February Holiday Part Two - Subterranean Nottingham

 I had visited Nottingham as a child, and had been fascinated by the fact they were building a tram line there. There seems to be a growing trend across the UK of reintroducing trams, which is understandable, as they are cleaner, provide better capacity than buses and seem to run better. The trouble is it cost's money, something we are always being told is not available, despite throwing money at HS2, the Trident program and paying for MP's second homes & expenses. But I digress.

Anyway, we drove and did the park and ride on the tram, or should it be called something better? Park & Tram? Park & Rail? Park, Tram & Go? I shall trademark all of these in case Southampton brings the trams back and wants' to use one of my fantastic slogans!

The best thing we did while in Nottingham was explore the caves under the city. City Of Caves as it is known, lets you explore the history of underground Nottingham. I thought not only is the concept a fantastic idea, but it was executed brilliantly. The caves had enough history in them to really experience, and rather than fully restoring them, props had been used sparingly to give you an idea of how they were used. But the props were done in such a way that they highlighted the caves use, without becoming the main feature.

The caves are interestingly all man made, and have had many uses over the years, from a medieval tannery, where leather was prepared and processed for use, to a prison, to air raid shelters during world war two. In fact, there are new caves being discovered all the time, all adding to the richness of the history of the city.

A view over the medieval tannery, the only underground one in the UK.

The caves were also lived in, and quickly became an extension of the slums above them. Frequent outbreaks of diseases like Cholera and Tuberculosis were a threat to the lives of the people who lived here, as well as the unhealthy and cramped condition they faced.

Remnants of people living here can be seen all through the cave complex, as well as object found that were leftover from the caves time as an air raid shelter. During the war, they were excavated further, and the materials removed were put into sandbags to protect the city above from the bombings that would occur at night.

Obviously I don't need to say this, but if you are claustrophobic or have a fear of being underground, then this is certainly not for you. But for everyone else, this was a fantastic experience to explore part of a city that many people don't even know exists! An audio guide is supplied, but it's always best to bring your own headphones.

Tickets are £11 for adults. A word of warning, there is limited entries available, due to capacity constraints, at times the caves are narrow, with single file passageways. We went when it was quiet, so got in fine, but they do advise you to prebook at busier times, like weekends & school holidays.

Find out more & book tickets at their website National Justice Museum & City of Caves

Now, here's a way to make the day even better. You can get a combi ticket, the caves & the National Justice Museum. Adult tickets start at £21 (You can also add giftaid to it). The National Justice Museum is around a 5 minute walk away (took us a lot longer because we grabbed a sandwich, got distracted by something else and then got lost!)

Absolutely love the main square, it reminds me of St Pauls cathedral, on a slightly different scale anyway!

The National Justice Museum (NJM) was a different entity entirely. You got to explore the old Gaol or Jail, see the courtroom where sentencing would be carried out, and we even got to see a mock stay of execution!

Here's James being convicted and being transported to Australia for refusing to let me have a second lunch!

This was a particularly upsetting story. Both me and James read it and instantly felt awful. I think the fact our reactions are like that tells us two things about our society. First and most obviously, the way we would now treat a 4 year old in a similar circumstance. How we would provide both the child & the family with support and to try and help the understand what happened and move on. But secondly, and perhaps less obviously, it tells us about working life. I couldn't find any more information about this story anywhere else, but the fact that Katherine opened a door and knocked another child into hot water implies that she and the child may have been working in either a laundry or a kitchen. For a child to fall into boiling water, it must have been a very large pot or basin. Possibly a large cauldron for cooking with, or a dug out section of floor with a fire underneath for boiling clothes to white wash them, I'm not sure. That is outrageous in itself that children that young could be working. But it's something that has happened all of our history, as soon as children were old enough to work, they were put to work. I was reading recently about chimney sweeps, and how very often children, normally boys from the ages of four would be sent to climb chimneys and clean them. Sometimes the chimneys were as narrow as 23cm by 23cm. Often children would get stuck, George Brewster was a twelve year old who became stuck in a chimney at Fulbourn Hospital and later died. His death spurred the action of the Chimney Sweeps Act 1875 which finally banned the practice. How many children suffered deaths in the workplace is a frightening thought, and one that should never be allowed to happen again.

Another really interesting detail is you are given a convict number on your ticket, and you can find them as you explore the museum. This was mine, imagine deporting a 15 year old to the other side of the world, with no family, no contacts, and made to work in a foreign land. It's interesting, because it still happens, look at the Conservative's previous plan to deport migrants to Rwanda. Funny how we condemn deporting our own children, but other people's children is acceptable.

Elsewhere in the museum we explored the old jail, with stories and quotes in each cell from the people who were once incarcerated there. We also nearly got to see a mock execution. In the jail yard, the museum staff create a little show, where they threaten to hang a convict (someone from the audience), but a letter from the courts comes just in time to save them, and instead they will be deported. Pictures & videos are not allowed, but it was fascinating to see, and very well done on the part of the team there.

We ended our visit by coming up through the convict stairs and into the courtroom, with it's beautiful ceiling. Here is where you would heard your fate, and your punishment would be decided. It was a fantastic way to end the visit to the NJM. The whole museum was so well thought out and curated, and we had a brilliant time. Aren't we all glad we live in modern times, I know we complain about a lot of what goes on, but we are so very lucky to have due process based on fact and evidence, and not just what people say. Yes, things still go wrong, but things are much more accurate, and generally speaking, people are convicted correctly.

We had time for some dinner, before jumping back on the tram back to the car park. I will definitely return to Nottingham again!