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November is upon us. A month of fireworks, bonfires and orange leaves but also a great month to get involved in some Nottinghamshire history! Here is a list of some of the events happening this coming November.

Monday 3rd November: In association with Creswell Crags, ‘join folklore expert, Icy Sedgwick, online to discover the fascinating legends of Bonfire Night. From penny-for-the-guy to parades and public bonfires, this talk will explore some of the customs surrounding the 5th of November. You'll also dig into a couple of the legends about the events of 5th November 1605 to see why it became such an important date in the British calendar’. This event is free, but booking is required. Book your place here.

Friday 7th November: At the Palace Theatre, Newark, ‘the creators of ‘The 17th Century Show’ bring you, ‘The Amazing Exploding Girlfriend and Other Tales of Mad Science: A Professor Edvard von Goosechaser Comedy History Lecture’. The year is 1669, and it’s time for the annual Professor Edvard von Goosechaser lecture. This time the subject is mad scientists, fool hardy inventors and heroic herbalists. Find out which Royalist super soldier liked to dabble in science and how a hole in his head lead to a spectacular innovation in fashion. Discover which inventor built the first ever lighthouse on a rock, in the middle of a war with France and during the worst storm in England history. And hear about how an amateur herbalist challenged the might of the medical establishment and almost got himself arrested for witchcraft. But which one of them had and amazing girlfriend, and why on earth did she explode? Join the Professor to find out’. Ticket prices vary up to £10 per person and booking is required. Book your place here.

Friday 7th November: ‘Enjoy a taste of Victorian decadence, with an evening viewing of the gas-lit D.H. Lawrence Birthplace Museum followed by a sampling of gins’. In this Gin and Gaslight event, ‘the D.H. Lawrence Birthplace Museum is lit with original gaslight, making an evening visit charming and atmospheric. Guests will have time to engage with the hosts and learn more about D.H. Lawrence and his literary legacy. Then, guests will be offered several gins to sample and learn about their history and flavour profiles’. Tickets cost £17.50 per person and booking is required. Book your place here.

Thursday 13th November: Also at the Palace Theatre, Newark, a ‘talk by Michael Rayner, chair of the Battlefields Trust's Battlefield Panel, will look at how landscape is crucial to understanding why and how battles were fought. This will include looking at how terrain influenced commanders, as well as how landscape studies are used to interpret what happened. Examples will be drawn from a range of periods and across the country’. Tickets cost £10 per person, and booking is required. Book your place here.

Thursday 13th November: Lakeside Art currently have a free exhibition in their Weston Gallery titled ‘The Leen – Nottingham’s River’. A public event on the 13th invites you ‘help preserve the history of the River Leen for the future, by sharing your own memories, all while exploring historical archival photos! Examine images drawn from the archives of local businesses such as Gerard’s/Cussons and institutions such as the QMC. Reminiscences collected at the event will be mapped to the course of the River Leen to examine how its meaning for local residents has shifted over time’. This is a free drop-in event throughout the day (10am-4pm) and booking is not required. For more information, visit the event page here.

Tuesday 18th November: Mansfield Central Library is hosting the heritage talk: ‘Sherwood Boys, Biography of a Battalion’. ‘Hear the story of how the 2/5th Sherwood Foresters, a Territorial battalion, developed during the Second World War from a group of untrained young men from Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire into a hardened unit of veterans from every corner of Britain, capable of facing, and beating, the might of the Wehrmacht’. Tickets are £3 per person and booking is required. Book your place here.

Wednesday 19th November: The heritage talk ‘Worksop’s WW1 VC: William Henry Johnson’ will be held at Worksop Library. ‘William Henry Johnson was a miner at Manton Colliery and a bell ringer at Worksop Priory before enlisting for service in the First World War. In this fascinating talk, learn more about the man, his life, and his remarkable act of bravery in the field which earned him Britain’s highest military award, the Victoria Cross. Following his talk, which will last approximately 45 minutes, there will be chance to explore historical records relating to WW1 servicemen from the local area, including newspaper reports, photographs and more’. Tickets cost £3 per person and booking is required. Book your place here.

