(p. 153.) NOTTINGHAM. "There have been several falls of the rock, both at Nottingham itself and at Sneinton. Mortimer's Hole, under the Castle, is only one of four that are known to exist, three of which can be traversed, one wholly and two in part; one of these latter is by many regarded as the true historical passage. It started at the meadow level, and was partially closed by a wall; the rock wasted with time, and the thin wall gave way, bringing down a vast amount of rock above, and leaving the cavern in this part an open alley. The cave was then converted into malt offices, which yet remain in the higher and perfect part. The rock-caverns in the park, the old cell of S. Mary-le-rocke, formed possibly the parent of Lenton priory, just as those at Ligugé were the parent of the abbey on the further side of the river. The rock monastery, the 'Papists' Holes' has long ago lost most of its front by falls of rock and the destruction wrought by the Roundheads. A huge artificial pillar has of recent years been erected to prevent further falls. A fall in 1829 brought down from 1000 to 1400 tons, a mass some seven or eight feet thick. On 10th May in the same year, evidently due to an earth tremor, a like great fall occurred at the rock habitations at Sneinton. The inhabitants escaped as by a miracle. A dog barked furiously in the night, and the inhabitants of the cave dwellings rushed forth, fancying that robbers were at work there. In 1830 a portion of the town cliff fell, as did also some of that in the park. "The county or sheriff prison for Notts and Derby was, as far as can be traced back by records, half-way up the over ninety feet cliff of the town of Nottingham, and was entered from the King's hall at the top. Light holes were made in the face of the rock to the south. In these vaults, now closed, men and women were confined like wild beasts, on straw. The prior and monks were enclosed here in the time of Henry VIII., and were marched thence to the gallows. The inhabitants of the lower part of the town under the prison complained of the ordure exuding from the prison and trickling down the rock. There are records of marvellous escapes of prisoners, both male and female, down the face of the rock, till comparatively recently. As may well be supposed, gaol-fever raged in these horrible dens. One vault is still shown under the castle. Leland and Camden both speak of an underground dungeon in which tradition (this time falsely) says that King David of Scotland was confined, and on the walls of which with a nail he carved a crucifix. These travellers do not say that they actually saw it; but Thomas Bailey, in publishing his 'Annals of Notts,' employed a local artist to depict the scene. After the erection in the seventeenth century of the Italian castle, the vault was converted into a wine- cellar. Leland says that there had been three chapels in the castle, but he does not say where.