There are a lot of exciting heritage events happening this March! Have a look at some of them below:

Thursday 6th March: ‘The Friends of Bassetlaw Museum are delighted to announce the return of guided tours. They will focus on the Museum building, its history from its construction in the 1780s through to the present day, and the stories of the families that owned it.’ The event is free (although donations are appreciated), and booking is not required. For more information visit the event page here.

Thursday 6th March: Head to the Nottinghamshire Archives ‘for an evening of discovery where you will experience their collections like never before with Augmented Reality features, taking you on a trip into the county's rich past’. During this tour you will be able to take a tour around the archives, view historic manuscripts, and explore interactive maps. The event is free but booking is required. Book your place here.

Friday 7th March: Mansfield Museum will be hosting an exclusive ‘Cocktails with the Curator’ event. ‘Begin your night with a cocktail as their curator shares fascinating insights into the history of the building and the incredible work they do. Take a behind-the-scenes tour with their Collections Officer, who will guide you through our vast stores and reveal hidden treasures from our extensive collection. You'll also have the rare opportunity to handle select objects from their archives. Explore their current exhibitions at your leisure, and cap off the evening with a fun and engaging mystery object quiz’. Tickets cost £5 per person and booking is required. Book your place here.

Friday 7th March: The National Civil War Centre will be hosting the evening talk ‘The Poet and the Regicide’. You will be introduced to ‘Lucy Hutchinson, translator, poet and biographer and wife of Newark’s arch enemy, John Hutchinson, Governor of Nottingham during the British Civil Wars and regicide. This International Women’s Day talk reveals the fascinating story of a seventeenth-century power couple and challenges our beliefs about women in this period’. Tickets are £10 per person and booking is required. Book your place here.

Saturday 8th March: ‘Family Saturday at the National Civil War Centre is moving to the second Saturday just for March to coincide with International Women’s Day. Meet a very special lady and her friendly horse, find out how women played a special role in the Civil War as secret spies and learn the best way to hide a message during the Civil War using invisible ink and secret codes’. Entry is free for Newark and Sherwood residents. For more information, visit the event page here.

Tuesday 11th March: Head to Mansfield Central Library to ‘take a journey through a thousand years of history at Rufford Abbey - from humble monastic origins to a grand country estate. Learn how the place has changed over the years and about some of the fascinating characters who lived there. NCC’s Planning Archaeologist Emily Gillott will also look at what has been revealed by archaeological work since the 1960’s’. Tickets cost £3 per person and booking is required. Book your place here.

Above: Rufford Abbey

Wednesday 19th March: At Beeston Library, ‘join Peter Godley from the Nottingham Historical and Archaeological Society for a talk about the extensive network of caves that lie beneath the streets of Nottingham’. Tickets cost £3 per person and booking is required. Book your place here.

Wednesday 19th March: At Worksop Library, ‘join NCC’s Planning Archaeologist Emily Gillott for a fascinating look at the history of the gallows and capital crimes with a focus on Nottinghamshire. Emily will present some of the known gallows and gibbet sites in the county and what remains of them, from Thieves Dale to Gallows Nooking. She will explore medicine and the hanged corpse, from an age when science and magic were intertwined’. Tickets cost £3 per person and booking is required. Book your place here.

Thursday 20th March: At Bassetlaw Museum, Benedict Jephcote will be exploring ‘A gleaming medieval seal that was found at Gringley-on-the-Hill’. They will be looking into ‘how the seal-bearer’s identity was found and why Constance was an important figure in medieval England’s history’. The event is free but booking is required. Book your place here.

Monday 24th March: At Hucknall Library, ‘join one of the Heritage Librarians for a small group session where they will demonstrate the range and variety of local newspapers available in Inspire libraries on microfilm and online’. The event is free, but booking is required. Book your place here.

Monday 24th March: Hosted by the team at Creswell Crags, an online talk by Matilde Gliubich Tomat from Bangor University will be diving into here palaeophenomenological research. ‘Blending archaeology, anthropology, phenomenology, alchemy and analysis, this approach reaches beyond the confines of traditional research, tapping into the lived experiences and consciousness of ancient peoples. In this 45-minute lecture, Matilde will not only explain paleophenomenology as a theoretical framework but also share the story of how this unique methodology was developed — part vision, part discovery, part adventure. From her own encounters with both personal reflection and archaeological sites to the insights drawn from analysis and mythology, this talk will offer a glimpse into the process of connecting past and present, mind and matter’. Tickets are free, but booking is required. Book your place here.

This great article comes from our Spring 2000 Heritage newsletter:

Many of you will remember the days when going to the cinema meant a trip to the local ‘fleapit’. These were often large, impressive looking buildings that could accommodate a large section of the local community in one go. Some have been converted into bingo halls or warehouses and a few still retain their original interior decoration. The most fabulous and complete examples have been protected as listed buildings for some time now.

The cinema industry began in the 1890’s when the first shows were put on in small music halls and travelling fairs. The early films were made from highly combustible material and fires were a regular hazard. It wasn’t until the 1909 Cinematograph Act that the first ‘safe’ purpose-built buildings were constructed. By 1914, there were already some 3,500 cinemas across Britain. The ‘showman’s booth’ design was most common, with elaborate frontages behind which there would be a hall with a barrel-vaulted ceiling, panelled walls and, in more elaborate cases, a rear balcony. Names like ‘Electric’, ‘Picture Palace’, and ‘Imperial’ were typical, while the name ‘Coronation’ indicated a 1911 opening date. The Picture Palace, Long Row in Nottingham is a good example, dating to 1912, with its ornate front, decorated with marble and tile.

Following the First World War, a second generation of new larger venues were built. The Elite on Upper Parliament Street in Nottingham had an auditorium which could seat 1,500 people when it opened in 1921. Meanwhile in America, cinemas were even larger, incorporating the ‘splayed’ auditorium layout, and in 1927 the era of the ‘talkies’ was ushered in by the film ‘The Jazz Singer’. This was a time of rapid technological development and big business deals that produced the international chains like the ‘Empires’, and the British ‘Gaumonts’ and ‘Odeons’. Other Nottinghamshire cinemas from the 1920’s include the Majestic in Retford.

By the middle of the 1930’s and following the Second World War, the ‘Modern’ style came to be the one favoured by British cinema architects. Although essentially ‘international’ in style, regional variations are still visible, the Capitol in Radford is said to have Germanic influences, while the Regent in Kirkby has a softer ‘arts and crafts’ feel to it.

English Heritage have previously looked at cinemas that might be worthy of listing. They focused on pre-WWII cinemas or ones built before 1960 that have remained unaltered. Only the best examples of the nation’s cinemas were listed; for the rest, acknowledgement of their local important was more appropriate.

We already know about many of the old cinemas of the county. Here are some examples:

The Byron, Hucknall

The Regent, Kirkby

The Majestic, Retford

The Capitol, Elite and Picture Palace, Nottingham

Stanford Hall Cinema

The Strand, Market Warsop