Welcome to the June
Castle Transformation Newsletter

This month, we feature:
- Project update - Media day, French students, Temporary roof
- Visit Notts - Tourism summit
- Caves - Guidance for cave owners
- Jade's Column - Meet the team
- Object of the Month - Cannon ball
- Top Trumps - No. 2: Queen Matilda
- G F Tomlinson - Contractor site update
- Open Air Theatre - Theatre shows at heritage sites

Watch the latest time lapse images for June on our website

June 2019 – Project Update

Welcome to our project news for June 2019 

Roof scaffold changes - The eagle eyed of you may have noticed that the scaffolding structure on the roof of the Ducal Palace has changed somewhat over the last month. This is due to the completion of works on the north side of the roof and the commencement of works on the south, and the subsequent movement of the temporary roof to accommodate this change of location. We have all marvelled at the scale and complexity of this temporary structure, created to weatherproof the exposed areas while works take place.

French student site visit - We were happy to welcome some French students to site earlier this month. A group of construction students from Paris had contacted us asking to use the Castle as a case study during their trip to the UK. As part of our Build It project, we are committed to promoting careers in the construction industry and were therefore happy to help. It was great to see such an enthusiastic group, who were obviously impressed by the scale and detail of the site. We wish them good luck in their studies and their future careers in construction.

Media day - We had a very busy day on 7 June when we invited local media on to site for a progress update. Journalists from East Midlands Today, the Nottingham Post and Notts TV were in attendance and spent some time exploring the site and filming highlights to share with the public. We hope you managed to catch some of the footage. If not, not to worry as we will schedule more Media Days throughout the project in the run up to re-opening.

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Nottinghamshire Visitor Summit

On 10 June, the Visit Nottingham Visitor Economy summit took place at Nottingham Lakeside Arts. It was an opportunity to celebrate 15 years of Visit Nottinghamshire's membership scheme.

A number of inspiring professionals in the tourism industry were invited to speak including our very own Programme Manager - Cal Warren who explained that Nottingham Castle will be the anchor tourist destination for the East Midlands after the transformation and gave an update on how the work is progressing so far.

The talk went very well and we have received some lovely tweets from very excited people and businesses who now can’t wait to see the new Nottingham Castle.

Watch the video wrap-up of the event

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Nottingham’s cave owners no longer in the dark

Regular readers will know about the vast amount of caves under the city with new ones being discovered all the time.

Nottingham City Council has started a consultation on a document about how caves are managed through the planning process. This explains in detail what owners and developers need to do if they are planning change that would affect their caves.

The council has also commissioned a technical guide to help owners and managers of caves in the city understand how best to conserve, develop and use them creatively and appropriately.

The two documents should be published in the autumn/winter to help cave owners understand what they need to do through the planning process as well as how they can use and care for their caves.

Read more about this work on caves

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Jade's Column - Meet the team

This month, Jade interviews Yvonne Armitage: Project volunteer...

What does the Nottingham Castle Project mean to you? - The Nottingham Castle Project is the next chapter in continuing the history of the Castle through time. It’s an amazing opportunity to reinterpret the site and bring to life more stories and characters from its past life.

Although you mainly do research for the project as part of your volunteer work you have also volunteered at many events we have held. What is your favourite volunteering memory with the project? - It’s really hard to choose one favourite memory of volunteering at a project event – there are so many! It will have to be the last days of public access before the site closed. So many people took the chance to visit and I heard so many great stories and memories and saw the real connection that people feel with the site.

When you are in the office on a Thursday doing research you always seem to find fun and unusual facts - could you give us one now? -We just keep finding fun and unusual facts about the history of the site. Last week I found out that when King Henry II stayed at the Castle for a week in August 1175 his bear and keeper accompanied him. Expenses were paid for the keeper, the bear and slightly worryingly for repairs to the bear’s chains! More expenses were claimed a year later for “conducting” bears from Nottingham to Winchester.

What are you most looking forward to seeing when the Castle reopens? - When the Castle reopens I am most looking forward to seeing and hearing the visitors engaging with the site and becoming part of its continuing history. There’s so much to look forward to discovering!

Watch a short interview with Yvonne on our Facebook page

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Object of the month

What is it? - Our object this month is an iron cannon ball found at Mr Leavers’ house beside the Chapel of St Mary de la Roche on what is now Castle Boulevard.

Why is it significant? - The cannon ball dates back to the English Civil War when Nottingham was held by parliamentarian forces & suffered periodic attacks by royalist troops from Newark.

Tell me more - The 12^th century Chapel of St Mary de la Roche, also known as Lenton Hermitage, was a chantry chapel for nearby Lenton Priory which also had control of the Nottingham churches of St Mary, St Peter & St Nicholas. Religious services at the chapel had ceased by 1500 & the site was largely abandoned. Clandestine masses are thought to have taken place there during periods of Catholic persecution giving the site its local nickname “the Papish Holes”.

Our cannon ball is probably a relic of parliamentarian attempts to demolish the chapel because of its catholic associations. It is a powerful reminder of turbulent times in our national & local histories.

In the late 1800s the chapel was leased by a Mr John W Leavers who carried out renovations inside the caves, had the surrounding area landscaped & opened the site up to visitors.

The cannon ball will feature in the new Rebellion Gallery currently being designed by exhibition designers Casson Mann.

Southwell churches website
Lenton Times website

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Contractor update

The Nottingham Castle Redevelopment works are forging ahead with works progressing to the Ducal Palace and the new Visitors Centre.

The roofing works to the north side of the Ducal Palace are now complete as renovations to the south side of the roof begin.

Restoration to the Ducal Palace facade is well underway whilst internal works such as lime plaster work continue also.

The next step for the Palace extension includes preparation for the polished concrete floor, the installation of the new staircase and zinc roof!

The new Visitor Centre is taking shape as the structural frame is completed and the breather membrane and battens are installed. The preparation for the polished concrete floor will also soon be taking place, along with the installation of the oak cladding.

Works to the Castle caves have commenced. This involves improving the access and adding new handrails and lighting; setting the perfect scene for future guided tours of these historic spaces.

Use of authentic products on the site is one of the key features of the development. We have been working with Tarmac Tunstead and Messenger Construction to refurbish three of the 10^th Century arches.

Messenger Construction has been carrying out the work while Tarmac’s Calbux has supplied materials. The quicklime used is as close as possible to the original 10^th century lime with very similar properties and colour and is approved by Historic England as the best match. The use of lime in applications such as this demonstrates that it is not only an essential, but also a versatile material. The lime is sourced from Buxton.

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