260 N O T T I 
having an oblique entrance for greater fafety. Without 
is a plain with three niches, which I fancy their place of 
judicature, or the like; between this and the caftle is a 
hermitage of like workmanfliip.” To this defcription it 
is fcarcely poflible to add any thing that will convey a 
more correft idea of the place, even as it remains at the 
prefent day, except that the outer parts have fallen down 
at feveral points, evidently from the eft’eft of damp and 
fro ft ; but the church and altar, and fome few veftiges of 
ancient paintings, may be clearly traced. Many of the 
pillars are ornamented with capitals, &c. and the fpan- 
drilled pointed arch is very well imitated in various 
places; a fa< 5 t which militates molt forcibly againft their 
very early antiquity. It is much to be regretted that 
r.o care is taken to preferve this venerable and curious 
fpecimen; the floor of it is broken into holes, where the 
water lodges, and much of it is disfigured with the 
grofi’eft filthinefs. In fummer, thefe caves are the haunts 
of the very loweft of fociety, who there take up their 
noffurnal abode. 
So lately as the 28th of April, 1818, a new difcovery 
was made of a fmall cave, or grotto, in the park. Some 
boys, amufing themfelves with digging in the rock, at 
the back of Standard-hill, made a fmall opening therein, 
which, increafing fo as to admit one of them creeping 
down, they found within to be of confiderable fize ; ac¬ 
cordingly,the hole was enlarged, which was readilydone, 
it having been the original entrance into a room or cave, 
hewrn in tbefolid rock, fimilar to the cellars and excava¬ 
tions fo numerous in and about the town. Its dimenfions 
are about 8 feet by 9, with a rock-bench or fettle run¬ 
ning round the roof, fupported by a neatly-wTought co¬ 
lumn of the fame material, on which and the fides are 
feveral rude drawings, dates, initials, crofies, croflets 
fitched, and other devices, the dates 1570, 1637, 1639, 
1640, raoft of them apparently made with the points of 
foldiers’ weapons, the place having evidently been ufed 
as a guard-room for the troops occupying the out-works 
of the caftle till the unfortunate Charles erefied his ftand- 
ard on the adjoining hill, now the extra-parochial ham¬ 
let of Standard Hill. On the caftle here being taken pof- 
feflion of and garrifoned by the parliamentary forces, a 
lofty crofs-u'ork was thrown up for the defence of the 
great femi-oftagon tower, called King Richard’s Tower, 
under which work this cavern was completely buried : the 
mouth or entrance having been partly clofed-up with 
large wrought ftones, evidently rolled down from fome 
demolifhed or ruinous building of the fortrefs. Thus it 
might have remained, but that the perfons renting the 
gardens of the duke of Newcaftle, which occupy the ap¬ 
proximate fite of the old fifh-pond, having leave to fetch 
land hence to make their roads and garden-paths, have 
nearly removed this mafs. The only things found in 
the excavation, worthy of remark, are parts of a large 
flight-made brafs buckle, like a fhoe-buckle, three fmall 
copper-coins, one only of which is legible, and a fmall 
iron fword with a guard. 
Several mechanics, urged doubtlefs by the hope of 
finding hidden treasures, fet about clearing away the 
fand, &c. with which it was partly filled, and which 
choaked up'the entrance, from whence the ftones before- 
mentioned, fome of which have neat mouldings, have 
been removed. A rude oaken image, about five feet in 
length, was dug out of the fand on one fide the entrance, 
but fo rotten as not to be moved entire, or any thing 
traced thereon but an attempt at the human figure. 
Now it is cleared out, the room appears to be about eight 
feet high, with a very level rock-floor. Originally per¬ 
haps this was a hermitage, or anchoret’s cell, indicated 
by the croffes, and a fmall neat cavity in the fide, not un¬ 
like the pifcina, in which thecoinsand buckle werefound. 
Add to this, that the clearing away the fand from the 
infide has difcovered a neatly-cut trough or hollow in 
one of the rock-benches, a kind of farcophagus calcu¬ 
lated to contain a human body, probably one of two 
s T G II A M." 
hermits inhabiting the cell; in this trough were found 3 
jaw'-bone, with feveral very perfeft teeth, and a thigh¬ 
bone. 
