Thursday, 09 October 2025
Ask anyone to name a river they associate with Nottingham, and they will likely say the Trent. A brand-new exhibition at the University of Nottingham’s Lakeside Arts, now puts the lesser-known River Leen at the centre of the story of modern Nottingham.
The free exhibition, The Leen: Nottingham’s River, which runs at the Weston Gallery from Thursday 9 October 2025 to Sunday 15 March 2026, traces the Leen from its source in the Robin Hood Hills above Newstead Abbey to the River Trent at the Meadows, showing how it has connected places and communities.
Co-curated by Dr David Beckingham and Dr Rachel Dishington of the School of Geography, in collaboration with Manuscripts and Special Collections, the exhibition features archive materials that show the challenges created by industrial activity and population growth.
The Leen is much more than a potential risk to be hidden behind concrete and steel. By telling the story of the Leen as Nottingham’s river, flowing through its history and connecting many of its communities, we hope to shape conversations around its future.”
At the centre of the exhibition is the story of the River Leen Improvement Scheme, a 1960s initiative to protect Nottingham from flooding. It diverted the river and fixed the channel behind steel pilings and flood walls. The Environment Agency is responsible for maintaining these flood assets today.
Exhibition - The Leen: Nottingham's River
As part of that work, the Trentside team specially commissioned a low-level drone flight along the Leen, with the results displayed in the exhibition.
The Environment Agency is working with the City and County Councils to review options for potential new approaches for the Leen, simultaneously more resilient to threats from climate change and more accessible and beneficial to the communities that live along it.
For Manuscripts and Special Collections, the exhibition is an opportunity to engage with people who have lived and worked along the Leen but whose experiences are not always included in business records.
A series of associated talks and tours of the exhibition will be taking place. Members of the public are invited to a special event on 13 November to explore archive records and share memories of companies such as Gerards (later Cussons) soap works.
We are excited about inviting communities to share their expert knowledge to help us catalogue the records of some of the organisations featuring in the display. The reminiscence workshop will allow participants to respond to the exhibition from their lived experience and the memories captured will be preserved in the archives for future generations to discover.”
More information on the exhibition and opening times can be found here.
Story credits
More information is available from Dr David Beckingham, Associate Professor in Cultural and Historical Geography, via david.beckingham@nottingham.ac.uk; Sarah Colborne, Archivist in Manuscripts and Special Collections, via sarah.colborne@nottingham.ac.uk
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 97 in the world and 17th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the third most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2024 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
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