Trent & Peak Archaeology / The University of Nottingham

North-Western Passage  2 Castle Grove, cave CD3 The North-Western Passage: the real Mortimer’s Hole?   In October 1330, a parliament was called at Nottingham. The defacto - but unofficial - ruler of England, Roger de Mortimer and his wife Isabella stayed in the Royal Castle, while the 17-year-old Edward III (the true, but deposed, King)  and his supporters lodged in the town. On the night of the 19th October, Edward’s troops covertly entered the Castle via a secret tunnel, capturing Mortimer and Isabella. Despite his mother’s protestations, Mortimer was sent again to the Tower and then to Tyburn, where he was hanged on 29th November 1330. Such is the story, a fuller and more fanciful version of which can be read here. So where is the contention? The real Mortimer’s Hole? The question concerns the secret tunnel by which Edward’s troops gained access to the Castle. Could it really have been the tunnel we know now as Mortimer’s Hole? Did this tunnel even exist in 1330? Well, maybe. The only full proper plan of the medieval Castle, the Smythson Plan of 1617, clearly shows the entrance to to Mortimer’s Hole as polygonal turret with a spiral staircase leading downwards. The first reference to Mortimer’s Hole is from 1540, but the Pipe Rolls of Richard I refer to the construction of ‘a postern in the motte’ in 1194. Could this have been Mortimer’s Hole? It has been suggested that Mortimer’s Hole was well known in 1330 and would therefore have been properly guarded by a suspicious Mortimer with his enemy so close. But the contemporary accounts all state that the Castle’s constable, William Eland, was in on the plot and assisted the raiding party with access. This makes the modern Mortimer’s Hole a possibility. However those same contemporary accounts describe the use of ‘a postern open to the park’ (Schalachronica) and ‘an alley, that stretches out of the ward, under the earth into the castle, that goes to the west’ (Harley MS 1568). Neither of these descriptions fit with the modern Mortimer’s Hole, but the both descriptions certainly do fit CD3, the North-Western Passage. From the documentary evidence it therefore seems likely that this tunnel is the real Mortimer’s Hole. The real Davey Scot’s Hole? The North-Western passage is often referred to as Davey Scot’s Hole. This is probably the result of further confusion! Davey Scot was King David II of Scotland, who was captured by the victorious English in 1346 at the Battle of Neville’s Cross. He was reputedly held prisoner at Nottingham Castle - this was first recorded by John Leland in 1540. Lucy Hutchinson, who lived at the Castle during the Civil War, reported that: “In one of these places it is reported that one David, a Scotch king, was kept in cruel durance, and with his nails had scratched upon the wall the story of Christ with his twelve apostles.” We can be reasonably certain that cave CD3, although referred to as Davey Scot’s Hole, is not the cave in which King David II was held captive. Although the cave is not fully excavated at the moment, it appears to be a passage out of the Castle rather than a dungeon, with steps and no sign of gates or doors. Is remains possible however that this may have once been a dungeon, later extended into a passage or postern. If this were the case it could not have been the real Mortimer’s Hole. It remains most likely that King David’s Dungeon (CD5) is indeed the dungeon of David II, and also likely that CD3, the North-Western Passage, is actually the real Mortimer’s Hole. So far no-one has ever found the engraving of Christ and the Twelve Apostles in any cave.