Joseph Earp – författare

Every corner of Nottingham is rich in history, and if the streets could talk they might tell of the people and events they have witnessed. Many ancient secrets have remained untold, such as the purpose of the great Viking ‘long-house’ found beneath the site of a demolished Victorian factory, and who built the ancient mound that once marked the site of the spot where a king of England raised his standard.Perhaps the city’s greatest secret of all lies beneath its streets – a labyrinth of over 500 man-made caves. Visitors to Nottingham are often told not to stamp their feet too hard as they never quiet know where they will end up. Father and son authors Frank and Joe Earp are privy to these and many more of Nottingham’s secrets. Come with them as they share their knowledge within the pages of this book.

The Nottinghamshire town of Beeston as we know it today began life as an Anglo-Saxon settlement close to the banks of the River Trent. By the late eighteenth century the town had developed into a thriving textile centre. The nineteenth century saw a new mix of other industries, including famous names like the Humber Works and Boots the Chemist. Over the last decade Beeston has witnessed its greatest change with the introduction of an extension of Nottingham city’s tram network.Local authors and historians Frank E. Earp and Joseph Earp delve into the town’s murkier past in this unique approach to its history, blending the serious with the not so serious, and seeking out its hidden secrets.

The city of Nottingham has been an important centre of trade and industry in the East Midlands since the Middle Ages. Famous particularly for lace-making, centred on the preserved Lace Market area, it was also home to the household names of Boots the chemists and Raleigh bicycles. Since the Norman period the layout of Nottingham and its streets remained virtually the same until the mid-twentieth century. In the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s, Nottingham began to see many historic quarters of the city disappear. Large areas were demolished; centuries-old streets disappeared, particularly around the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre where numerous ancient caves under buildings were also destroyed; and famous old buildings such as the Black Boy hotel, Holy Trinity Church and Victoria train station fell victim to the bulldozers. This book sets out to explore what has been lost in the city over the years through photographs, slides, postcards, documents and illustrations from the Paul Nix Collection, the Nottingham Hidden History Team archive and the author’s own photographs.Lost Nottingham presents a portrait of a city and a way of life that has radically changed or disappeared today, often in the name of progress and development, showing not just the industries and buildings that have gone, people and street scenes, but also many popular places of entertainment and much more. This fascinating photographic history of lost Nottingham will appeal to all those who live in the city or know it well, as well as those who remember it from previous decades.