By the time William the Conqueror’s men arrived in the 11th century, Nottingham was a compact community.
It was a royal borough with its own mint and a population of about 1,000, and the original St Mary’s Church was listed in the Domesday Book.
The Saxon borough was grouped around St Mary’s, while the Norman-French borough centred on Nottingham Castle, with Castle Gate, Hounds Gate and Friar Lane its three main streets.
St Mary’s remained the ancient heart of the town and from here radiated the narrow streets proclaiming their Danish origins – Barker Gate, Fletcher Gate and Warser Gate.
Until the 16th century, the narrow, winding Drury Hill was the main artery from the London road and it was just wide enough to take a carriage. By the time John Lock posed beside his Morris Minor Traveller in 1968, the ancient thoroughfare had already been condemned.
The buildings on the hill were torn down in 1971 and now lie buried beneath Broadmarsh shopping centre.
But the route from Middle Pavement to Broad Marsh remains open. Many old caves, uncovered during the demolition process, have become part of the City of Caves tourist attraction.
Hugging the western side of the castle lies The Park, once the royal hunting grounds.
At the northern tip, on Standard Hill, a few yards from the castle green, King Charles I stood one windy August evening in 1642 and watched his long pennant of war being raised at the start of the English Civil War.
Charles never received the level of support he wanted and needed from Nottingham, which supported the Parliamentarians. He was destined to see Nottingham only once more, in February 1647, trailing back to defeat en route for London and the axeman’s blade.
The Park Steps was once part of an ancient path between Lenton and Nottingham. The steep steps, cut when the Duke of Newcastle began to develop the hilly 145-acre Park Estate in 1829, lead from Park Valley to the Ropewalk.
Garner’s Hill, one of the routes from the old town to Broad Marsh and The Meadows, was the scene of a tragedy in 1844. Twelve people were killed and more than 100 injured when the crowd panicked while trying to leave the area after the execution of William Saville outside Shire Hall. Many people were pushed down the steps of Garner’s Hill, originally known as Brightmore Hill.
Middle Hill was the ancient route to the daily market at Weekday Cross. Old records refer to a man called Bamford, who lived in Middle Hill in 1825 and was one of the last of the town’s residents to keep a sedan chair for hire.
The main road to Derby left the town through Chapel Bar, climbed over the ridge and then skirted the edge of the private deer park of the Willoughby family at Wollaton.
The antiquary William Camden visited in 1598 and later described Nottingham as a “towne seated more pleasant and delicate upon a high hill” and said its “spacious and most faire Market Place” compared with the best.
By the 1690s, the first attempts were made to provide piped water to supply the town’s muddy and congested Medieval streets.
But there were problems pumping water to the higher parts of the town. Traditionally, the town’s water came from private and public wells sunk into the bedrock.
By 1726, the new Exchange building had been erected at the edge of the market place and there were many small orchards around the town.
Aligned with the front door of the enlarged Plumtre House on the opposite side of Stoney Street, an avenue of trees led down the slope towards Bellar Gate, parallel to the Pierrepont House garden. This led the eye up to Sneinton church tower on the far hill.
Road widening began on a limited scale in 1740 and the main London Road, from Trent Bridge to near Loughborough, became a turnpike. Problems posed by the narrowness of the steep and winding Hollow Stone were overcome by cutting back the rock to enable two vehicles to pass.
Once over the Leen Bridge, between Narrow Marsh and Fishergate, travellers heading towards Trent Bridge still had a somewhat perilous journey across planks and a causeway through The Meadows.
When the Trent overflowed its banks, the roadway disappeared. Houses in Narrow Marsh were flooded to a depth of several feet in 1770 and Samuel Marshall, of Broad Marsh, drowned on Christmas Eve 1790 while trying to rescue some sheep.
After a 1795 disaster which flooded the town below Castle Rock and St Mary’s Hill, work began on a new seven-arch bridge and an improved flood road across The Meadows.
Travellers and pack horses heading out of the town westwards faced the steep Derby Road. To improve conditions for his coal wagons, Lord Middleton paid out substantial sums to level the deep hollows at the Sandhills on the Derby Road outside Chapel Bar. Proper footpaths were also laid and lighting introduced.
By 1815, Nottingham still had more than its fair share of narrow streets. Two vehicles could not pass on Milton Street. Pelham Street was only 16ft wide and Wheeler Gate was about a third of its present width.
From 1820 onwards, the squalor of the central core turned the garden town into one of the most congested inner areas in Victorian Britain.
To the south, the Narrow Marsh area below the cliff face, where there had previously been some substantial houses, backed by long gardens running down to the River Leen, was now a network of yards, alleys and courts. By the 1840s, it had turned into an industrial slum with life expectancy in some parts only 18 years.
Nottingham General Hospital was built in 1782 on a beautiful hilltop site chosen because it was “a very healthful place”. The land, originally known as Derry Mount, formed part of the northern bailey of the castle.
The Castle Park (now part of the Park Estate) and open fields lay below the hill to the west and the north and the Trent Valley to the south.
Improvements in the life of the town came in the latter half of the 19th century and early 20th century. Even in those times a tram ran every six minutes on the Nottingham to Mapperley service.
If this feature evokes memories or you have a story about the hills of Nottingham, write to Andy Smart at: Nottingham Post Media Group, City Gate, Tollhouse Hill, Nottingham, NG1 5FS, or email andrew.smart@nottingham post.com.
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