(abbreviated '''Notts''') is an
English County in the
East Midlands , which borders
South Yorkshire ,
North Lincolnshire ,
Lincolnshire ,
Leicestershire and
Derbyshire . The
County Town is traditionally
Nottingham , at , though the council is now based in
West Bridgford (at a site facing Nottingham over the
River Trent ).
The districts of Nottinghamshire are
Ashfield ,
Bassetlaw ,
Broxtowe ,
Gedling ,
Mansfield ,
Newark And Sherwood , and
Rushcliffe . The
City Of Nottingham was administratively part of Nottinghamshire between
1974 and
1998 but is now a
Unitary Authority although it remains part of the historic and ceremonial county.
As of 2006 the county is estimated to have a population of just over one million. Over half of the population of the county live in the conurbation of
Greater Nottingham which also spreads into
Derbyshire . The conurbation has a population of about 650,000, though fewer than half live within the city boundaries.
See Also: History of Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire lies on the
Roman Fosse Way , and there are Roman settlements in the county, for example at
Mansfield . The county was settled by
Angles around the
5th Century , and became part of the Kingdom, and later Earldom, of
Mercia . However, there is evidence of
Saxon settlement at
Oxton , near Nottingham, and
Tuxford , east of
Sherwood Forest . The name first occurs in
1016 , but until
1568 the county was administratively united with Derbyshire, under a single
Sheriff . In
Norman times the county developed
Malting and
Woollen industries. During the
Industrial Revolution canals and railways came to the county, and the
Lace and
Cotton industries grew. In the
19th Century Collieries opened and mining became an important economic sector, though these declined after the
1984-5 Miners' Strike .
Until
1610 , Nottinghamshire was divided into eight
Wapentakes . Sometime between 1610 and
1719 they were reduced to six —
Newark ,
Bassetlaw ,
Thurgarton ,
Rushcliffe ,
Broxtowe and
Bingham , some of these names still being used for the modern districts. Oswaldbeck was absorbed in Bassetlaw, of which it forms the North Clay division, and Lythe in Thurgarton.
Nottinghamshire is famous for its involvement with the legend of
Robin Hood . This is also the reason for the amount of tourists who visit places like
Sherwood Forest , City of
Nottingham and the surrounding villages in Sherwood Forest.
Nottinghamshire was mapped first by
Christopher Saxton in 1576, the first fully surveyed map of the county was by John Chapman who produced Chapman's Map of Nottinghamshire in 1774. Chapman's Map of Nottinghamshire 1774. Nottinghamshire County Council ISBN 0-902751-46-8. The map was the earliest printed map at a sufficiently useful scale (1 statute mile to one inch) to provide basic information on village layout and the existence of landscape features such as roads, milestones, tollbars, parkland and mills.
Nottinghamshire, like
Plain . The centre and south west of the county, around Sherwood Forest, features undulating hills with ancient
Oak woodland. Principal rivers are the
Trent ,
Idle ,
Erewash and
Soar . The Trent, fed by the Soar and Erewash, and Idle, composed of many streams from Sherwood Forest, run through wide and flat valleys, merging at
Misterton . The highest point of the county is Newtonwood Lane,
Newton () at 204m/669ft.
Nottinghamshire is sheltered by the (48-50 degrees
Fahrenheit )Met Office, 2000.
Annual average temperature for the United Kingdom .. The county receives between 1321 and 1470 hours of sunshine per yearMet Office, 2000.
Annual average sunshine for the United Kingdom ..
Nottinghamshire is represented by
Members Of Parliament , of which nine are members of the
Labour Party , and two are
Conservatives .
Geoff Hoon , representative for
Ashfield , is a front-bench member of the government.
Kenneth Clarke of
Rushcliffe is a former Conservative
Chancellor Of The Exchequer .
The County Council is Labour controlled. There are 67 councillors, of which 36 are Labour, 26 are Conservatives and five are
Liberal Democrats Nottinghamshire County Council, 2005.
Since the council was last elected in 2003 there have been two By-Elections in Hucknall (Conservative Win) and Sutton North (Liberal Democrat gain from Labour)
Election Results ..
