Skip to content
The Great Britain Guide

Mountains & hills · East Midlands

Caves at Drury Hill

ModernFree admission

Caves at Drury Hill — Caves at Drury Hill in Nottingham, now under the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre and operated as a visitor attraction called City of Caves.

Caves at Drury Hill, mountains & hills in East Midlands

Wikimedia Commons contributors — see linked file page for photographer and licence licence

Plan your visit

Typical visit
3 h–8 h
Best time of year
Late spring – early autumn (May–Oct)
Nearest railway station
Nottingham · 0.4 km
  • Free entry
  • Family-friendly
  • Dog-friendly

About

Caves at Drury Hill is a named summit in the United Kingdom. Records date its origin to 2004. Heritage designation: scheduled monument. Wikidata describes it as: "Caves at Drury Hill in Nottingham, now under the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre and operated as a visitor attraction called City of Caves". Coordinates: 52.9507°, -1.1463°.

Photo gallery

From the Wikipedia article

City of Caves is a visitor attraction in Nottingham based on a network of caves, carved out of sandstone that have been variously used over the years as a tannery, public house cellars, and as an air raid shelter. The nearby Drury Hill is the medieval street under which they were formerly located until it was demolished to make way for the Broadmarsh shopping centre. The newer City of Caves name refers to the fact that the city of Nottingham has hundreds of man-made caves, which have been in use for over a thousand years. The City of Caves was accessed from the upper level of the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre but can currently be accessed from Garner's Hill due to construction works in the Broadmarsh Centre, scheduled to finish in 2021. The attraction, part of the National Justice Museum, has been run by the Egalitarian Trust since opening in 2004.

Excerpt from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0. See the source article linked in Sources below.

Background

History

Nottingham sits upon a soft sandstone ridge which can easily be dug with simple hand tools to create artificial cave dwellings. Indeed, Nottingham was described as in Old Brythonic meaning 'place of caves' by the Welsh Bishop of Sherborne Asser in his The Life of King Alfred (893). The caves here are some of the oldest remaining in the city, with pottery finds dating some of them to 1270–1300, and were inhabited from at least the 17th century until the St. Mary's Nottingham Inclosure Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. 7 ) banned the renting of cellars and caves as homes for the poor. None of the caves are natural; they were all cut into the sandstone for use as houses, cellars and places of work by…

Sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Coordinates
52.9507, -1.1463
District
Nottingham
Parish
Nottingham, unparished area
Postcode
NG1 7LR
Parliamentary constituency
Nottingham East
Established
2004
Nearest railway station
Nottingham0.4 km
Opening
Mo-Su 10:00-17:00
Official site
www.cityofcaves.com

Sources

Other places nearby

Loading nearby places…

Nearby

More mountains in this region

Frequently asked questions

Where is Caves at Drury Hill?
Caves at Drury Hill is in the East Midlands, United Kingdom (postcode NG1 7LR), in the parish of Nottingham, unparished area.
When was Caves at Drury Hill built?
Built or established in 2004.
Is Caves at Drury Hill a listed building?
Caves at Drury Hill is officially recognised as scheduled monument listed.
Is Caves at Drury Hill free to visit?
Yes, Caves at Drury Hill is free to enter.
How do I get to Caves at Drury Hill?
The nearest railway station is Nottingham, about 0.4 km away. Drivers can navigate to postcode NG1 7LR.