Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The largest settlement is the city of Nottingham.
The county has an area of and had an estimated population of in. Nottingham is located in the south-west, which is the most densely populated part of the county. Other settlements include Worksop in the north-east, Newark-on-Trent in the east, and Mansfield in the west. For local government purposes Nottinghamshire comprises a non-metropolitan county, with seven districts, and the Nottingham unitary authority area. The East Midlands Combined County Authority includes Nottinghamshire County Council and Nottingham City Council.
The geography of Nottinghamshire is largely defined by the River Trent, which forms a wide valley which crosses the county from the south-west to the north-east. North of this, in the centre of the county, is Sherwood Forest, the remnant of a large ancient woodland.

History

Nottinghamshire lies on the Roman Fosse Way, and there are Roman settlements in the county; for example at Mansfield, and forts such as at the Broxtowe Estate in Bilborough. The county was settled by Angles around the 5th century, and became part of the Kingdom, and later Earldom, of Mercia. However, there is evidence of Saxon settlement at the Broxtowe Estate, Oxton, near Nottingham, and Tuxford, east of Sherwood Forest. The name first occurs in 1016, but until 1568, the county was administratively united with Derbyshire, under a single Sheriff. In Norman times, the county developed malting and woollen industries.
The village of Edwinstowe close to Sherwood Forest took the name from Edwin of Northumbria, who died in 633 nearby and was provisionally buried in St Mary's Church, Edwinstowe.
William the Conqueror in 1066 made Sherwood Forest a Royal Forest for hunting which was frequently visited by the Mercian and later Kings.
William's 1086 Domesday Book identified certain areas in Nottinghamshire being under the land of King Edward the Confessor these included Mansfield and Sutton in Ashfield, amongst other places including Skegby, Dunham-on-Trent, East Drayton, East Markham, Farnsfield, Warsop, Carburton, Edwinstowe, Carlton-on-Trent, Budby, Perlethorpe and Walesby.
King John's Palace ruin near Kings Clipstone was a royal residence for King John, the area being near to Sherwood Forest. King John's Palace was a place where William I met Richard I to congratulate him on his return from the crusades. King John died at Newark Castle in 1216.
During the Industrial Revolution, the county held much needed minerals such as coal and iron ore, and had constructed some of the first experimental waggonways in the world; an example of this is the Wollaton wagonway of 1603–1616, which transported minerals from bell pit mining areas at Strelley and Bilborough, this led to canals and railways being constructed in the county, and the lace and cotton industries grew. In the 18th and 19th centuries, mechanised deeper collieries opened, and mining became an important economic sector. Although there are no remaining working mines in Nottinghamshire now.
Until 1610, Nottinghamshire was divided into eight Wapentakes. Sometime between 1610 and 1719, they were reduced to six – Newark, Bassetlaw, Thurgarton, Rushcliffe, Broxtowe, and Bingham, some of these names still being used for the modern districts. Oswaldbeck was absorbed in Bassetlaw, of which it forms the North Clay division, and Lythe in Thurgarton.
Mansfield and surrounding areas in Nottinghamshire in the 17th century became the centre of nonconformism in separation from the Church of England. In particular Mansfield became the birthplace of the Quakers with George Fox living in the town.
Nottinghamshire is famous for its involvement with the legend of Robin Hood. This is also the reason for the numbers of tourists who visit places like Sherwood Forest, City of Nottingham, and the surrounding villages in Sherwood Forest. To reinforce the Robin Hood connection, the University of Nottingham in 2010 has begun the Nottingham Caves Survey, with the goal "to increase the tourist potential of these sites". The project "will use a 3D laser scanner to produce a three dimensional record of more than 450 sandstone caves around Nottingham".
Nottinghamshire was mapped first by Christopher Saxton in 1576; the first fully surveyed map of the county was by John Chapman, who produced Chapman's Map of Nottinghamshire in 1774. The map was the earliest printed map at a sufficiently useful scale to provide basic information on village layout, and the existence of landscape features such as roads, milestones, tollbars, parkland, and mills.
Nottinghamshire saw a slight change to its overall boundary in the extreme northern part of the county in 1974, when the villages of Blaxton, Finningley and Auckley were merged into the Doncaster in South Yorkshire.

