Timeline | 2000 | Victorian | Georgian | Medieval | Prehistory | Cave Being |

We live life in the present, but whether we want it to or not, the past affects the way we live now. Yet do we really understand what the past is? What if events and lives don't just disappear into history? What if, instead, they slowly sink into the ground? What if life is an energy or essence that people shed, like skin or sweat, that slowly seeps into the earth?



If such an essence could be trapped, then the history of a community could lie under its feet. A conversation — a strong and tested friendship — a battle — a royal murder — all Nottingham's important moments trickle down to the caves. The caves are nature's hard disk, collecting all the past lives of Nottingham. History is stored in the sandstone. Events played out on the same ground write over previous events. Even so, if you know how to look, echoes of history can be found, old files unearthed that show the way the past is always present, carefully encrypted in our attitudes towards place and identity.


Timeline | 2000 | Victorian | Georgian | Medieval | Prehistory | Cave Being |

Copyright L J Winson and Helen Whitehead