Shedding new light on city’s historic caves

With about 870 caves identified so far, Nottingham is known for having more than any other city in Britain. City archaeologist SCOTT LOMAX explains why there are so many - and why hundreds are yet to be discovered.

MUCH of Nottingham is built on sandstone, making it relatively easy to create caves.

Most of the caves only measure a few metres in length - some as small as 3m by 3m - and Scott Lomax says there were professionals who opened caves and that “a lot seem to have been created in more of a DIY fashion”.

“Caves are incredibly important to the city, having been part of the city’s identity since the time that Vikings occupied Nottingham in the 9th century,” he says.

“In the 18th century a number of writers, including Daniel Defoe, came to Nottingham and described the caves and, in particular, their importance in the storage of ale. This led to a lot of visitors to Nottingham, who wanted to explore, among other things, caves - in particular the Castle’s cave.

“They have, therefore, long been a tourist attraction and continuing and building upon this long tradition is something I, and colleagues within the city council, are keen upon.”

Caves are known to have existed in Nottingham by the year 893 when Asser, a chronicler of Alfred the Great, described the city as “Tiggua Cobauc” - an archaic Welsh phrase thought to mean “house of caves”.

Mr Lomax says: “We do not know whether any of these very early caves survive or how many existed in the late 9th century.

“It is possible the early caves have been destroyed, or have been modified so much so that their original features no longer exist - or the caves are yet to be rediscovered.

“There are two cave systems believed to be of mid-13th century date and these are part of the City of Caves attraction and also a cave system beneath a property on Castle Gate.

“I have estimated there would have been around 200 caves in Nottingham during the medieval period, though many of these have sadly been destroyed, particularly during the 19th century.

“Most caves which exist today are of 17th-19th century date, although there are some caves of 20th century date such as air raid shelter caves and a few caves were hewn in the 1960s to be used as garages.”

The underground layers have been used for many purposes and Mr Lomax says it’s often been the case that the same cave has served different functions at various times in history.

“The most common uses of caves is storage, both domestic and commercial,” he says.

“The storage of beer and wine was common and most buildings dating to 1945 or earlier which served as pubs, taverns and beer houses in the city centre, along Mansfield Road, Ilkeston Road, Alfreton Road, St

Ann’s and Sneinton, have caves.

“A few caves were used as tunnels, particularly at the Castle. Approximately 50 caves are known to have been used for producing malt as part of the process of making ale.

“A small number of 18th and 19th century caves were created in an