Wednesday 19th November: Beeston Library will be hosting the talk: ‘Women of the British Civil Wars 1642-1659’. ‘Women played a significant role in the conflicts known as the British civil wars, and Nottinghamshire women certainly played their part. As local historian Sandra Berrington demonstrates, they helped defend castles, wrote pamphlets and propaganda, raised funds, spied, nursed, preached and even contributed on the battlefields. From highborn ladies to ordinary housekeepers, these remarkable women showed, as was said at the time, “A courage beyond their sex”’. Tickets cost £3 per person, and booking is required. Book your place here.

Monday 24th November: At Newark Library, you have a chance to explore local parish registers with the Inspire team. ‘Join one of their librarians for a small group session to talk about the history of Nottinghamshire's parish registers and look at some of the fascinating stories they contain. Parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials are a major resource for anyone beginning their family history’. This event is free, but booking is recommended. Book your place here.

With many historic sites in Nottinghamshire having long histories, it is no surprise that many are said to be haunted.

Stories of ghosts and hauntings have been around in different forms for centuries. They were perhaps as popular in contemporary times as they are now. These stories provide a valuable, and often tangible, link between the living and dead. In some cultures, these spirits are evil, intending to cause harm to the living, and in others, spirits are kind and protect the living. As we see in our media today, sometimes spirits can have both good and bad intentions as well.

Tales of ghosts and spirits are useful to us as they offer us a window into contemporary societies, usually taking the form of a moral messages or warnings. The nature of the spirits, and the messages they are meant to be the manifestation of, evolves as societies do, creating a snapshot of their social and religious beliefs, their ideas of social justice, and even their shared fears. They can also allow us a glance into contemporary views on gender, class, and identity. They are a valuable piece of history that can often be overlooked.

Ancient civilizations across the world such as ancient Mesopotamia, ancient Greece, and ancient Egypt all have tales of restless spirits weaved into their folklore, mythologies, and oral stories. Spirits in ancient Mesopotamia, for example, were often believed to be capable of causing genuine injury to the living and many attempted to keep them at bay with routine offerings and rituals. The responsibility to appease the spirits fell upon their direct descendants, and any family members that neglected to provide offerings of food and drink to their dead relatives were at risk of being cursed with disease or bad fortune. This shows what their society placed value in and well as what they feared.

Later in Medieval England, tales often reflected Christian religious values, with both Catholicism and Protestantism using spirits in their teachings. The threat of your soul wandering through purgatory was a real threat for some in Medieval society while others believed that ghosts were apparitions to trick the living into evil temptation. Staying away or atoning from sin was a predominant and pivotal message. We also see this message in literary hauntings, in works such as Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Hamlet. These stories were often meant as warnings for deviating from religious or societal values, showing us the consequences of this deviation.

Above: The Last of the Spirits, from Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol, 1834. Illustration by John Leech, Public Domain

The Victorian era, however, was the catalyst for our love of horror stories. Their fascination with death, ghosts, and all things macabre still resonates into our modern society. Haunted houses and horror theatre, known as Phantasmagoria, began to be popular during this period. This was also the time of popular gothic literature such as the poems by Edgar Allen Poe, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. With mortality rates rather high during this period, it seems that embracing death, and the idea of ghosts, was a way of helping society cope with the common occurrence of death. We also continue to see the theme of ghosts appearing in stories preaching moral values during this era, both in stories of ‘real’ ghosts and of literary ghosts, such as in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

Modern media has allowed us to create, engage with, and disseminate ghost stories on a larger scale than ever before, be it horror movies and tv shows, social media videos, ghost tours and attractions, or almost anything else under the umbrella of popular culture. What do you think our 21st century ghost stories will tell the historians of the future about us? Do we use horror stories as a way of coping with the current state of our world? Do we see them as warnings? Do we just enjoy them as pieces of art or media, meant to shock and scare us?

Many sites in Nottinghamshire such as Annesley Hall, Wollaton Hall, and Rufford Abbey, are often quoted as having spirits roaming their halls. Many of these historic buildings said to be haunted in Nottinghamshire are open to the public, so if you fancy some spooky heritage this Halloween we would recommend a visit!

