Wollaton Hall Museum


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Hi, hope everyone is OK. Not been on here for a while.

Micky, my wife, and I were talking the other day about Wollaton Hall. She remembers back in the early 80s being given a tour around the place seeing the many exhibits on display both in the public areas and downstairs in the 'vaults' where there were many more. We wondered if anyone knew what had happened to these many exhibits as only a few are now on display. Have they been stored somewhere? Given away or sold? Or just destroyed?

Any information welcome.

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I too have happy memories of Wollaton Hall. We used to go quite often on a Sunday afternoon, an oasis to my Radford home and to many from the built up suburbs. The 'adventure playground' with the zip

Surprised we do not have a dedicated WOLLATON HALL tread? It is in NOTTINGHAM after all?  I do not want to start a new tread & watch it buried under song association, hows you day &

When aahh wur a lad...   I was in the Wolf Cubs.  We went on a specially arranged visit to Wollaton Hall.  This would be around 1960.   We were shown the long tunnels in the sandst

Ironic, that place was built with the money earned from coal.

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The ornate chimney stacks amaze me, so much fancy work in them just to expel the smoke but as said coal was king then.

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caftan.....is the gorilla in the glass case still frightening unwary visitors? It used to be hidden around a corner when I last remember seeing it.

great photos by the way... hellothere

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Pity the huge egg collection is hidden away..but I suppose you can't encourage the kids nowadays...Mind you most bird losses over the last fifty years are down to agriculture, not kids bird nesting.

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Yes, a great place Wollaton Hall.

I lived about 200 yards from there by the halfway gates along the avenue. In those days you could climb through a fence that had wide openings. Now you have go to Wollaton Road entrance as the fence is now kid proof.

I shall always remember the 1951 centenary of the 1851 Great Exhibition. For a kid of 11 it was a fairy tale. All the trees on the avenue had lit up animals and others in weird places. i managed to see the Army lay on some sort of parade, fireworks etc. Marvellous.I hope they do it again in 2051, sadly I won't be there!

Sounds as though some of the exhibits have dwindled a bit. The main one taken out years ago was the stuffed gorilla at the entrance. By golly that was large!

I visited the place again in the late eighties and it seems as though someone has pinched the cannons from the balcony. Any idea where they went.?

Used to play football when unknown lads turned up. You just joined in.

What a park if you live in the area. Fond memories

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Right on Catfan, he had the walls built so as his family and guests wouldn't see the "peasants" dwellings to the east. He forbid housing to be built nearby that would have served his miners.

His first "colliery" were bell pits to the west of the estate, later as underground mining technology improved the Middletons sunk the first underground Wollaton colliery a few hundred yards to the north west, the same one that created the legal feud over the drainage tunnel, (sough) with Lord Newcastle.

Then another later Middleton sunk the last Wollaton Colliery just north of the estate and Radford Colliery to the east of the estate.

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Wollaton Hall is a great place to visit and I take schools there from Tamworth now and then and the children love the place. Of course it was stately Wayne Manor wasn't it?

The tour is worth every penny.

Best wishes

Peter

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My Dad - William Frankland worked at Wollaton Hall for many years

Best wishes

Peter

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We had a couple of electricians from Wollaton at Clifton, together with the elec eng in charge who was transferred to finish his days out to retirement.

Dave Watson and Ernie Gerrard, forget the engineers name, Stan something or other if I recall right.

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Wollaton Park featured largely in my childhood, from hanging around the hall to playing football on the grass areas. As teens we used to sit supping tea in the café on summer Sunday afternoons or take girls snogging (!?) under the cover of the ferns growing near Derby Road. Happy days.

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Although living 4 or 5 miles away on Bestwood Estate, Wollaton Park holds many memories for me too,we used to cycle there as 9 and ten year olds,sometimes Fishing but mostly just exploring,and we were fascinated by the Gorrilla's Tackle lol.

Also remember playing Football for Padstow against Cottesmore there,remember vividly because we won 10-0,and I scored a few,.And nearly 60 years later seeing my Grandson score a couple on the same pitch,while I ran the line for his youth club,i think Wollaton Park is a great asset for Nottingham.

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I have lots of great memories of time spent at Wollaton Park. When I was little I used to walk there with my grandfather. On the way back we would sometimes stop and go in the Post Office in Wollaton Village. The crazy paved path and the windows with the big bubbles in fascinated me. In the park we would go around the lake and look for grey squirrels! There were lots of red ones. Grey squirrels were a novelty then, before they became pests. When I was older I went there with friends and as a teenager it was a good place to meet boyfriends on Sunday afternoon!

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