Nottingham Contents

The Caves of Nottingham

• The Caves
• The Papist Holes
• Sneinton Hermitage

The Caves

Of the numerous caves, caverns and rock-houses, of which we have given brief notices, showing that many of then were the work of ancient Britons, and afterwards enlarged by the Saxons, since whose time many modern excavations have been made, particularly some very curious ones by various gentlemen in the Park, many of the old ones are either waster by the corroding tooth of time, or hid from public view by the improvement and extension of the town, under which some of them now form deep and capacious cellars. In digging the foundations of the houses on the north and south sides of the Market Place, many very extensive vaults with arches, supported by pillars, were discovered. Deering says, a bricklayer informed him, that whilst digging in he Weekday Cross, he got into a spacious subterranean passage, supported by ornamented pillars, and extending to the upper end of Pilchergate. The most interesting caverns, now accessable, are the Papist or Druids Holes, in the Park, and the Rock-houses at Sneinton Hermitage.

The Papist Holes

as they are vulgarly called, are a curious range of excavations in the perpendicular rock, which rises above the River Leen, at the north-east corner of the Park, a little to the west of the castle. Stukely, who visited them in the early part of the last century, says:

"what is visible at present is not so old as the time of the Britons, yet I see no doubt that it was founded upon theirs. This is a ledge of perpendicular rick, hewn out into a church, houses, chambers, dove-houses &c, &c. The church is like those in the rocks at Bethlem, and other places in the Holy Land. The altar is natural rock, and there have been paintings upon the wall; a steeple, where I suppose a bell hung, and regular pillars. The river here, winding about, makes a fortification of it, for it comes to both ends of the cliff, leaving a plain before the middle. The way to it was by gates cut out of the rock, and with an oblique entrance for more safety. Without is a plain, with three niches which, I fancy, was their place of judicature, or the like; between this and the castle is a hermitage of like workmanship."

Baird, who visited it in 1811, says "some ingenious artist has added a number of paintings, such as elephants, soldiers in full accoutrements. &c., which must be considered modern antiques". Since this, it has suffered considerably from the effects of time. No care is taken to preserve this venerable specimen. Deering says that, in his time, some of the old people remembered them much more extensive, and he adds, "that in the time of the civil war, the roundheads demolished a part of them, under the pretence of their abhorrence to Popery".

Sneinton Hermitage

This stands on the east side of the town, in the parish of Sneinton, and consists of a long range of perpendicular rock overlooking the vale of the Trent. It has, on the line of its craggy front, many grotesque habitations and curious caves, some of which are of great antiquity. Brick buildings have been erected in front of some of the old rock houses, which still serve as kitchens and lumber rooms to the new erections. In many, staircases lead up the rock to the gardens on the top, and on the shelves of the rock, on the rugged front of which the stranger is struck with the romantic appearance. Two of these are public houses, much resorted to in summer; one of them has neat garden-plots and harbours, which render it very pleasant, and is also very curious, from its great extent in the body of the rock, where visitors may choose their own temperature in the hottest weather. About thee o'clock in the morning of May 10th 1829, a lofty rock overhanging the White Swan public house fell with a dreadful crash, and knocked down part of that building, and an adjoining rock house, giving only just sufficient warning to the inhabitants to hurry from their beds, and escape to a place of safety. Several large portions of rock fell during the same year in other parts of the neighbourhood, and on Sunday night, about eleven o'clock, in March 1830, a high perpendicular rock which stood behind the Lancasterian School, Derby Road, fell, and knocked down the roof and side wall of that building. A range of rock houses on the Mansfield Road were destroyed about fourteen years ago by the Corporation, who had intended to erect a neat row of houses on the site; but Samuel Caulton, a blacksmith who had occupied one for many years, with a blacksmith's shop, without paying any rent, claimed his as freehold, and the Corporation could not get him out; his widow occupied the premises until here death, when it came into their possession. Most of the rock houses within the limits of the town have been destroyed, and the sites let by the Corporation on building leases. On the Derby as well as the Mansfield Road, many large excavations have been made by persons getting the sand-stone for the purpose of selling it to the good housewives to sprinkle their floors with, but these have mostly been broken up ana built upon. The caves and scattered rocks near Gallows Hill were levelled in 1811 by the distressed workmen, who were at that time reduced to pauperism.

White's Directory of Nottinghamshire 1853

[Last updated 19 June 1997 - Clive Henly]

© Copyright C.R.G. Henly 1997