Wollaton Hall, for example, is said to be haunted by ‘The White Lady’, also known as Lady Jane Middleton. Her ghost story states that she was accidentally paralysed and kept confined to her room in Wollaton Hall until she died, subsequently haunting the hallways of the house. Strange lights can be seen from her bedroom and visitors are said to have heard, seen, and felt her presence. The portrayal of 'White Lady' spirits in folklore can be traced back to the Medieval period, with these lady ghosts often being attached to manor houses or noble families, especially within a rural setting. Their stories often depict tragedies, such as accidents, unrequited love or harrowing deaths, and they are said to sometimes be bad omens. There is a little truth wrapped in the 'White Lady' tale of Wollaton Hall. Wollaton Hall was owned by the Willoughby family since it was built in the 1580’s up until 1925, with the title of Baron Middleton being passed on by the Hall’s owners since 1688. The 6th Baron Middleton, Henry Willoughby, did marry a Jane Lawley who died around 1852. Unfortunately, not much is written about her, but her ghost story is likely rather dramatized and embellished. That does not stop many ghost investigations taking place at the house in search of ‘The White Lady’.

Beyond their historical significance, ghost stories challenge us to look at our own beliefs. As it did throughout history, the ability to engage and share in these stories helps bind communities and groups together. They can also create a link between us in the modern day and historical individuals, families or societies. In some cases, they can create a link between us and our own ancestors. So, whether you believe in ghosts or not, their impact and influence cannot be denied.

October is jam-packed with exciting events aimed at celebrating a wide variety of Nottinghamshire's history, including the Bramley Apple, the 1940's, and our rivers and the mills associated with them. Whatever your interest and no matter your age, we're sure there's something for you to get stuck into! Here's a list of just some of the events happening this October:

Monday 6th October: In association with Creswell Crags, ‘join Dr Ceren Kabukcu (University of Liverpool) online to discover Palaeolithic plant diets in Southwest Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean’. This online evening talk is free, but booking is required. Book your place here.

Opening Thursday 9th October: Opening this October, an exciting exhibition explores the connection the River Leen has with Nottinghamshire's history at the Lakeside Arts. ‘From its source in the Robin Hood Hills above Newstead Abbey to the River Trent at the Meadows, the River Leen connects places and communities. This exhibition puts the Leen at the centre of the story of modern Nottingham’. If you can't catch this exhibition this month, no worries as it will be open until March 2026! This exhibition is free, and booking is not required. For more information, visit the event page here.

Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th October: Southwell Workhouse and Infirmary is hosting four sessions of a ‘Workhouse Stories’ puppet show. ‘Based on the lives of people who lived and worked in Leeds Union Workhouse, Workhouse Stories is a puppet show suitable for all and aimed at 8+ years. Come and discover the stories of blind boat builder Thomas Bateman, the ghost of Asenath Batley and the perils of paperwork with John King, former Clerk to the Board of Guardians’. This event is free, and booking is not required, however places may be limited. For more information, visit the event page here.

Tuesday 14th October: Friends of the Framework Knitters Museum ‘are pleased to welcome Steve LeMotte, curator at the Trent Bridge Cricket Club Museum, for a fascinating talk titled; “Trent Bridge – It’s Not Just Cricket!” Discover the surprising and lesser-known stories behind one of the UK’s most iconic sporting venues — from historic events to the people and moments that shaped its legacy beyond the boundary ropes’. Tickets cost £6 and are available at the Museum front desk. For more information, visit the event page here.

Tuesday 14th October: Lakeside Arts will also be hosting an Archaeology NOW Talk titled ‘Malindi: An Old Town with Rich and Diverse History’. ‘Join Doris Kamuye, Curator at the Malindi Museum, for this live-streamed talk from Kenya. Discover Malindi, at the Coast of Kenya, founded around the 7th century, with a rich history influenced by the Indian Ocean. Malindi is home to popular UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including the Gedi Historic Town and Archaeological Site, the “Mijikenda Kaya” forests, and the oldest European monuments in East Africa – the Vasco da Gama Pillar and the Portuguese Chapel’. This event is free, but booking is required. Book your place here.

Wednesday 15th October: Head down to the Nottinghamshire Archives for their ‘Collections Care for Photographs’ event. ‘There will be examples of photographic conservation projects carried out at Nottinghamshire Archives. There will also be an introduction to the Inspire Picture Archive, including highlights of the collection and how to upload new images’. Tickets cost £6 and booking is required. Book your place here.

Wednesday 15th October: At Worksop Library, the ‘Heritage Talk: Historic Gardens of Nottinghamshire’ will ‘draw on the wealth of gardening heritage remaining in the county'. Join 'Philip Jones, a former local studies librarian, is now a freelance garden historian, currently researching the Victorian and Edwardian gardens at Newstead Abbey and its head gardeners’. This event costs £3 and booking is required. Book your place here.

