House of Many Names: Tracing the Evolution of Paton House
November 17, 2025
Paton House, a late-Victorian brick building featuring a large canopy over the opening, a conservatory adjoining the library and a Baroque interior, was designed in 1881 by Robert Evans and William Jolley, both of whom were Nottingham-based architects who had been trained by Thomas Chambers Hine. The property, which went on to be built in …
Charlotte Sutton’s Scrapbook
October 16, 2025
Meet Charlotte Sutton, nineteenth-century nature enthusiast, though the intricate pages of her scrapbook… Although scrapbooking has its origins in the commonplace books of the fifteenth century, in the nineteenth century, several factors combined to bring about an explosion in the popularity of this delightfully eclectic hobby. The Industrial Revolution led to the widespread availability of …
Back to School with Dinah Holt
September 22, 2025
Following on from our previous blog, which explored the arduous process of midwifery training in the mid-20th century through the letters of Dinah Holt, nurse and midwife extraordinaire, as she undertook her examinations in 1948 and 1949, today we’re stepping even further back in time to Dinah’s first term of nursing training in 1944… In …
Botanists and Businessmen: meet the residents of Highfield House
August 21, 2025
Although it is today part of the university campus, when Highfield House was built at the end of the 18th century it would have been surrounded by pasture, and home to little more than a herd of cattle. Although the area would soon become well known as the site of luxurious homes for the wealthy businessmen …
Results Day Special: Midwifery Exams in the 1940s
August 14, 2025
Dinah Holt trained and then worked as a nurse and midwife between 1944 and 1986, working at various hospitals in the East Midlands and as far afield as Switzerland. A lot has changed about nursing education since she undertook her training – the NHS would not come into existence until part way through her training, …
Croquet Lawns and Coach Houses: Echoes of Lenton Mount
August 7, 2025
Today known as The Hemsley, the building originally called Lenton Mount is named for its original owner: William Sidney Hemsley. Hemsley was a prosperous lace manufacturer in Nottingham who purchased the plot of land on which his house was built from the Lenton Hall estate in 1904. The property was designed by Nottingham architect William …
Beyond the Sunken Garden: The Many Lives of Lenton Hurst
July 22, 2025
Lenton Hurst is best known for its peaceful formal gardens, but there’s much more to this late Victorian delight: in its long life it has been a home, a college, a student hall of residence and an office, and many of its original features still survive… The land where Lenton Hurst stands today was purchased …
Hugh Stewart Hall: from Marlepitt to Manor House
July 15, 2025
Today, Hugh Stewart Hall is concealed in a wooded hollow, accessible by a winding path leading through an iron pergola covered in climbing plants and past the old tennis courts to the garden, where the story of this remarkable property began. The east side of the garden was once a ‘marlepitt’, according to 16th century …
Outreach Diary
June 26, 2025
Here at MSC, our outreach calendar is always bursting with a wide range of events, visits and classes– here’s just a snapshot of a few highlights from the year so far… First up, we were proud to co-host the module ‘Exploring the German Archive’ alongside the School of Modern Languages and Cultures! Across 10 sessions, …
Nottingham old and new
February 21, 2025
Charles Deering’s ‘Nottinghamia vetus et nova’, which translates from the Latin to ‘Nottingham old and new’, is widely considered to be one of the earliest histories of the town. First published in 1751, the book is a key source for the early study of Nottingham’s caves. Deering was born in Germany and spent his adult …
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