The sum total of my knowledge prior to my Nottingham visit was the legend of Robin Hood, Brian Clough was the manager of the football club, they made lace there and Boots the Chemist originated in the city. David and I did what we do best. We started with a vague idea of what we might like to see and then we just ambled. The upshot of this approach is that you get a muddle of photos as we spot different things. The city has many famous tourist attractions and we were successful in managing to not visit a single one of them😂
I am always hopeful that any large conurbation will have some decent street art as opposed to the sort of graffiti you get when an area is in decline, so was pleased to see several pleasing examples as we wandered past. This, however, has to be a first....a spray paint artist overpainting a design. I wonder what it looks like now three weeks on.
The buildings cover a wide timeline both historically and architecturally. It really is worth popping your snout round the corners or just going into the shopping centres. Had we not then we'd never have come across this beauiful glass rotunda [well nigh impossible to photograph] with its impressive panels. This was once the Council House and Exchange Buildings. How about this one too...glorious curving Art Nouveau frontage of what is now Zara. Be still my beating heart.
Alternatively there are several attractive Victorian and Edwardian places to admire if that's your personal preference. These caught my eye.
Had it not been only 10am in the morning and had the Pit and Pendulum been open I might have been tempted to pop in to have a cheeky pint and savour the spooky atmosphere. Alas it wasn't to be and I had to content myself with a trip to Spoons later on in the afternoon.
This lion I decided looked most grumpy with his lot, but I did smile at all the pigeons carefully balanced on the old Debenhams sign. I am a big fan of these birds and despite their reputation I feel rather sorry for them and the rotten hand they've been dealt by us humans.
We did seem to spend a bit of our time dodging heavy showers [we'd gone with brollies], but us Brits are well practised in the art of not getting wet. Whilst we waited for one band of rain to pass we whiled a way a bit of time in St Peter's Church. It hadn't been on the radar, but I found its Workers' Memorial Window very moving. It's the only one in the country and commemorates those who have been injured or lost their lives at work. It was created in 2007 by Keith Barley and Julian Cole. It wasn't until I had a quick read of the leaflet that I realised that I had completely missed one little treasure on my first circuit round. The wooden mouse on the font is by Robert 'Mouseman' Thompson [1876-1955]. I've encountered mice carved by others, but this was the original man to adopt this as his signature. He was a furniture designer who ran his workshop up in Yorkshire. It's believed that he chose to add the mouse onto all his pieces after a conversation he had in 1919 when someone talked about being as 'poor as a church mouse'. His work is very sought after and can reach high prices.
This piece of art got me scratching my head. David and I wondered what it was meant to be and by the looks of the graffito on it we weren't the first! If you're also curious it's a leaf stem apparently.
Now did I make it inside this particular museum? Of course I did...it was the one thing that I had decided I must see. It proved to be completely up my alley, but wouldn't be to the personal taste of everyone as it features both magic, bones [including human], taxidermy and haunted objects. I took many photos of which perhaps I'll share with a warning in the title at Halloween. I'll see how I feel. For me it was absolutely fascinating, but I think that it would come under the umbrella of 'Dark Tourism.'
Seeing as the post began with a mention of that famous man in the green tights I can't really talk about Nottingham without including him so to finish here's a rather splendid statue of the chap himself which sits just outside the castle. There are a few others dotted around him featuring the other main characters from the legend.
It proved to be a great place to spend time and I am so glad that I have finally made it....even if it did take me 59 years!
Arilx
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