathers. William Brewster, for example, came from the village of Scrooby, and was influenced by Richard Clyfton, who preached at Babworth.

Thoresby Hall was formally owned by Robert Pierrepont, 1st Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull acquired the Thoresby lands in 1633, but was killed in the Civil War in 1643. His son Henry Pierrepont, the 2nd Earl, built the first grand house, attributed to the architect Talman, about 1670. [25] Thoresby Hall is now a hotel but the park is open to visitors. [26]

Thoresby Hall

Rufford Abbey was formally built (between 1560 and 1590) and owned by George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury who was Bess of Hardwick Countess of Shrewsbury’s husband. [27]

Rufford Abbey

Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club (NCCC) are a first class county cricket club who play at Trent Bridge in West Bridgford. They won the County Championship in 2010. The most successful football team within Nottinghamshire is Nottingham Forest, a Premier League club that won the 1978 English championship, and followed it up with winning the 1979 and 1980 European Cup titles. Mansfield Town and Notts County are the other professional teams in the country, both in League Two. Other notable sporting teams are the Nottingham Rugby Football Club, and the Nottingham Panthers Ice Hockey Club.

Nottinghamshire has international twinning arrangements with the province of Wielkopolska (Greater Poland) in western Poland, and with the province's capital city, Poznań.[28]

In 2002, Crocus nudiflorus (Autumn crocus) was voted by the public as the county flower of Nottinghamshire.[29][30]

BBC East Midlands is based in Nottingham and broadcasts news around the county; ITV Central also covers regional news in the county. BBC Radio Nottingham is the local public radio station, while Gem, Capital Midlands, Gold and Smooth East Midlands, are the local commercial stations. Northern parts of the county such as Worksop and Retford in the Bassetlaw area receive a better signal from the Emley Moor TV transmission so the area is covered by BBC Yorkshire and ITV Yorkshire.[31]

• High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire
• Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire
• Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nottinghamshire.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Nottinghamshire.

• Nottinghamshire Heritage Gateway—essays on local history by experts; covers places, people, themes and events.
• Visit Nottinghamshire Archived 2 June 2004 at the Wayback Machine
• Nottinghamshire County Council