Physical geography

Nottinghamshire, like Derbyshire, and South Yorkshire, sits on extensive coal measures, up to thick, and occurring largely in the north of the county. There is an oilfield near Eakring. These are overlaid by sandstones and limestones in the west, and clay in the east. The north of the county is part of the Humberhead Levels lacustrine plain. The centre and south west of the county, around Sherwood Forest, features undulating hills with ancient oak woodland. Principal rivers are the Trent, Idle, Erewash, and Soar. The Trent, fed by the Soar, Erewash, and Idle, composed of many streams from Sherwood Forest, run through wide and flat valleys, merging at Misterton. A point just north of Newtonwood Lane, on the boundary with Derbyshire is the highest point in Nottinghamshire; at, while Silverhill, a spoil heap left by the former Silverhill colliery, a human-made point often cited as the highest, reaches. The lowest is Peat Carr, east of Blaxton, at sea level; the Trent is tidal below Cromwell Lock.
Nottinghamshire is sheltered by the Pennines to the west, so receives relatively low rainfall at annually. The average temperature of the county is 8.8–10.1 degrees Celsius. The county receives between 1321 and 1470 hours of sunshine per year.

Green belt

Nottinghamshire contains one green belt area, first drawn up from the 1950s. Completely encircling the Nottingham conurbation, it stretches for several miles into the surrounding districts, and extends into Derbyshire.

Politics

Nottinghamshire, including the city of Nottingham, is represented by eleven members of parliament; nine for the Labour Party, and two Reform UK MPs
Following the 2025 County Council election, Nottinghamshire County Council is controlled by Reform UK. The party went from having a single councillor before the election to winning a majority of the council's seats. The council is currently made up of 41 Reform UK councillors, 18 Conservatives, four Labour and three from local parties. Prior to the 2025 election, the council had been fully or partially controlled by the Conservative Party since 2017. The council had historically been under Labour control; the party held a majority on the council from 1981 to 2009.
Local government is devolved to seven local borough and district councils. Ashfield is controlled by the Ashfield Independents. Bassetlaw, Gedling and Mansfield are Labour-controlled. Newark and Sherwood is controlled by a coalition of Labour, Liberal Democrat and independent councillors. Rushcliffe is Conservative-controlled. Broxtowe is run by a minority Broxtowe Alliance administration. Nottingham City Council, which governs the Nottingham unitary authority and is independent of Nottinghamshire County Council, is majority Labour-controlled.

Westminster Parliamentary

Labour	Conservative	Reform	Green	Lib Dem	Others
9 6	1 7	1 1	0	0	0

Political control

Nottinghamshire is a non-metropolitan county, governed by Nottinghamshire County Council and seven non-metropolitan district councils. Elections to the county council take place every four years, with the first election taking place in 1973. Following each election, the county council has been controlled by the following parties:

Economy and industry

The regional economy was traditionally based on industries such as coal mining in the Leen Valley, and manufacturing. Since the invention of the knitting frame by local William Lee, the county, in particular Nottingham, became synonymous with the lace industry.
In 1998, Nottinghamshire had a gross domestic product per-capita of £12,000, and a total GDP of £12,023 million. This is compared to a per-capita GDP of £11,848 for the East Midlands, £12,845 for England, and £12,548 for the United Kingdom. Nottingham had a GDP per-capita of £17,373, North Nottinghamshire £10,176, and South Nottinghamshire £8,448. In October 2005, the United Kingdom had 4.7% unemployment, the East Midlands 4.4%, and the Nottingham commuter belt area 2.4%.

Education

Secondary education

The county has comprehensive secondary education with 47 state secondary schools, as well as 10 private schools. The City of Nottingham local education authority has 18 state schools and six independent schools, not including sixth form colleges.
A total of 9,700 pupils took GCSEs in the Nottinghamshire LEA in 2007. The best results were from the West Bridgford School, closely followed by Rushcliffe Spencer Academy and the Minster School in Southwell. In Nottingham, the best results came from the Trinity Catholic School and the Fernwood School in Wollaton.
At A-level, the highest performing institution was The Becket School, followed by the West Bridgford School. Some of Nottingham city best results tend to come from Nottingham High School, closely followed by the all-female Nottingham High School for Girls, both of which are privately run.
Worksop College is another private school near to Worksop.