Nottingham, United Kingdom Hotels, Vacations, Tourism

Controlling a strategic crossing point over the Trent, the Saxon town of NOTTINGHAM was built on one of a pair of sandstone hills whose 130-foot cliffs looked out over the river valley. In 1068, William the Conqueror built a castle on the other hill, and the Saxon and Norman communities traded on the low ground in between, the Market Square. The castle was a military stronghold and royal palace, the equal of the great castles of Windsor and Dover, and every medieval king of England paid regular visits. After the Civil War, the Parliamentarians slighted the castle and, in the 1670s, the ruins were cleared by the Duke of … more »