Nottingham Castle

Clients: Prince Research Consultants (on behalf of Nottingham Castle)

Author: Robin Nielsen

Site supervisor: Sarah Jones

MoLAS were commissioned by Prince Research Consultants (PRC), charged with preparing a Conservation Management Plan for the Castle, to prepare data for incorporation into a site-wide multi-disciplinary Geographical Information System (GIS). Increasingly, MoLAS’s expertise in GIS applications is being recognised and sought after to help realise similar projects. This ranges from identification of historic landscape features, integration of data from other specialisms such as ecology and landscape design, to production of ‘time-slice’ drawings, and client-usable GIS projects. Work took place between May and Sept 2005.

In this case, the geo-referencing (fitting to present-day survey data) of historical maps or plans and evidence from previous archaeological excavations will allow spatial identification of constraints on future use or development of the site.

PRC were responsible for identifying cultural resource features and the generation of a features database, from historic mapping and other documentary sources. These were then georeferenced and digitised by MoLAS, and loaded to the GIS project. The GIS project integrated mapped architectural, archaeological, historic, geological, landscape and ecological datasets, statutory designation information and current and historic OS mapping. One of the most challenging types of data incorporated into the GIS, was a scanned and rubbersheeted image of the historic 1617 Smithson plan of the post-medieval castle walls and buildings. This was stretched to fit the surviving parts of the medieval walls, and would seem to demonstrate that their surveyors used a degree of 'artistic licence' when creating the plan. The completed project was distributed to the client using ArcExplorer - ESRI GIS freeware.

Ironically, the medieval Nottingham Castle doesn’t really survive very well at all, having suffered particularly in the Civil War, and Nottingham Castle is probably now more famous for its 19th-century art gallery collections and museum, housed within the renaissance Ducal Palace, as well as the labyrinth of underlying caves within the Castle Rock, and the popular cultural associations of Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham. The idea of the CMP is to assist the NCC with the decision making process of how best to manage such diverse cultural resources in the future.

This site report is extracted from MoLAS 2005: annual review