Did you know Lincoln has a medieval bridge with shops and houses built right on top of it? This is High Bridge, dating back to the 1100s, with the famous Glory Hole arch underneath. Its narrow opening has restricted boats and the flow of water for centuries. Have you ever been through the

Did you know this Georgian building on Castle Gate was once the Nottingham townhouse of the Howe family? Admiral Richard Howe went on to command the British fleet to victory over the French in the Glorious First of June in 1794. Later rebuilt by silk merchant William Stanford, the Grade II* list

Did you know a Mansfield miner spent his evenings as one of Britain’s official executioners? Syd Dernley worked at Mansfield Colliery by day, but between 1949 and 1954 he assisted Albert Pierrepoint in over 20 executions. He even kept a set of gallows in the cellar of his home! Fascinating

Did you know Chilwell was the site of the worst single accidental explosion on the UK Home Front during the First World War? On 1st July 1918, eight tons of TNT exploded at the National Shell Filling Factory. 134 workers were killed and 250 injured. The cause was never established. Have you h

Did you know one of the men who signed King Charles I’s death warrant grew up in Attenborough, Nottinghamshire? Henry Ireton rose to become Oliver Cromwell’s trusted lieutenant, but even death couldn’t save him from royal revenge. His body was later exhumed, taken to Tyburn and hanged! Have

Did you know that Britain’s first constant-pressure water supply began right here in Nottingham? Thomas Hawksley, born in Arnold in 1807, pioneered a system that provided clean water on tap 24 hours a day – despite other engineers saying it couldn’t be done! Have you heard of Thomas Hawksley

Did you know that the King of England once granted his mistress a piece of Nottinghamshire? 👀👑 I’m at Bestwood Lodge, a place with centuries of royal history behind it! Bestwood had been used as a royal hunting park for hundreds of years when, in 1681, King Charles II leased Bestwood Lodge to

Did you know Lord Byron’s vault beneath St Mary Magdalene Church in Hucknall was opened in 1938? 👀 For more than a century, rumours had circulated that Byron’s body had been stolen — or that he’d never been placed in the family vault at all. So Canon Barber decided to find out the truth… W

It’s hard to believe this used to be part of a Nottingham maternity hospital! Thousands of babies were born here at what locals simply knew as Peel Street. But have you ever wondered why the pub just down the road is called The Gooseberry Bush? 👀 Well… there’s a brilliant reason behind th

Did you know Batman and a small Nottinghamshire village are connected? 👀 It all starts with the legendary Wise Men of Gotham, who supposedly pretended to be mad to stop King John’s royal road coming through their village. Centuries later, the name Gotham travelled across the Atlantic, became

The Arboretum in Nottingham.... What’s one memory you have of this place? 👀

Did you know the man behind the famous Dambusters March grew up right here in Hucknall? 👀🎶 Eric Coates was born in Hucknall in 1886 and grew up on Beardall Street before going on to become one of Britain’s best-known composers of light music. His music has been heard everywhere from Desert Is

Sheffield legends, right beneath your feet! 👀⭐️ Outside Sheffield Town Hall, you’ll find Sheffield’s very own Walk of Fame, celebrating some of the incredible people connected to the city. From Gordon Banks and Sean Bean to Jessica Ennis-Hill, Michael Palin, Joe Cocker and Def Leppard… there

Did you know there’s a close in Wollaton named after a Nottingham man who made swimming history? 🏊🏼‍♂️ Tom Blower, known as “Torpedo Tom”, was born in Hyson Green in 1914 and went on to become one of the greatest long-distance swimmers of his era. In 1947, he became the first person ever to s

Did you know about the terrible events that took place in Colwick Woods back in 1844? William Saville took his wife Ann and their three children into the woods, telling them they were simply going for a walk. He took their lives and then tried to make it look as though Ann had done it. Sav

Believe it or not, this pub sits within a graveyard… 😲 The Chantry Inn in Handsworth, Sheffield, is one of only a handful of pubs in the country located within the consecrated grounds of a parish church. Originally built as the home of a chantry priest, whose job was to pray for the souls of

Have you ever seen a monument in Nottinghamshire more impressive than most human graves - built for a dog? At Newstead Abbey, the most elaborately built memorial in the grounds was commissioned not for a nobleman, but for a Newfoundland dog named Boatswain. He belonged to the poet Lord Byron and

Believe it or not, Derby is home to Britain’s very first public park! 🌳 Opened on 16 September 1840, Derby Arboretum was the country’s first municipal public park, thanks to the generosity of local industrialist Joseph Strutt, who donated 11 acres of land for everyone to enjoy. Designed by re

The blue plaque on this Nottinghamshire pub wall in Lowdham marks a connection to one of the most famous maritime disasters in history. Harold Cottam was a Nottinghamshire man who, on the night of 14-15 April 1912, was working as the wireless operator aboard RMS Carpathia. He was about to turn i

Most people think Charles Darwin came up with the phrase “survival of the fittest”… but that’s not actually true. The phrase was first coined by Herbert Spencer, a philosopher born on Exeter Street in Derby in 1820. After Darwin published On the Origin of Species, Spencer used the phrase in h