Maid Marian Way : Turning Back the Pages

Work on Maid Marian way began in the late 1950s.  As the new road began to take shape, in the 1960s, it became evident that Nottingham would never be quite the same again.But was this a brave attempt to divert traffic from the city centre or one of Nottingham’s worst planning disasters?

 This is a no-nonsense book that recalls the days of Jessamine Cottages, Walnut Tree Lane and leafy narrow streets leading up to the Castle.  It also re - creates, in a series of vivid images, the arrival of looming cranes, concrete and skyscrapers.  The book follows the creation of Maid Marian Way through three decades and it includes several contemporary photographs of the road so that the whole story from past to present can be relived, street-by-street, block- by- block.  Among the images are photographs of Watson Fothergill’s St Nicholas’ Rectory, Preston’s Kiosk (newsagents) that stood in the Friar Lane underpass and an aerial view of Huntingdon Street bus station. Anyone who has lived, worked or visited Nottingham will find this book essential reading and architecture students of  today will find it a fascinating insight into a fateful town planning exercise that still ‘gets people talking’ after all these years.

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