About the caves

About City of Caves

City Of Caves at Nottingham is accessed at the upper mall level of the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre, close to the Broadmarsh and Fletcher Gate car parks, and five minutes from Nottingham Train Station. City Of Caves is a subterranean family attraction that is part of a complex of up to 400 caves dating back to the Dark Ages, the last of which were in use until as late as 1924. Indeed, Nottingham has more man-made caves than anywhere else in Britain, and the cave network has Ancient Monument Protection.

The area was originally known as Tiggua Cobaucc, meaning ‘Place of Caves’, and the first extant reference to Tiggua Cobaucc was in The Life Of King Alfred, by Welsh monk and historian, Asser, the Bishop of Sherborne, who visited Nottingham around 900 AD. The caves were likely used for housing as early as the 11th century, and troglodytes were certainly recorded in the 17th century. Many were inhabited until 1845, when the St. Mary’s Enclosure Act banned the rental of cellars and caves as homes for the poor, though the practice doubtless continued underground!

The family attraction that is now the City Of Caves was made possible thanks to the soft Sherwood Sandstone beneath Nottingham that allowed hand-carved cellars to be excavated and used as store rooms, factories, pub cellars, dwellings and even air raid shelters. Most of the caves remain in private hands, and some were destroyed over time by various city developments. But the City Of Caves is a protected family attraction and received a £50,000 upgrade in April 2003, with a grand reopening soon afterwards, making it a state of the art family day out.

City Of Caves allows ticket holders to experience an unusual and gripping family day out, exploring a whole other world beneath our feet. The family attraction is arranged in various dedicated sections focusing on certain themes in the City Of Caves’ past. The journey back in time begins with a descent into the dark, dank Brythonic and Anglo-Saxon tunnels, before encountering the time-worn Enchanted Well, where a gushing spring conjures up images of the ancient Britons and their Druidic soothsayer-priests, chanting incantations to water deities like the Goddess Faer. Fresh water was rightly considered a precious, magical commodity, being a pre-requisite for life, and ticket holders can cast a coin into the Well and make a wish for their own lives. Just the ticket!

The Medieval Tannery is housed in the Pillar Cave and dates from the era when Nottingham was a nationally important leather producer, notably during the 15th and 16th centuries. The Pillar Cave features the remains of the country’s only medieval underground tannery, where aromas from the smell box can be taken in by ticket holders. The sights and sounds of the tannery, dating back to 1250, are also re-created by an onsite tanner, who oversees the tanning process of making leather from animal hides. During its heyday of 1500 to 1640, it manufactured large quantities of shoes, belts, gloves and harnesses, as well as armour and bottles. Ticket holders will learn that tanning was a long process and that the work done in the City Of Caves site was hard, dirty and unhealthy. The stench was so gut-wrenching that it even kept rats away! Fortunately, the aroma of the family attraction is rather less startling, ensuring that a family day out will be memorable, but for the right reasons!

The Medieval Tanner - artist, tradesman, craftsman and magician – is happy to welcome new recruits to his work, though those on a family day out might prefer not to sign up permanently 12 hour days with no holidays and 10 shillings a year.

Equally dire, the City Of Caves’ re-creation of The Slums Of Drury Hill - one of the oldest streets in Nottingham, until its demolition in 1968 - is a sobering experience. A windowless, airless, unlit and moist cellar, surrounded by the noise of the Narrow Marsh slums was no picnic. The family attraction retains original basement walls from the last remaining buildings of Drury Hill, which had the unenviable reputation of possessing some of the 19th century’s worst slums. Entire families existed in a single room without sanitation, making their habitations breeding grounds for diseases like cholera, tuberculosis and smallpox.

Still, things could get worse! During the Second World War, the threat of death from above forced people underground once again, and ticket holders to the City Of Caves can explore the subterranean existence of citizens facing Luftwaffe bombing in Wartime Alert. It features an Anderson Shelter under the protection of a resident ARP Warden, who describes air raids like that of 8th May 1941 when 500 high explosive bombs dropped all over Nottingham as part of the ongoing blitz and thousands sought refuge in 86 caves that were made available as public shelters – though over 200 died. The sandstone caves were also used to supply sand for sandbags, and an array of wartime memorabilia is on display.

The City Of Caves was almost lost for ever when the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre was built in the late 1960s. Fortunately, the future family attraction won a reprieve in the new millennium, preserving such fascinating features as Sam Hancock’s Cave, which was a former pub cellar boasting a constant cool temperature for perfect brewing and storage of ale. A family day out – or down, for that matter - also takes in guidance from an on-site archaeologist interpreter, and in fact archaeologists are still investigating the maze of tunnels to see where they lead and discover new vistas within the family attraction.
After perusing the City Of Caves, a visit to the shop allows ticket holders to buy rocks, fossils and Celestite crystals, crystal balls and books.
Schools are catered for with an audio tour and guided visits with information packs, while groups can book the City Of Caves in the evening.

Discounted entry and packages for the Caves

Claim a 20% discount for the whole family if you carry a Things to do in Nottinghamshire discount card. visit www.thingstodoinnottinghamshire.co.uk to purchase your card or book a discounted break in Nottingham including a visit to the caves at www.Nottinghambreaks.co.uk.