Living in Silk Exhibition, Castle Museum Nottingham.
The oldest inn in England is tucked beneath Nottingham Castle's walls. Rooms are carved from the bedrock - a sprouted seed caught and long ago threw out roots
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1V4hYLYkvHWJxnU5pALFrFyFVXaDdwuBE-zqeUyRhvMxdT5o2q_zEIyi32GHM2sl7brgIIryrP7OBSBPmLrdmCmCMAOeJVcLWXKV76ZuMpP4TTBD107V3Roga-fStzNkQTq62/s400/Old+Inn.jpg)
further along there is a terrace of doors leading underground
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinHeAioCS2FDWJqi2BJfShByUCgFMP-EVXE3sj9mYyXw95pshM2VlhWkhqIvXKgGDLDHZ9tGpXuGxTwJchqsMS37bd-Qa2wuMQu9HpIVHT3c7hK-h7mbZQtavb0DobiI-w6N12/s400/doors+in+wall.jpg)
guarded by a bronze Robin Hood.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixwi_P9UOyw4vLAI1paB4mFiUR5HkN7opvv69Odz1_F_wcXF2DPRDsMqgJ8MZBqQcgYrLWkP5SVDmkkSq-61iMBnoh2b8l_d5q4XuDG22HY_3kOAWrTjoaNRgqfGTlFvGFgAW5/s400/Robin+Hood+1.jpg)
A raised passageway leads to the castle entrance
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj825XmQV6zMYWq8krfn5L_bMxq52Tx4XESQu44aOKiPAilZ8xLITlwFN-5WKwBBdEvQfXOjCqNz-EP5Pzs22Hp7arQYlWOlMBw7cLRAOiazVwZwconwUqgy5dh9n1QtfB22VM7/s400/Castle+Entrance.jpg)
and up towards the keep
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgseNypCJKVKLVO9gybvhc8r4o91FzGn47jw3osiRVzuE0OC674li2sRxUOgyGHWT_btXnKCc02hmi-Q38yG-w2lvbykXkMQlSNr3TrENAdKYStpWlQZVd_QPTrEFI5MGTAa7z/s400/Gargoyle+Entrance.jpg)
and from there look down from where I'd come
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8kXXvWj5VgcQGDBEDuCRxx4nqXGkfLv3QzBLRrOQ3c-kzqKpSXoRu04DZhAfOd_lIE5TL9R0t0VoAvYMfEI8ai-vbDgl6r_dqHg5XbaILqfrW6GeTSK70KYBObLffAFuuLuZW/s400/House+in+graound.jpg)
or look south to the distant hills and the oldest rock in the land
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguotKdTjEPu6dtQ81agjQp5Z-pUWDBQo4psxQvYEB_GEGi4tL3jKCLvgDdY7RFG0wXO5YeBTAZB2BrrrAdMCU5R1LWqQuOseqYZ0aVpoEKpF5MY6Otseool4zoxi0eTGTY9mf8/s400/Charnwood+forest.jpg)
lies under Charnwood - a forest once contiguous with Sherwood where
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghNBfUUkCeX5MVhfVSkr72tkZAJ9VNY57DMxMeCmgM-m2IQJN0ceieMbaxy2P8bi_R2B6uer-dft_PVGCgrm4Xn65L0t96jw4wKVuF7aJZFF7EhDrYoN7pvNK1fZASN_mpGoR0/s400/Robin+Hood+2.jpg)
those outlaws hid.
Then, at last, my goal - the city museum and art gallery
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguTTDqvBrsNWvAus-3ATU-0U572OmgzlTMVjAddJkneEtxqZXoW0wZcjYifJS3b2VM_qho8lPrNzm5kR9mkPS3aplvYgm33NyLA3p8bcEIvgjW8hZHLeBhRZdY6q5AQ4TR5SB3/s400/Museum+Entrance.jpg)
- where, to celebrate the handing over of the Olympics from China to the UK there is a special exhibition of silk from the National Silk Museum of China in Hangzhou.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBXrCI3QJr955jT3zfUvusaGb-msGKMeeqLy9Z70pev0w8y130Ta74skc1pS2R_z5mZ7m4lpYhbR4fy846DtquMOh-sLPKDsgi2RsPXyMcIyoZEZLBIQIhGbQF95WveQFAleZY/s400/Living+in+Silk.jpg)
This was a place I managed to miss despite staying there a week in 2009 (a confusion of city on my part) and I was thinking I might go back, but how much easier to find that the museum has come to me. So I stood and gawped for hours at tiny pieces of cloth 5,000 years old and wondered at the sophistication of a people who wove not just stripes but managed tiny patterns in this fabric made from insect spit. And heard too an interesting talk by Dr Mary M Brooks who is a silk conservator at the University of Southampton.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1V4hYLYkvHWJxnU5pALFrFyFVXaDdwuBE-zqeUyRhvMxdT5o2q_zEIyi32GHM2sl7brgIIryrP7OBSBPmLrdmCmCMAOeJVcLWXKV76ZuMpP4TTBD107V3Roga-fStzNkQTq62/s400/Old+Inn.jpg)
