A new book for children reveals the gory details of the bloody and gruesome history of Nottinghamshire. The book is the Council's first local history book for children, and is entitled ‘A Grisly History of Nottinghamshire in 10 Spine-chilling Chapters’.
The book has been written by local children’s author Michael Cox, and is illustrated by Clive Goddard. It has been published by the council’s Libraries, Archives and Information Publications Group.
The book covers the history of Nottinghamshire in ten grisly and humorous chapters and wonderful illustrations. It reveals:
- Which horrid king dangled screaming children from the walls of Nottingham Castle until they were dead
- Why the River Trent ran red with blood on one sunny summer afternoon in 1487
- How a posse of blood-thirsty Nottinghamshire ‘hard-cases’ massacred woolly mammoths
- Which Nottinghamshire town was blasted to bits in three bloody sieges then devastated by a gruesome plague!
The book will be launched at Arnold Library in Front Street on Wednesday (Nov 16) by Nottinghamshire County Council Vice-Chairman Coun Carol Pepper. She and the author Michael Cox will then be joined by Year 6 pupils from Robert Mellors School.
Pins and needles
One absorbing tale in the book centres on an unusual case of pins and needles involving Kitty Hudson, a six-year-old from Arnold who lived with her grandfather at St Mary’s Church in Nottingham in 1765.
Her job was to sweep the church floor and pick up pins which had fallen off women’s dresses. Kitty kept the pins in her mouth to keep her hands free for sweeping, but the habit eventually made her toothless. Then at the age of 18, she began to suffer with numbness in her legs and arms. So, in 1783, she went to Nottingham General Hospital and doctors discovered she had been swallowing the pins and her stomach, feet, legs, chest, and all the rest of her, was full of them! The doctors set about removing the pins and in 1785 she was discharged, completely pin-free, and went on to have 17 children.
Other features of the book include a grisly Nottinghamshire timeline, how the county was affected by the two world wars and letters from the past retold with a fun twist, which paint a vivid picture of yesteryear.
Ideal Christmas present
Nottinghamshire County Council Vice-Chairman, Coun Carol Pepper, said: "This book presents the history of Nottinghamshire in a most humorous and fun way and would make an ideal Christmas present for children aged 10-14.”
‘A Grisly History of Nottinghamshire’ can be bought for £5.95 from Nottinghamshire Archives and major libraries. It can also be purchased by post by sending a cheque for £8.95 (including £3.00 for postage and packaging) payable to Nottinghamshire County Council to: Libraries, Archives and Information, 4th Floor, County Hall, West Bridgford, Nottingham, NG2 7QP.
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