Medieval history The first
Norman castle on Castle Rock was a wooden structure of a
motte-and-bailey design, begun in 1068, two years after the
Battle of Hastings, on the orders of
William the Conqueror. This wooden structure was replaced by a far more defensible stone castle during the reign of
King Henry II, of an imposing and complex architectural design, which eventually comprised an upper bailey at the highest point of the castle rock, a middle bailey to the north containing the main royal apartments, and a large outer bailey to the east. For centuries, the castle served as one of the most important in England for
nobles and
royalty alike. In a strategic position due to its location near a crossing of the
River Trent, it was also known as a place of leisure, being close to the royal hunting grounds at
Tideswell, the "Kings Larder" in the Royal Forest of the Peak, and also close to the royal forests of
Barnsdale and
Sherwood. The castle also had its own deer park in the area immediately to the west, still known as
The Park. While
King Richard I ("the Lionheart") was away on the
Third Crusade, along with a great number of English noblemen, Nottingham Castle was occupied by supporters of
Prince John, including the
Sheriff of Nottingham. In the legends of
Robin Hood, Nottingham Castle is the scene of the final showdown between the sheriff and the heroic outlaw. In March 1194, a historic battle took place at Nottingham Castle, part of the returned King Richard's campaign to put down the rebellion of Prince John. The castle was the site of a decisive attack when King Richard besieged it after constructing some siege machines similar to those used on crusade. Richard was aided by
Ranulph de Blondeville, 4th Earl of Chester and
David of Scotland, 8th Earl of Huntingdon. The castle surrendered after just a few days. Shortly before his 18th birthday,
King Edward III, with the help of a few trusted companions led by
Sir William Montagu, staged a coup d'état at Nottingham Castle (19 October 1330) against his mother
Isabella of France, and her lover,
Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March. Both Isabella and Mortimer were acting as Regents during Edward's minority following their murder of his father
Edward II at
Berkeley Castle. William Montagu and his companions were accompanied by William Eland, castellan and overseer of Mortimer's castle, who knew the location of a secret tunnel which would take them higher up in the castle to a normally locked door. In the dark of night on 19 October 1330, Montagu and his companions entered the tunnel, climbed up to the door, which had now been unlocked either by Edward III or a trusted servant, and overpowered Mortimer, killing Mortimer's personal guards. Mortimer was bound and gagged, led out of the tunnel and arrested, along with Queen Mother Isabella. Mortimer was sent to the
Tower of London and hanged a month later.
Isabella of France was forced into retirement at
Castle Rising Castle. With this dramatic event, the personal reign of Edward began. These events seem to be echoed in an interpolation made to a metrical chronicle in around 1331, which describes the caves beneath the castle as having been carved out by Lancelot in his attempts to hide Guinevere from King Arthur following their adulterous affair. This seems to be the earliest reference to Lancelot and Guinevere's adultery that exists.
Royal residence Edward III used the castle as a residence and held parliaments. In 1346, King
David II of Scotland was held prisoner. In 1365,
Edward III improved the castle with a new tower on the west side of the Middle Bailey and a new prison under the High Tower. In 1376
Peter de la Mare, speaker of the House of Commons, was confined in Nottingham Castle for having "taken unwarrantable liberties with the name of
Alice Perrers, mistress of the king". In 1387, during
Richard II's gyration, the state council was held in the castle.
Richard II held the
Lord Mayor of London, aldermen, and sheriffs in the castle in 1392, and held another state council for the purpose of humbling Londoners. The last visit recorded by
Richard II was in 1397 when another council was held here. From 1403 until 1437, it was the main residence of
Henry IV's queen,
Joan of Navarre. After the residence of Joan, maintenance was reduced. Only upon the
Wars of the Roses did Nottingham Castle begin to be used again as a military stronghold.
Edward IV proclaimed himself king in Nottingham, and in 1476, he ordered the construction of a new tower and Royal Apartments. This was described by
John Leland in 1540 as: During the reign of
Henry VII, the castle remained a royal fortress.
Henry VIII ordered new tapestries from
Cornelius van der Strete for the castle before he visited Nottingham in August 1511. In 1538 the Constable,
Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland, reported on the need for maintenance. A survey in 1525 stated that there was much "dekay and ruyne of said castell" and In 1536, the Earl of Rutland had the castle reinforced with a new drawbridge and its garrison increased from a few dozen men to a few hundred in response to the
Pilgrimage of Grace. The castle was proposed as a venue for a
meeting between Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots, in June 1562, with
masques staged in the Great Hall, but the event was cancelled.
Civil war '' by
Henry Dawson, 1847 The castle ceased to be a royal residence by 1600 and was largely rendered obsolete in the 17th century by
artillery. A short time following the outbreak of the
English Civil War, the castle was already in a semi-ruined state after a number of skirmishes occurred on the site. At the start of the Civil War, in August 1642,
Charles I chose Nottingham as the rallying point for his armies, but soon after he departed, the castle rock was made defensible and held by the
Parliamentarians. Commanded by
John Hutchinson, they repulsed several
Royalist attacks, and they were the last group to hold the castle. In 1648, the Royalist commander Marmaduke Langdale, fleeing after defeat in the
Battle of Preston, was captured and held in Nottingham Castle, but he managed to escape and make his way to Europe. In 1651, two years after the execution of Charles I in 1649, the castle was razed to prevent it from being used again.
