The Twin Boroughs - the Town of Nottingham
In mediaeval times Nottingham consisted of two boroughs. There was the original Anglo Saxon borough, centred in that area that later became known as the Lace Market, and the French borough, found around the castle after the Norman Conquest of 1066.
The Nottingham area had been settled from ancient times. The Anglo-Saxons and Danes had created a town long before the Norman Conquest in 1066. The English borough was established on St Mary's Hill, a sandstone bluff and good defensive site.
The English borough was in the area broadly equivalent to the modern Lace Market. It included its parish church at St Mary's and a market at Weekday Cross. The Domesday Book of 1086 records the existence of 297 settlements and a population of 192, comprising 173 burgesses or townspeople and 19 villeins or tenants.
When the Normans arrived they settled in the area leading up to Castle Rock, to the west of the English Borough. Two separate parishes - St Nicholas' and St Peter's - were established in this new borough, to provide for the religious needs of its growing population.
The French borough stimulated the development of trade. The large open space between the two boroughs developed into the Saturday Market. This area is now known as the Old Market Square.
A defensive ditch surrounded both boroughs. A town wall would have been in place from the thirteenth century. Several 'bars' crossed the ditch, as at Chapel Bar, and there may also have been a number of gates.
Inside the town
There were numerous gardens and orchards in the mediaeval boroughs. Vegetables, herbs and fruit trees would have grown in these open spaces and there were also granges, barns and even a vineyard. By the sixteenth century Nottingham had become known as the 'garden town'.
Most towns in mediaeval Nottingham would have been dependent on wells for water. Water was probably drawn from the River Leen at Broad Marsh on the south side of the town, but pollution in the river caused by tanners was a major problem.
Many of today's streets would have existed in mediaeval times. Many are called 'gates', the Danish word for a street, reflecting their pre-Norman establishment. Some had surfaces, including Low, Middle and High Pavement, so-called because they were paved. Fisher Gate had a metalled road in the twelfth century.
Most of the buildings would have been timber-framed; stone was uncommon. There would also have been larger halls. Some properties would have been considerable in size with a hall, chambers, chapel, privy and outbuildings including stables, barns and granaries. Some buildings had cellars and many of these may have used part of the extensive cave network in the sandstone beneath the town.
Outside the walls
There was little development outside the town walls through the Middle Ages. 'Open' or common fields lay around the town. People would have held and worked the land here, and grown crops. To the south were the meadows, for pasturing animals and some cultivation: this area is now known as the Meadows district of modern Nottingham. There was some woodland at the Coppice nearby. Many of the areas north of the town would have been part of the 'forest', parts of which were controlled by the King. Little forest remained by the end of the mediaeval period. 'The Forest', a modern public park where Goose Fair is now held, was largely scrub and gorse.
The castle
Nottingham Castle was established by the Normans when they established their borough to the west of the existing English town. The sandstone crag on which it stood was a natural site for a defensive structure and it dominated the new twin boroughs. The castle was founded by William Peverel in the early twelfth century. The first wooden structure was later replaced by stone, and the castle was of great architectural and military significance. However, it appears that the castle had relatively little impact on the ordinary life of the townspeople. Occasionally the town's population increased during royal visits or when there was a major campaign of building work taking place, and the castle was seen as harbouring criminals in its garrison at one time which meant that they escaped punishment for their wrongdoing in the town. But the number of permanent residents was small and after 1155 there was no lord regularly residing.
The French borough had been designed as a separate town to the English borough, focused on its magnificent new castle and a new market place just outside the castle walls. But Nottingham did not develop in this way. The two boroughs gradually united and developed as a single whole with their market place in the huge open space between them rather than near the castle, whilst the castle existed separately to them, a splendid backdrop but rarely involved directly with the development of the town.
The castle was largely dismantled by the Parliamentarians during the Civil War to prevent its further use for military purposes and in the 1670s all mediaeval ruins were removed and a grand house was built by the Duke of Newcastle.
Sherwood Forest
In mediaeval times Sherwood Forest extended from Nottingham in the south up to Mansfield. The forest was administered by courts known as eyres, that operated strict laws, especially over hunting. Two hunting parks were created at Clipstone and Bestwood. Any outlaws, such as Robin Hood, would expect harsh treatment if they were caught hunting in Sherwood Forest. However, an increasing number of licences were issued to institutions and ecclesiastical estates for the felling of timber. In 1304 a licence was issued to Rufford Abbey for the felling of 40 acres of land for timber. By the 1500s much of the original woodland had been cleared and many enclosures or 'assarts' (areas for cultivation) had been made into the forest.
At Nottinghamshire Archives
John Speed's map of Nottingham, 1610, pictured above: (reference: N3S). See this map in more detail here [PDF 370KB] 
Grant of Edward VI, 1551: (reference: CA 4176). This grant features a depiction of Nottingham Castle in 1551, pictured above right. It may not be historically accurate! See this picture in more detail here [PDF 928KB] For an architectural and archaeological history of the castle, see Christopher Drage, 'Nottingham Castle: a place full royal' in Transactions of the Thoroton Society, Vol. 93 (1989), pp 13-151
View of Nottingham from the south west (reference: X/PR/12/6). This view, pictured top, shows Nottingham in 1836 and gives an idea of how it may have looked 500 years earlier. See this picture in more detail here [PDF 938KB]
