The geography of Nottinghamshire is largely defined by theRiver 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, isSherwood Forest, the remnant of a largeancient woodland.
Nottinghamshire lies on theRomanFosse Way, and there are Roman settlements in the county; for example atMansfield, and forts such as at theBroxtowe Estate inBilborough. The county was settled byAngles around the 5th century, and became part of the Kingdom, and later Earldom, ofMercia. However, there is evidence ofSaxon settlement at the Broxtowe Estate,Oxton, near Nottingham, andTuxford, east ofSherwood Forest. The name first occurs in 1016, but until 1568, the county was administratively united with Derbyshire, under a singleSheriff. InNorman times, the county developedmalting andwoollen industries.
During theIndustrial Revolution, the county held much needed minerals such ascoal andiron ore, and had constructed some of the first experimental waggonways in the world; an example of this is theWollaton wagonway of 1603–1616, which transported minerals frombell pit mining areas atStrelley andBilborough, this led tocanals andrailways being constructed in the county, and thelace and cotton industries grew. In the 18th and 19th centuries, mechanised deepercollieries opened, and mining became an important economic sector. Although there are no remaining working mines in Nottinghamshire now.
Hand-drawn map of Lincolnshire and Notthinghamshire from 1576.
Until 1610, Nottinghamshire was divided into eightWapentakes. Sometime between 1610 and 1719, they were reduced to six –Newark,Bassetlaw,Thurgarton,Rushcliffe,Broxtowe, andBingham, 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.
Nottinghamshire is famous for its involvement with the legend ofRobin Hood. This is also the reason for the numbers of tourists who visit places likeSherwood Forest,City of Nottingham, and the surrounding villages in Sherwood Forest. To reinforce the Robin Hood connection, theUniversity of Nottingham in 2010 has begun theNottingham 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".[12]
Nottinghamshire was mapped first byChristopher Saxton in 1576; the first fully surveyed map of the county was by John Chapman, who produced Chapman's Map of Nottinghamshire in 1774.[13] The map was the earliest printed map at a sufficiently useful scale (one statute mile to one inch) 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 ofBlaxton,Finningley andAuckley (part) were merged into the Doncaster inSouth Yorkshire.[14][15]
Interactive map of Nottinghamshire and city/districts
Nottinghamshire, likeDerbyshire, and South Yorkshire, sits on extensive coal measures, up to 900metres (3,000feet) thick, and occurring largely in the north of the county. There is anoilfield nearEakring. These are overlaid bysandstones andlimestones in the west, andclay in the east.[16] The north of the county is part of theHumberhead Levelslacustrine plain. The centre and south west of the county, around Sherwood Forest, features undulating hills with ancientoak woodland. Principal rivers are theTrent,Idle,Erewash, andSoar. The Trent, fed by the Soar, Erewash, and Idle, composed of many streams from Sherwood Forest, run through wide and flat valleys, merging atMisterton. A point just north of Newtonwood Lane, on the boundary with Derbyshire is the highest point in Nottinghamshire; at 205 metres (673 feet),[17] whileSilverhill, aspoil heap left by the former Silverhill colliery, a human-made point often cited as the highest, reaches 204 metres (669 feet). The lowest is Peat Carr, east of Blaxton, atsea level; the Trent is tidal belowCromwell Lock.[18]
Nottinghamshire is sheltered by thePennines to the west, so receives relatively low rainfall at 641 to 740millimetres (25 to 29inches) annually.[19] The average temperature of the county is 8.8–10.1 degreesCelsius (48–50 degreesFahrenheit).[20] The county receives between 1321 and 1470 hours of sunshine per year.[21]
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.
Following the2025 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.[22] The council is currently made up of 41 Reform UK councillors, 18 Conservatives, four Labour and three from local parties.[23] 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.
Nottinghamshire is anon-metropolitan county, governed byNottinghamshire 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:[24]
The regional economy was traditionally based on industries such as coal mining in theLeen Valley, and manufacturing. Since the invention of theknitting frame by localWilliam Lee, the county, in particularNottingham, became synonymous with the lace industry.[25]
In 1998, Nottinghamshire had agross domestic product (GDP) 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 theEast 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.[26] In October 2005, the United Kingdom had 4.7% unemployment, the East Midlands 4.4%, and the Nottingham commuter belt area 2.4%.[27]
Nottinghamshire contains the ancestral home of the poetLord Byron,Newstead Abbey, which he sold in 1818. It is now owned by Nottingham City Council, and is open to the public. The acclaimed authorD. H. Lawrence was fromEastwood in Nottinghamshire.Toton was the birthplace and home of English folk singer-songwriterAnne Briggs, well known for her songBlack Waterside. The north of the county is also noteworthy for its connections with thePilgrim Fathers.William Brewster, for example, came from the village of Scrooby, and was influenced byRichard Clyfton, who preached atBabworth.
The most successfulfootball team within Nottinghamshire isNottingham Forest, aPremier League club that won the1978English championship, and followed it up with winning the1979 and1980European Cup titles although success has not been seen by most of their fans in living memory.Mansfield Town ofLeague One andNotts County ofLeague Two are the other professional teams in the county. Notts County are the world's oldest professional football club, being formed in 1862 and are world renowned for givingJuventus their black and white striped kit and opening their new stadium in 2011.
An unofficial flag for Nottinghamshire was created through a design competition organised byBBC Radio Nottingham, and registered with thevexillological charity theFlag Institute in 2011. It consists of a green field, on which is a red crossfimbriated (bordered) with white, on which a white shield containing the green figure of an archer is superimposed.[34]
The traditional county town, and the largest settlement in the historic and ceremonial county boundaries, is theCity of Nottingham. The city is now administratively independent, but towns includingArnold,Carlton,West Bridgford,Beeston, andStapleford are still within the administrative county, and West Bridgford is where the county council are based.
TheM1 motorway runs through the county, connecting Nottingham to London, Leeds, and Leicester by road. TheA1 road follows for the most part the path of the Great North Road, although in places it diverges from the historic route where towns have been bypassed. Retford was by-passed in 1961, and Newark-on-Trent was by-passed in 1964, and the A1 now runs between Retford and Worksop past the village ofRanby. Many historiccoaching inns can still be seen along the traditional route.
East Midlands Airport is just outside the county inLeicestershire, whileDoncaster Sheffield Airport lies within the historic boundaries of Nottinghamshire. These airports serve the county and several of its neighbours. Together, the airports have services to most major European destinations, and East Midlands Airport now also has services toNorth America and theCaribbean. As well as local bus services throughout the county, Nottingham and its suburbs have a tram system,Nottingham Express Transit.
Nottingham and its surrounding areas form part of theNottingham Urban Area while Bassetlaw is a non-constituent part of the Sheffield City Region.
^GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Auckley, in Doncaster and Nottinghamshire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time|3 April 2025
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