September 9, 2013, by offcampus
Getting to Know Nottingham: A Beginner’s Guide
Results are in, and we’d like to offer our congratulations to everyone who has confirmed their place of study as the University of Nottingham. In just a few short weeks you’ll be coming to live in the city, and we thought we’d share some of our favourite Nottingham facts and figures by way of an introduction.
The city of Nottingham has a population of around 305,000 people, though its urban area is home to well over 700,000. Its origins can be traced back as far as 600AD and its name comes from Old English and means ‘homestead or village of Snot’s people’. An older name for Nottingham was ‘Tig Guocobauc’, which means ‘house of caves’ and alludes to the caves which lie beneath the city, and which visitors can explore.
Nottingham has two league football teams – Nottingham Forest and Notts County – as well as being home to Trent Bridge cricket ground and the Nottingham Tennis Centre. There’s also the ice hockey team, the Nottingham Panthers, who have one of the largest fan bases in British ice hockey.
Nottingham is a great place to take in some culture alongside your studies, and you’ll find two excellent professional theatres in the Nottingham Playhouse and the Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall. There’s art galleries (including the Lakeside Gallery on campus), museums (one of our favourites is the Galleries of Justice) and some great independent cinemas. There’s a buzzing live music scene, with plenty to suit every taste and venues of all shapes and sizes.
Plenty of people you may have heard of have Nottingham connections – here are just a few of them:
DH Lawrence – an alumnus of the University.
Lord Byron – pop into his ancestral home at Newstead Abbey.
Brian Clough – there’s even a main road named after him.
Paul Smith – visit his flagship store in the city centre.
Alan Sillitoe – the writer has his roots in Nottingham.
Torvill and Dean – visit the National Ice Centre to recreate some of their moves.
And of course, it would be impossible to talk about Nottingham without at least one mention of Robin Hood. This famous figure is certain to make an appearance at some point while you’re studying here – whether it’s when you pose by the Robin Hood statue at Nottingham Castle, visiting Sherwood Forest, enjoying the Robin Hood Pageant or maybe you’ll take part in the annual marathon that’s named after him!
So, congratulations once again to those of you who will be coming to join us at the University of Nottingham in September. We look forward to welcoming you and we hope you’ll make the most of the many things the city of Nottingham has to offer.
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