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When you come to Nottingham, you'll become immersed in the clubs and bars around its vibrant city districts. But you may not be aware of another world of interest deep underground.

Underneath the city nestles a complex network of over 200 man-made caves. In fact, Nottingham was originally known as 'Place of Caves', with records dating this underground existence back to 900AD. Between the 11th and 19th centuries these cubbies were even used as crude housing until a law banned this practice.

The soft Sherwood sandstone beneath Nottingham made it simple for people across the ages to hand-carve cellars for store rooms, factories and dwellings. Although there's a major project underway to map out these hidden networks, it is thought that up to 50 caves remain unexcavated and a further 75 could have been destroyed by city redevelopment.

You'll find many signs of Nottingham's real underground scene scattered throughout the city centre. The Broadmarsh Shopping Centre conceals the most prominent example, with a whole 'City of Caves' tucked underneath. Nowadays, you can explore its ancient corridors and reminisce about their history reconstructed using clues from artefacts found inside. Your journey starts at the Medieval Tannery, a legacy of Nottingham's leather trade way back in 1250.

An exhibit of Drury Hill, site of some of the 19th century's worst slums, recreates the appalling conditions endured by entire families living in single rooms without sanitation. You will also see evidence of the caves' most recent calling ' Second World War air raid shelters. Explore the subterranean existence of those seeking refuge from the barrage of 500 bombs that fell directly upon the city during the blitz.

Hot-step over to the Castle for more man-made caves and secret passageways from medieval times. Mortimer's Hole is Nottingham's most famous underground structure, a vertical shaft from Castle Rock dropping into a tunnel leading to Brewhouse Yard. Local legend dates it back to 1330, when a group of conspirators infiltrated Nottingham Castle to capture the Earl of Mortimer, lover of Queen Isabella.

The Park boasts seven storeys of subterranean steps and passageways down to Park Tunnel, a hidden thoroughfare for horse-drawn traffic going to Derby Road. But the main use for the caves was as beer cellars. A great example can be found at the Flying Horse Hotel, where three caverns are linked by an arch-shaped tunnel. Peek below Elizabethan mansion Wollaton Hall and you'll see its own wine cellars adjoin an ancient tunnel linking it to Wollaton Village ' perhaps a transit route for goods.

An exceptional example of how Nottingham's caves were designed for purpose is found on Derby Road, where you'll see one with a 20-foot ceiling for a wagon-makers workshop.

To see the natural caves which may have inspired locals to carve out their world underground, head to Creswell Crags near Sherwood Forest. This historic limestone gorge conceals evidence of life during the Ice Age, Britain's only examples of cave art and 120,000 year-old signs of woolly mammoths, reindeer, bison and rhinos.

However much you do in Nottingham, without a visit to the caves, your visit will have barely scratched the surface.