Above: Harold Godwinson arriving in his longship depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry. (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Saturday 18th October: Lakeside Arts’ Museum Explorers drop-in event for kids will explore 'the Viking Age by looking at the longboats that they built and travelled across the sea in, on their many voyages. Have a go at making your own model longboat to take home! Suitable for child aged 7+'. This event is free and booking is not required. For more information, visit the event page here.

Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th October: The annual 1940s Steam event returns for its seventeenth year at Papplewick Pumping Station. Activities include: ‘An array of military and civilian re-enactors, Displays and encampments, Period vehicles, Trade stalls, Live entertainment, and Live Action skirmishes’. Ticket prices and it is cheaper to pre-book online than on the door. Book your tickets here.

Starting Saturday 18th October: ‘Explore Sherwood Forest this spooky season with their Halloween family trail’. ‘Pick up your trail sheet from the Visitor Centre and follow the Major Oak trail. Immerse yourself in our Halloween adventure, complete with spooky scarecrows and a code to crack’! Prizes available upon completion. This spooky trail is available until Sunday 2nd November. Sheets cost £4.50 and booking is not required. For more information, visit the event page here.

Tuesday 21st October: At Mansfield Central Library, ‘local historian Denis Hill looks at the dozen or so water mills that once operated along the River Maun’ in the Heritage Talk ‘Water Mills of Mansfield’. Tickets cost £3 and booking is required. Book your place here.

Saturday 25th October: Southwell’s beloved ‘food and drink fair returns for its annual autumn slot at Southwell Minster with dozens of stallholders offering all manner of food and drink including pies, chocolates, jams, chutneys, pickles, sausages and much more’. The festival celebrates one of Nottinghamshire’s heritage treasures: the Bramley Apple! There is a suggested entry donation of £3, and booking is not required. For more information, visit the event page here.

Saturday 25th October: Also celebrating our Bramley Apple history, the Workhouse and Infirmary is hosting a ‘Bramley Apple Day’. There will be many apple-themed activities including the ‘longest Apple peel challenge’, children’s yoga sessions, building tours and the return of the Pauper Choir. This event is free, and booking is not required. For more information, visit the event page here.

Monday 27th October: Join Dr Angharad Jones online to discover the evidence of mammal migrations during the Ice Age in association with Creswell Crags. ‘During the Ice Age, climates changed, ice sheets expanded and contracted, and sea levels rose and fell. Mammals responded to the changes in many ways, including migration. This talk will highlight examples of mammal migration and resulting species range shifts during the Ice Age. As well as species range shifts, this talk will explore the evidence for seasonal migrations of mammals. The talk will finish with a discussion of how mammal migrations are being impacted by human activity today’. This online talk is free but booking is required. Book your place here.

This fascinating articles originates from our Winter 1998 Heritage Newsletter:

It was the builders, early in the eighteenth century who started the charming practice of placing semi-circular fanlights over their front doors. At first these were of wrought iron, lead, or wood; Robert Adam used wrought iron with delicate enrichments in copper or brass for splendid country houses. But soon he, and his brothers James and John, were all devising fanlights intended for mass production, so that it was not long before cast iron captured this market; some of the designs were very light and dreary.

Wood was used for the glazing bars of fanlights in the early eighteenth century, but by the 1740’s the call for elaborate shapes, difficult to make in timber, gave rise to the use of leaded metal fanlights. During the 1770’s the decorative ideas of Robert Adam had spread to even quite modest houses and the use of leaded fanlights with delicate radiating tracery enabled multitudes to make a show of keeping in fashion. The years 1780 to 1810 were the high point in fanlight making, both for popularity and for elaboration in design. It was in this period that the specialist trade of Fanlight Maker started, including Underwood, Bottomley, and Hamble of High Holborn; in 1793 a partner of this firm, Joseph Bottomley published his influential book of designs.

The trade of Fanlight Maker (and repairer) has been revived in recent times by one man, John Sambrook of Northiam, East Sussex. His fanlights are careful copies of authentic designs made in the traditional way with leadwork soldered to a metal armature and glass fixed in putty. The whole essence of an elegant Regency fanlight with its ‘spider web’ pattern is delicacy, and the most frequent modern mistake in painting them is to carry the white paint over on to the glass far too much, making the fine bars look heavy and clumsy.