Construction of the Ducal Mansion After
the restoration of
Charles II in 1660, the present 'Ducal Mansion' was built for
the 1st Duke of Newcastle and completed by his son,
the 2nd Duke of Newcastle, after the 1st Duke's death. This "Italianate" palace was seen as one of the finest in England at the time. The mason for the mansion was Samuel Marsh of Lincoln, who also worked for the duke at
Bolsover Castle. His designs are generally thought to have been strongly influenced by
Rubens's engravings, in his book
Palazzi di Genova. The duke's mansion is a relatively rare surviving example in England of the style of
Artisan Mannerism. However, the mansion lost its appeal to the later dukes with the coming of the
Industrial Revolution, which left
Nottingham with the reputation of having the worst
slums in the
British Empire outside India. When residents of these slums
rioted in 1831, in protest against
the 4th Duke of Newcastle's opposition to the
Reform Bill, they burned down the mansion. The original exterior stairs on the eastern façade of the mansion were subsequently demolished to create a parade ground for the
Robin Hood Rifles. File:Nottingham castle fire henry dawson.jpg|A depiction of the castle on fire in 1831 File:Nottingham Castle (1840).jpg|The castle from
The History and Antiquities of Nottingham by James Orange, 1840
Reconstruction as the Nottingham Castle Museum The mansion remained a derelict shell until it was restored in 1875 by
Thomas Chambers Hine, and opened in 1878 by the
Prince of Wales, (later
King Edward VII) as Nottingham Castle Museum, the first municipal art gallery in the UK outside London. The new interiors ignored the original floor levels and
fenestration to accommodate a top-lit picture gallery modelled after the Grand Gallery of the
Louvre. The gatehouse of the medieval castle and much of the walling of the outer bailey were retained as a garden wall for the Ducal Mansion. However, the northernmost part of the outer bailey was lost when an approach road was constructed in the 1830s for the development of
The Park Estate on the former deer park. In September 1939, the
British Army took possession of the Castle and its grounds, and in 1941, control transferred to the
Air Ministry. Large quantities of stores were kept there for the duration of the
Second World War. It was handed back to the city in 1946. On Christmas Day 1996, a landslip, caused by a leaking water main, led to 80 tonnes of earth and retaining wall from the Restoration terrace next to the mansion falling to the bottom of the Castle Rock. This revealed some remains of the original castle foundations and the bedrock. After a lengthy controversy on the best conservation/restoration approach, the terrace was reinstated with a traditional stone façade. The terrace offers great views to the south of the city, and appeared in
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, a film about the attitudes of youth in a changing industrial society. A drawing of the Ducal Mansion appeared on millions of packets of rolling tobacco and cigarettes made by
John Player & Sons, a Nottingham firm. Most packets had the phrases
Nottingham Castle and
Trade Mark bracketing the image of the non-fortress-like structure. This led the novelist
Ian Fleming to refer to "that extraordinary trademark of a dolls house swimming in chocolate fudge with Nottingham Castle written underneath" in
Thunderball, in the knowledge that his British readers would be familiar with the image.
Renovation between 2018 and 2021 Nottingham Castle and its grounds were closed to the public in 2018 to undergo large-scale redevelopment. The closure was much longer than anticipated due to the
COVID-19 pandemic and cost £30 million. A new visitor centre was created together with exhibition galleries, interactive displays, a children's adventure area in the old castle moat themed on Robin Hood's era and a showcase of local industries including
Nottingham Lace. On 1 June 2021, Nottingham City Council handed over responsibility for running the castle to the independent, charitable Nottingham Castle Trust. The castle reopened on 21 June 2021.
Criticism and insolvency Soon after reopening, in late August 2021, the Castle Trust received negative reviews on
Tripadvisor with criticism of the £13 adult entrance charge being too high; entry to the grounds had previously been without charge or at "a nominal payment" for Nottingham City residents. The charge was criticised by a local ghost tour operator as likely to be counter-productive to the new café's revenue, with local visitors effectively barred from the grounds by the admission price. The trust was also criticised for the way it handled an alleged racist incident in the grounds, and staff published an open letter alleging a "toxic culture" and being "gaslit" around concerns about racism and misogyny. Two trustees stepped down in September 2022 after pressure from external groups over their handling of the racist incident and other governance issues at the castle. On 21 November 2022, the Castle Trust announced that it was in the process of appointing liquidators and that the castle grounds and exhibitions would be closed to visitors until further notice. The site was returned to the council, which announced that they would reopen it as soon as possible. The trust said that the failure was due to the
COVID pandemic in the UK from 2020, the later
financial crisis, and the tripling of energy costs going into the quietest trading period of the year. Additionally, a non-charitable
limited company providing services within the grounds was part of the insolvency, and all of the staff were made redundant by 30 November 2022. Nottingham City Council's executive board announced on 21 March 2023 that Nottingham Castle would reopen in late June 2023, with events taking place before the full reopening. The castle and grounds, including the Brewhouse Yard, re-opened to visitors on 26 June 2023. It is to be run as part of the city council's museum operations. ==Nottingham Castle Museum==