Renovating Mortimer’s Hole

One of the few visible remains of the medieval castle at Nottingham is Mortimer’s Hole, the network of passageways through the Castle rock by which on October 19th 1330 the eighteen year old King Edward III and his companions made their way into the innermost part of the fortress and seized effective political power from his mother Queen Isabella and her lover, Roger Mortimer Earl of March.

Queen Isabella

Image: Tea at Trianon. blogspot 

There are far better probable portrait heads of Queen Isabella in Beverley Minster and in the nave at St Albans Abbey. Unfortunately there do not appear to be reproducable images of these available online.

The BBC News website has a report about the completion of restoration work on the network of passages that worm their way through the Castle Rock at Nottingham which can be seen at Tunnel used to capture queen and lover is restored

The Wikipedia account of the history of the castle can be seen at Nottingham Castle

The history of the site is also set out by the current Castle Trust website at Nottingham Castle

These both illuminate the rich history of the castle as both a royal residence and military stronghold. 

There is an online article with plans illustrating the development of the castle and used in connection with the making of a reconstruction model at Nottingham Castle

I visited Mortimer’s Hole on my first visit to Nottingham when I was about ten and it was fascinating to walk through this remarkable network of underground passageways. The caveat about it not being suitable for all visitors reminded me of my mother’s memory of how treading carefully on the smooth rock with a sandy overlay stiffened her joints up for the next day or two.

Nottingham has other such caves and passages cut into the rock on which the old city stands as well as part of the railway approach to the station(s).