In 1998 Nottinghamshire had a and
West Burton .
High Marnham is now closed. South of Nottingham, again near the Trent, is the
Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station and near Newark there are plans for a
Gas-turbine Power Station at
Staythorpe , next to the Trent, on the site of the former Staythorpe A & B
Coal-fired Power Station s.
The county has comprehensive secondary education. Results at
GCSE of the percentage who get 5 grades A-C, including Maths and English, varies considerably across the district councils. Rushcliffe, the most wealthy council district in the East Midlands, gets the highest GCSE results in the East Midlands. The highest achieving school at GCSE is the Minster School in Southwell with 72% - the average for England is 45.8%. The lowest achieving is the Queen Elizabeth's Endowed School in Mansfield with 12%. At A level, the highest achieving school is the
West Bridgford School , followed by the
Minster School then the
Carlton-le-Willows School in
Gedling .
- 1. Rushcliffe 58.8
- 2. Gedling 45.2
- 3. Broxtowe 42.9
- 4. Newark and Sherwood 40.7
- 5. Ashfield 34.4
- 6. Bassetlaw 32.6
- 7. Mansfield 30.1
- (City of Nottingham Unitary Authority 28.5)
.]]
Nottinghamshire contains the ancestral home of the
Poet Lord Byron , Newstead Abbey, which he sold in 1818. It is now owned by Nottingham City Council and open to the public. The author
D. H. Lawrence was from Eastwood in Nottinghamshire. The North of the County is also noteworthy because of its connections with the Pilgrim Fathers. William Brewster, for example, came from the village of Scrooby and was influenced by Richard Clyfton who preached at Babworth church.
Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club is a
First Class Cricket club who play at
Trent Bridge in West Bridgford. They won the
County Championship in
2005 .
Nottingham Forest is a
League One football club and
Notts County and
Mansfield Town are in
League Two . Other notable teams are
Nottingham Rugby Football Club and
Nottingham Panthers Ice Hockey Club .
The traditional county town, and the largest settlement in the historic and ceremonial county boundaries, is
Nottingham . The City is now administratively independent, but suburbs including
Arnold ,
Carlton ,
West Bridgford ,
Beeston and
Stapleford are still within the administrative county and West Bridgford is now home of the county council.
There are several
Market Town s in the county.
Newark-on-Trent is a bridging point of the
Fosse Way and
River Trent , but is actually an
Anglo-Saxon market town with a now ruined
Castle .
Mansfield sits on the site of a
Roman settlement, but grew after the
Norman Conquest .
Worksop , in the north of the county, is also an Anglo-Saxon market town which grew rapidly in the
Industrial Revolution with the arrival of
Canal s and
Railway s and the discovery of
Coal . Newark, Mansfield and Worksop have suffered from the decline of mining since the
1984-5 Miners' Strike . Other market towns include
Arnold ,
Bingham ,
Hucknall ,
Kirkby-in-Ashfield , and
Retford .
The main railway in the county is the
Midland Main Line which links
London St Pancras Station to
Sheffield via Nottingham. The
Robin Hood Line between Nottingham and Worksop serves several villages in the county. The East Coast Main Line from London King's Cross to Doncaster, Leeds, York, Hull Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Scotland serves the eastern Nottinghamshire towns of Newark and Retford. The
M1 Motorway runs north-south through the county, connecting Nottingham to London,
Leeds and many other towns and major roads.
The
A1 Road follows for the most part the path of the Great North Road, although in places it diverges from the historic route where towns have been bypassed. While the road still runs through Newark-on-Trent, Retford was by-passed in 1961 and the A1 now runs between Retford and Worksop past the village of
Ranby . Many historic
Coaching Inn s can still be seen along the traditional route.
The
East Midlands Airport is just outside the county in
Leicestershire , while the
Robin Hood Airport lies within the historic boundaries of Nottinghamshire but is also just inside
South Yorkshire . These airports serve the county and several of its neighbours. Together the airports have services to most major
Europe an destinations, and the East Midlands Airport now also has services to
North America and
Caribbean countries. As well as local
Bus services throughout the county, Nottingham and its suburbs have a
Tram system,
Nottingham Express Transit .