further along there is a terrace of doors leading underground
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinHeAioCS2FDWJqi2BJfShByUCgFMP-EVXE3sj9mYyXw95pshM2VlhWkhqIvXKgGDLDHZ9tGpXuGxTwJchqsMS37bd-Qa2wuMQu9HpIVHT3c7hK-h7mbZQtavb0DobiI-w6N12/s400/doors+in+wall.jpg)
guarded by a bronze Robin Hood.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixwi_P9UOyw4vLAI1paB4mFiUR5HkN7opvv69Odz1_F_wcXF2DPRDsMqgJ8MZBqQcgYrLWkP5SVDmkkSq-61iMBnoh2b8l_d5q4XuDG22HY_3kOAWrTjoaNRgqfGTlFvGFgAW5/s400/Robin+Hood+1.jpg)
A raised passageway leads to the castle entrance
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj825XmQV6zMYWq8krfn5L_bMxq52Tx4XESQu44aOKiPAilZ8xLITlwFN-5WKwBBdEvQfXOjCqNz-EP5Pzs22Hp7arQYlWOlMBw7cLRAOiazVwZwconwUqgy5dh9n1QtfB22VM7/s400/Castle+Entrance.jpg)
and up towards the keep
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgseNypCJKVKLVO9gybvhc8r4o91FzGn47jw3osiRVzuE0OC674li2sRxUOgyGHWT_btXnKCc02hmi-Q38yG-w2lvbykXkMQlSNr3TrENAdKYStpWlQZVd_QPTrEFI5MGTAa7z/s400/Gargoyle+Entrance.jpg)
and from there look down from where I'd come
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8kXXvWj5VgcQGDBEDuCRxx4nqXGkfLv3QzBLRrOQ3c-kzqKpSXoRu04DZhAfOd_lIE5TL9R0t0VoAvYMfEI8ai-vbDgl6r_dqHg5XbaILqfrW6GeTSK70KYBObLffAFuuLuZW/s400/House+in+graound.jpg)
or look south to the distant hills and the oldest rock in the land
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguotKdTjEPu6dtQ81agjQp5Z-pUWDBQo4psxQvYEB_GEGi4tL3jKCLvgDdY7RFG0wXO5YeBTAZB2BrrrAdMCU5R1LWqQuOseqYZ0aVpoEKpF5MY6Otseool4zoxi0eTGTY9mf8/s400/Charnwood+forest.jpg)
lies under Charnwood - a forest once contiguous with Sherwood where
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghNBfUUkCeX5MVhfVSkr72tkZAJ9VNY57DMxMeCmgM-m2IQJN0ceieMbaxy2P8bi_R2B6uer-dft_PVGCgrm4Xn65L0t96jw4wKVuF7aJZFF7EhDrYoN7pvNK1fZASN_mpGoR0/s400/Robin+Hood+2.jpg)
those outlaws hid.
Then, at last, my goal - the city museum and art gallery
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguTTDqvBrsNWvAus-3ATU-0U572OmgzlTMVjAddJkneEtxqZXoW0wZcjYifJS3b2VM_qho8lPrNzm5kR9mkPS3aplvYgm33NyLA3p8bcEIvgjW8hZHLeBhRZdY6q5AQ4TR5SB3/s400/Museum+Entrance.jpg)
- where, to celebrate the handing over of the Olympics from China to the UK there is a special exhibition of silk from the National Silk Museum of China in Hangzhou.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBXrCI3QJr955jT3zfUvusaGb-msGKMeeqLy9Z70pev0w8y130Ta74skc1pS2R_z5mZ7m4lpYhbR4fy846DtquMOh-sLPKDsgi2RsPXyMcIyoZEZLBIQIhGbQF95WveQFAleZY/s400/Living+in+Silk.jpg)
This was a place I managed to miss despite staying there a week in 2009 (a confusion of city on my part) and I was thinking I might go back, but how much easier to find that the museum has come to me. So I stood and gawped for hours at tiny pieces of cloth 5,000 years old and wondered at the sophistication of a people who wove not just stripes but managed tiny patterns in this fabric made from insect spit. And heard too an interesting talk by Dr Mary M Brooks who is a silk conservator at the University of Southampton.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq5q37SPKEFFiDZBLlkGqkT53bRQnY-5v1bLia2UM-BsOmSPa7ZT26uLKIUEIX4-aj7mqIOX4Z0E8btTmvXTYyeFiWnd6qDjzuAUtGGaILXExWZ3wuSYiHayGZQNUKCeyhcODS/s400/Unravelled.jpg)
2 Comments:
I love these pictures of Nottingham, particularly of the inn. So is the inn inside the walls or just outside?
Thank you! The inn is just outside. From what I've read a lot of this sort of thing went on in earlier times - people 'borrowing' walls of castles and churches as one side of their own buildings.
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