NOTTINGHAM 599 in all probability was occupied by the Romans. At Oxton there is a tumulus where coins with ashes have been discovered. Few or no events of historical importance took place within Nottingham shire during the early centuries of the present era with the excep tion of the defeat of Alfred the Great at Nottingham Castle in 868. During the 10th century it was frequently invaded by the Danes, whose predominance in it is sufficiently attested by the retention of such suffixes in the proper names as "beck," "holme," "thwaitc," " thorpe, " and "by." At the Conquest 174 manors in Nottingham were given to Roger de Buseli, and 55 to William de Peverel, who received the title of earl of Nottingham, and had an honour court, which still exists, for the recovery of debts and damages. The county was the frequent scene of contests during the reigns of the early Norman sovereigns, and it occupied a conspicuous position during the parliamentary wars, the castles of Newark and Nottingham being more than once besieged and taken by each of the parties. Legend speaks of the county as the chief scene of the adventures of the fa mous outlaw Robin Hood, and at the verge of Sher wood Forest there exists a curious amphitheatre called Robin Hood s Hill. At the dissolution of the monasteries there were no fewer than forty religious houses in Nottingham shire, eight of them in the neighbourhood of the town of Nottingham, including a cell, three hospitals, a house dedicated to St Se pulchre, and monasteries of Grey Friars and White Friars. There were hos pitals at Bawtry, Blyth, Bradebusk near Gonal- stone, Newark, Southwell, and Stoke ; colleges at Bingham, Clifton, Rud- dington, Sibthorpe, South well, and Tuxford ; a Benedictine priory at Blyth, and a nunnery of the same order at Wall- ingwells ; Premonstraten- sian abbeys at Broadholme and Welbeck ; a Carthu sian priory at Beauvale; Austin abbeys at Newstead and Radford, and Austin priories at Felley, Newark, Shelford, and Thurgarton ; a Cluniac monastery at Lenton, a Gilbertine priory at Mattersey, and a Cis- turcian abbey at Rufford. The only important monastic remains are those at Newstead, but the building has been partly transformed into a mansion-house, which was formerly the residence of Lord Byron. There are also traces of monastic ruins at Beauvale, Mattersey, Radford, and Thur garton. The finest parish church in the county is that of Newark. The churches of St Mary, Nottingham, and of Southwell were collegiate churches ; the latter contains examples of Norman and the former of Early English. Balderton, Bawtry, Hoveringham, Mansfield, and Worksop are also partly Norman, and Coddington, Hawton, and Upton St Feter near Southwell Early English. Of the old castles, Nottingham and Newark are the only ones of which there are remains, but there are several interesting old mansions, such as Kingshaugh, Scrooby, Shelford, and Southwell. counties of Lincoln, Leicester, Stafford, and Derby To wards the north the town is sheltered by a chain of hills but fine and varied views are commanded towards the south. In the neighbourhood there are many picturesque walks, and the corporation has laid out and ornamented a picturesque arboretum. Though the older streets are narrow and irregular, the rapid increase of the town has almost completely altered its character in this respect, most of the new streets being spacious, and some of them con taining fine ranges of buildings. A new bridge across the Trent was opened in 1871. Nottingham possesses one of the largest market-places in England, its total area being about 51 acres. Shortly after the Conquest a wall was built across the market, dividing it into two parts the (1881). NOTTINGHAM, a municipal and parliamentary borough of England, a county in itself and the chief town of Nottinghamshire, is finely situated on an acclivity of a rock rising above the Trent and on several railway lines, 128 miles north-north-west of London and 15 east of Derby. It is connected both with the Midland and"Great Northern railway systems, while by means of the Trent, the Gran- tham Canal, and the Nottingham, Cromford, and Erewash Canal it has convenient water -communication with the Plan of Nottingham. Norman and the Saxon. There are three old parish churches St Mary s Church, a fine cruciform structure, lately restored, now entirely in the Perpendicular style, and possessing a fine tower rising from the centre in two stages, crowned with battlements and pinnacles ; St Peter s, which was nearly all rebuilt in the Perpendicular style in the 15th century, and has been enlarged at different times ; St Nicholas, a plain building in red brick with stone facings, erected in 1676. There are numerous fine modern churches, but special mention may be made of the Roman Catholic cathedral of St Barnabas, in the Early English style, by Pugin, erected in 1842-44. Among the secular buildings are the exchange hall which is now used as the town-council chamber; the town or guild hall (rebuilt 1741), a plain stuccoed building; the municipal offices (formerly the post-office, 1848), in the classic style, with a Doric portico ; the corn exchange ; the county hall ; the new post-office, erected in 1868 in the Italian style; the people s hall (1854) ; the Albert Hall, for concerts (1876), a Gothic building with a tower; and the masonic hall (1880). For the Midland Counties Art Museum a lease has been obtained by the corporation of the castle build ings for 500 years, and the exhibition was opened by the prince of Wales in 1878. The town also possesses a free
