The historic county town of Nottingham, situated on the River
Trent in England's East Midlands, is universally known as the home
of the world's first 'superhero', the legendary Robin Hood, who
robbed the rich to give to the poor. Today historians have cast
doubt on whether Robin actually existed, and if he did, whether he
did indeed live in Sherwood Forest near the city, and do battle
with the wicked Sheriff of Nottingham, as the much-vaunted legend
has it.
What is not in doubt is that Robin has done much to promote
tourism in this ancient city, which boasts another, very real,
unique attraction in the form of a system of sandstone caves
beneath the city, used as dwellings by Anglo-Saxons and later as
the medieval hang-out of thieves and vagabonds, and bomb shelters
during World War II.
Above ground Nottingham is a pleasant, busy English town,
equipped with an impressively large Market Square and thriving
shopping streets around the site of its central Castle Rock, which
is now topped with a Ducal Mansion, the original castle having been
destroyed. Nottingham is also renowned for its 'watering holes',
three of the local pubs claiming to be England's oldest (The Bell,
Old Salutation and Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem).
From an Anglo Saxon settlement founded around 600 AD, Nottingham
developed into an important commercial capital for the region
during the Middle Ages, and then went on to become one of England's
major manufacturing cities, producing top quality Victorian lace
and hosiery. Today it is saved from being just another
heterogeneous English county capital by its legends and unique
attractions, making it a city well worth including on the itinerary
of any tour of the British Isles.






