Nottingham Castle Transformation 

The bid has been submitted! 

The Nottingham Castle Transformation project took a significant step forward this month with the submission of the round two funding bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

If secured, this funding will play a huge part toward establishing the site as a world-class visitor destination, celebrating its unique and nationally-significant 1,000 year history with tales of power, protest and rebellion across the centuries. It forms a critical part of Nottingham City Council’s plans to develop the city centre.

An economic impact assessment has estimated that the project will generate an additional £90m of visitor spend in the local economy over 10 years, will create and sustain over 3,700 additional jobs through visitor spend, and generate a potential total visitor spend of £202m over a 10 year period.

The Castle site has 9.5 million people living in a 90 minute drive time catchment as well as potential for increased international tourists visiting the city due to the improved transport infrastructure.

A funding decision from the HLF is expected in November this year. Work is anticipated to begin on site in 2017.

(Pictured above - The Castle Transformation Project Team)

Councillor Trimble

Councillor Dave Trimble, Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Culture said:
“Congratulations to the project team on completing this massive task. I am confident we have created a series of clear, comprehensive and very exciting plans for a project which can potentially bring the site alive, tell the key stories and legends and capture the imagination of many thousands of visitors in the years to come.”  

William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders

William the Conqueror… Ordered the building of the very first wooden Castle structure in 1067, the year after the Battle of Hastings

Matilda of Flanders… Wife of William the Conqueror and, as such, Queen of England who bore William nine or ten children who survived to adulthood, including two kings, William II and Henry I

Robin Hood, the Sheriff of Nottingham and Friar Tuck

Robin Hood… Nottingham’s heroic outlaw, famous for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor"

Sheriff of Nottingham… Always on hand to try and catch Robin Hood and his band and bring them to justice.

Friar Tuck… Depicted as a jovial friar and one of Robin's Merry Men. Tuck is found in ballads from as far back as the 17th century

Sheriff of Nottingham

Sheriff of Nottingham… (Cllr Jackie Morris) An ambassador for Nottingham’s historic associations and links with the legend of Robin Hood. 

The Hutchinsons and the First Duke of Newcastle

Colonel Hutchinson… A roundhead governor of Nottingham during the English Civil War. In 1649 he applied to parliament to have the castle demolished to prevent it being used again in war.

Lucy Hutchinson… Wrote Memoirs of the Life of Colonel Hutchinson, a biography of her husband.

1st Duke of Newcastle (Left) – William Henry Cavendish…Who built the present Ducal Mansion between 1674 and 1679. It was erected on the foundations of the previous building.

Fourth Duke of Newcastle

4th Duke of Newcastle – Henry Pelham-Clinton – Opposed to electoral reform which led to attacks on his property during the Reform Bill Riots of 1831 and Nottingham Castle being burnt to the ground

William Elliott

William Elliott – first recorded as a stocking trimmer living at Brewhouse Yard in 1732, the inventor of superior black cloth dye. This gave him practically all the dyeing business in Nottingham and Leicester and made him one of the richest men in Nottingham.  

George Henry Wallace and family of today

(Left) George Henry Wallace – 1st Museum Director… In charge on 3 July 1878 when the remodelled Ducal Palace was opened to the public as a Museum of Fine Art.

Present Day family… The Hallam family - Looking forward to Nottingham Castle being transformed into a world-class heritage destination and discovering a thousand years of history