Stables Cave

This cave has an interesting cobbled floor surface which, rather than being flat, has wide channels which lead from the back of the cave towards the front. We believe that this cave was used as a dairy or perhaps a stable.
Prior to 1845, space was at a premium in Nottingham so both people and animals were crammed into every available space. With houses built so closely together, the caves would have made an ideal place to house sheep, goats and cattle. The Borough Records for 1847 state that “In the midst of the most closely built neighbourhoods are filthy Pigstyes, Slaughterhouses, accumulations of Blood and refuse and cesspools sending out noxious effluvia”.

Evidence that caves in this area were used for keeping animals comes from a report written in 1845 which states “…for instance there is this time an excavation within the Sand Rock near the Narrow Marsh, which is appropriated to three uses of pig stye, a depot for food and a dairy, contiguous to a privy and ashpit”.

Following the Enclosure Act of 1845, some of the common land to the south of the city became available for building and the overcrowding eased.