Jonjon explores Nottingham… “City of Caves”

Glance: "City of Caves"

Imagine you’ve just got off the train in Nottingham. Now given the city centre is way up hill, is there anything closer by as a starter?

Luckily, there's the “City of Caves” just besides the river.

It’s an eight-minute walk from Nottingham Station – perfect. But the entrance can be hard to find.

As you cross the bridge, walk towards Nottingham Contemporary but then turn and go down the stairs. You’ll find a foyer below the bridge.

And make sure you get the joint tickets with National Justice Museum.

See it: "City of Caves"

1. This is only one of the many thousands of grottos under Nottingham’s homes. It’s acting sort of like an exemplar, being comparatively spacious and well-connected.

2. Households build these caves for many purposes. The guided tour will go through as many examples as possible as you walk through the compartments and through history, which include...

3. … a water well – before pollution was to set in. A fridge / storage unit, possibly both, given the cold underground environment. A cesspit, atrociously involving a cleaner climbing down to empty it – with the dangers of drowning in poop. A leather tanner, where the colouring process was once so defiling that people downstream were to complain, complain, complain.

4. Towards the end of the tour you’ll land in the 1940s, with period items to feel what it’s like in the times of air raid shelters. The finale comes in the form of a geological column – the bricks of a pub, a factory wall, the supporting beams of Broad Marsh Shopping Centre.

And hence like a moment of awakening. You’ll realize your original reality.

Now pay a quick visit to Nottingham Contemporary.

(Londoner alert: Do you know there’s an underground temple right in the middle of London? Check out the London Mithraeum right below Bloomberg’s headquarters.)

Time is asset: save it for later with 25-min museum tours. Or find yourself in my novel, check out the photo of the day and finish it off with a secret prize.

Tags - in_depth_tourism; museum; London_writer; London_travel; indie_writer; independent_blogger