Around 600 AD this site (Nottingham Castle) formed part of the Kingdom of Mercia and was known in the Brythonic language as Tigguo Cobauc, meaning Place of Caves.  It fell under the rule of a Saxon chieftain named Snot, then became known as "Snotingaham"; the homestead of Snot's people (Inga = the people of; Ham = homestead) in the area now known as the Lace Market.

Nottingham was captured in 867 AD by Danish Vikings and later became one of the Five Burghs of The Danelaw (also known as the Danelagh; Old English: Dena lagu; Danish: Danelagen), a historical name given to the part of England in which the laws of the "Danes" held sway and dominated the Anglo-Saxons contrasting with the "West Saxon law" and "Mercian law". The areas that comprised the Danelaw we're in northern and eastern England. 

The origins of the Danelaw arose from the Viking expansion in the 9th century and was also used to describe the set of legal terms and definitions created in the treaties between the English king, Alfred the Great, and the Danish warlord, Guthrum. The Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum was formalised, defining the boundaries of their kingdoms in 886 AD.  Danish laws held sway in the Kingdom of Northumbria and Kingdom of East Anglia, and the lands of the Five Boroughs of Nottingham, Derby, Leicester, Lincoln and Stamford.

Nottingham Castle was constructed on a sandstone outcrop by the River Leen in the 11th century and a settlement also developed around the castle

During the Industrial Revolution, much of Nottingham's prosperity was founded on the textile industry; in particular, Nottingham was an internationally important centre of lace manufacture.  In common with the UK textile industry as a whole, Nottingham's textile sector fell into headlong decline in the decades following World War II, as British manufacturers proved unable to compete on price or volume with the output of factories in the Far East and South Asia.

Nottingham's biggest sporting claim to fame is undoubtedly being home to the world's oldest professional club, Notts County, who were formed in 1862, they are the oldest of all the clubs in the world that are now professional.

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