Castles of Nottinghamshire

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the publication of Castles of Nottinghamshire by James Wright (Nottinghamshire County Council 2008) we have located a batch of this book via our friends over at Inspire Culture and will be offering it for sale again…

Castles of Nottinghamshire is a study of the county’s lesser known castles, providing a synthesis of recent archaeological and historical research. It examines their place in the landscape, their role in both war and peace, how they survived today and looks at current historical, archaeological and architectural techniques in castle studies. Finally, it provides a gazetteer of all known castle sites in Nottinghamshire for anyone to visit the surviving remains themselves.

Reviews for Castles of Nottinghamshire:

The volume is well illustrated, with cutting-edge survey techniques providing striking new views of several sites. It endeavours to understand sites from a wide variety of perspectives, including their medieval landscape settings and post-medieval legacies and re-uses… a useful and up-to-date volume informed by genuinely new research on otherwise neglected monuments.
~ Professor Oliver Creighton in Mediaeval Archaeology

“…. an excellent introduction both to the variant forms of the English castle and to the surprising number which can be traced in Nottinghamshire…”
~ Nottinghamshire Historian

Review: Medieval Archaeology

A Palace For Our Kings has received a fine review in the latest issue of the academic journal Medieval Archaeology. Penned by Dr Amanda Richardson of the University of Chichester, an expert on medieval forests and deer parks, the review is constructively positive:

“Clipstone has long been a mere footnote in the study of medieval English royal palaces, with only two index citations in Tom James’ 1990 Palaces of Medieval England(acknowledged here as an inspiration). This much-needed book therefore fills a gap, resulting from a long association with the site by the author. This book is a lively, wide-ranging and engaging read… it represents another welcome piece in a historiographical jigsaw.”

Our thanks go to both Dr Amanda Richardson and to journal editor Dr Neil Christie.

 

Library Talks

Kings Clipstone is going on tour!

Author James Wright has been invited to give a series of lectures based on A Palace For Our Kings by Inspire Culture / Nottinghamshire County Council.

The history and archaeology of a Mediaeval royal palace in the heart of Sherwood Palace will be presented at the following places later this year….

Wednesday 17 May – Worksop Library @ 2pm

Tuesday 20 June – Mansfield Library @ 2pm

Tuesday 27 June – West Bridgford Library @ 2.30pm

All three talks cost £3 and will last approximately 45 minutes with opportunities for questions afterwards. Booking is essential and can be done by contacting the libraries directly. We will, of course, have copies of the book available for attendees to have a peer at…