This coming September will be very exciting for heritage lovers in Nottinghamshire with the return of Heritage Open Days’ annual community festival!

The festival, which has been running for over 25 years in the UK, provides individuals with the chance to get involved in heritage through exclusive local events. This festival contributes to the European Heritage Days in which 50 signatory states celebrate diversity, culture, and heritage every September.

Heritage Open Days aims to celebrate heritage and community by organising talks, workshops, and tours of historical sites. All the events in this festival are free. This includes rare visits to selected sites that normally ask for an entry fee. Sites included in this festival are Trent Bridge Cricket Ground, Newstead Abbey, the Adams Building, and the Workhouse and Infirmary. Visit the Heritage Open Days website for the full list.

Running from Friday 12th until Sunday 21th September, there are over 80 exciting events happening in the Nottinghamshire area.

Above: St Mary Magdalene, Newark

Some of our wonderful heritage team will be hosting events; our Senior Practitioner of Historic Buildings, Jason, will be hosting a talk in Newark about the timber-framed buildings of Nottinghamshire on 17th September (book here). Our Historic Environment Officer, Janine, will also be hosting a talk, celebrating the pre-eminence of the horse on Nottinghamshire’s country estates at Worksop Library on 12th September (book here).

Other events across the county include:

• 13th September: Guided tour of the old section of Mansfield Cemetery. 'A Guided tour around the old section of Mansfield Cemetery. Notable monuments will be pointed out and discussed, together with the history of the cemetery and its buildings. A leaflet guide to the Cemetery will be provided'. Booking is not required. Click here for more information.
• 13th September & 20th September: George Martyn's Barn. In Keyworth, visit the 17th century threshing barn which has opened for the Heritage Open Days festival for the past six years. 'This year CAAG is exploring the theme of 'Architecture' with an exhibition in the 374 year old Barn. Visitors can step inside and appreciate the original features and the skills and materials used in producing such a structure all those years ago. Also, learn about the Parish Church (grade 1 listed) and the historic buildings in the village centre related to farming and framework knitting. View works by local artists on the 'Architecture' theme'.
• 14th September: Walk with an Expert: Blue Plaques – Chilwell + Beyond. 'A guided walk around some of [Chilwell's] old and new blue plaques - led by local experts Dr Peter Robinson, and Alan Dance'. Booking is not required. Click here for more information.
• 18th September: Inspire Nottinghamshire Archives - Behind-the-Scenes Tours. 'Come and see behind the scenes and discover the hidden world of archives! An introduction to the Archives with a tour of the search room and storage areas. A chance to view some unique and incredible highlights from the collections, including architectural plans and building records. You will be able to interact in new ways with our collections via your own tablet or smartphone device. View pop-up versions of archival documents, explore 360 degree images of historic streets and listen to audio descriptions of the archives. Enjoy a display and tour of the conservation studio as an introduction to what conservation is, and learn the different types of materials treated, and the techniques used'. Pre-booking is preferred. Book your place here.
• 19th September: The Reawakening of St Mary Magdalene: A Sustainable Regeneration Project. 'Find out more about the major conservation project at St Mary Magdalene Parish Church in Newark. St Mary Magdalene in Newark is a Grade I listed church with a rich history dating back to the 12th century. The church is currently on the Heritage at Risk Register, and 'The Reawakening of St Mary Magdalene' is a project which aims to make vital repairs to the church to secure its future, while also opening up the building to the community for a variety of events and activities'. Booking is required. Book your place here.
• 20th September: The Original Bramley Apple Tree. In Southwell, 'Nottingham Trent University are offering visitors an opportunity to view the original Bramley apple tree and to learn about the history of the Bramley apple and why the tree is so special'. Pre-booking is not required. Click here for more information.
• 21st September: Echoes of the Erewash Canal - Sandiacre Lock Cottages. Head down 'for a free, family-friendly day of fun, stories, and discovery along the Erewash Canal! Explore hands-on activities, canal heritage, and beautiful waterside spaces. There’s something for all ages'. Pre-booking is not required. Click here for more information.

To find out about all the events being offered in Nottinghamshire, including dates and booking information, please visit the Heritage Open Days website.

Please be aware that free entry to some heritage sites is only on specific set days and some events may require booking.