Forest Town: the town in the countryside
September 2, 2025
The coal mining boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries had a lasting impact on the countryside. In 1920 over a million people were employed in coal mines across the United Kingdom, and many of them lived in purpose-built colliery villages like Forest Town. Housing in colliery villages Like many other aristocratic families, …
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 …
Discovering the digital
July 29, 2025
Exploring ways to enhance access to our collections At Manuscripts and Special Collections, we are always striving to increase opportunities for our community to access our collections digitally as well as physically. We also continually seek to make our platforms easier to use to increase discovery of our collections. Late last year we embarked on …
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 …
Thoresby’s Lady Rozelle: the Nottinghamshire landowner who loved the open ocean
July 8, 2025
Lady Rozelle Raynes, born Frederica Rozelle Ridgway Pierrepont, had a long life (1925-2015) of chance, tragedy, adventure and happiness. Her parents were Gervas Evelyn Pierrepont and Marie-Louise Roosevelt Butterfield. They were privileged but not titled. Gervas fought with distinction in the First World War and then became a London County Councillor. Marie-Louise’s father had inherited …
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, …
Maurice William Partridge: Chemist and Accomplished Artist
June 17, 2025
This is a guest blog by Tinashe Chipawe, a Conservation student who completed a placement with Manuscripts and Special Collections in 2025, working on the records of the Maurice William Partridge. When I first encountered the Maurice William Partridge Collection during my conservation placement at the University of Nottingham’s Manuscripts and Special Collections, I was …
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