Nottingham Castle

Nottingham Castle, 17th-century manor house situated in the centre of Nottingham, England. In 1068 a castle was built on the site, on the orders of William I, to enforce Norman rule of the city (see Norman Conquest). The sandstone rock beneath the castle contains caves that, according to popular belief, were used by Edward III in 1330 to capture Roger Mortimer, his would-be usurper and the murderer of his father, Edward II. The castle was also the setting of the start of the English Civil War, when on August 2, 1642, King Charles I raised his standard in its grounds. It was later occupied by parliamentarian forces under Colonel Hutchinson, and demolished in 1651, on the orders of Oliver Cromwell.

In 1674 a mansion was built on the site for the dukes of Newcastle, using stone from the original castle. However, it was stormed and set ablaze in 1831 by the city’s citizens in protest at the incumbent duke’s voting against a parliamentary reform bill. Having stood empty for over 40 years the site was leased to the Nottingham Corporation for a 500-year period. It was restored and adapted in 1878 as the country’s first provincial museum and municipal art gallery, and currently features works by Sir Stanley Spencer and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The restored gateway is now guarded by a bronze statue of Robin Hood.