Standard Hill was, till 1807, occupied as gardens, under 
the duke of Newcaftle, when his grace difpofed of it by 
audlion, binding the purchafers not to erect houfes oflefs 
than 40I. a-year rent, nor any manufactories. On this 
elevated and delightful fpot (which is now entirely built 
upon) are many very elegant refidences, and a handfome 
church, or chapel-of-eale, dedicated to St. James. It is 
interfered by four ftreets, viz. King-ftreet, Charles-ftreet, 
Standard-ftreet, and Hill-ftreet. The observatories here 
(of which there are very handfome ones conftrudted upon 
feveral of the houfes) command the molt charming and 
extenlive profpedts to be found in any inland county in 
England. 
At the upper end of the caftle-park, adjoining to the 
Derby road, is an extenfive range of barracks, erefted by 
government in 1792-3. The buildings are of brick, and 
command a view over the whole town. 
Befides the caverns above-mentioned, many other 
caves are fituated in the neighbourhood of Nottingham, 
and fome of them even within the boundaries of the toivn. 
Of thefe, the mofc remarkable duller is at the village of 
Sneinton, which is fuppofed by feveral authors, and not 
without confiderable (how of probability, to have been 
the fcite of ancient Nottingham, previous to the Nor¬ 
man conqueft. It is now, however, a diftinft lordlhip 
and parilh ofitfelf; and the ancient chapel, dedicated to 
St. Stephen, Hands upon the furnmit of the excavated 
rock, but has nothing particular to recommend it to 
notice, except the very beautiful and extenfive profpeCt 
which it commands over the vale of Bel voir. The vil¬ 
lage here is truly romantic, as many of the habitations 
are built within the rock, and have ftaircafes that lead 
up to gardens on the top. To a Arranger, it is extremely 
curious to fee the perpendicular face of the rock, with 
doors and windows in tiers, and the inhabitants peeping 
out of their dens, like the inmates of another world. 
No lefs whimfical than uncommon is the appearance 
which fuch an intermixture exhibits; and it adds to a 
Arranger’s admiration, when, on a ftrifter furvey, he dif- 
covers curiofities of a fimilar, though more laborious, 
nature, confifting of vaults and cellars, hewn out of the 
rock, beneath the foundations of almoft every old houfe 
in the town, fome of which are of fo great a depth as to 
require a hundred fteps to conduct the curious explorer 
to the bottom, where, in one inftance at leaft, at the 
Biackmore’s Head inn, he will meet with the additional 
gratification of beholding a pond of water ufually filled 
with tench or carp. 
The following feats and villages are at fhort diftances 
from Nottingham.—Wollaton-hall, the feat of lord Mid¬ 
dleton, three miles diftant. The houfe is pannelledand 
ceiled with looking-glafs, and under it is a water-houfe, 
with a grotefque work of fhells. The hall, at the firft 
entrance into the houfe, is fo high, that a man on horfe- 
back might exercife a pike in it. The building at a difi- 
tance refembles the great tower of a cathedral, being a 
very lofty edifice, with Gothic windows, and in a fituation 
that commands an extenfive prolpe£l. Near it are coal¬ 
mines, and the coals are eafier lighted than perhaps any 
in the kingdom.—YVelbeck-abbey, feat of the duke of 
Portland.—Workfop-manor, duke of Norfolk.—Flawford, 
is a village to the fouth-eaft of Nottingham. Its church 
has a chapel, where was formerly a chantry, which is now 
only a burial-place to Ruddington, there being a large 
chapel in the town, to which the people refort for divine 
fervice, rather than to the church, which, though a 
handfome ftrufture, is much neglecled.—Ruddington is 
about four miles fouth of Nottingham, and half a mile 
weft of Flawford, its mother-church, but which ferves it 
only for a burial-place. Here is the feat of W. F. Raw- 
fon, efq.—Bui wall, four miles from Nottingham, the feat 
of John Newton, efq.—Bunney-park, of lord Rancliffe. 
—Clumber- 
