Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire (abbreviated Notts) is an in the, which borders , , ,  and. The is traditionally, at 52.95472°N, -1.15806°W, though the council is now based in  (at a site facing Nottingham over the ).

The districts of Nottinghamshire are, , , , , , and. The was administratively part of Nottinghamshire between  and  but is now a  although it remains part of the historic and ceremonial county.

As of 2006 the county is estimated to have a population of just over one million. Over half of the population of the county live in the conurbation of which also spreads into. The conurbation has a population of about 650,000, though less than half live within the city boundaries.

History
Nottinghamshire lies on the, and there are Roman settlements in the county, for example at. The county was settled by around the, and became part of the Kingdom, and later Earldom, of. However, there is evidence of settlement at, near Nottingham, and , east of. The name first occurs in, but until the county was administratively united with Derbyshire, under a single. In times the county developed  and  industries. During the canals and railways came to the county, and the  and  industries grew. In the  opened and mining became an important economic sector, though these declined after the.

Until, Nottinghamshire was divided into eight. Sometime between 1610 and they were reduced to six &mdash;, , , ,  and , some of these names still being used for the modern districts. Oswaldbeck was absorbed in Bassetlaw, of which it forms the North Clay division, and Lythe in Thurgarton.

Nottinghamshire is famous for its involvement with the legend of. This is also the reason for the amount of tourists who visit places like, City of and the surrounding villages in Sherwood Forest.

Nottinghamshire was mapped first by in 1576, the first fully surveyed map of the county was by John Chapman who produced Chapman's Map of Nottinghamshire in 1774. The map was the earliest printed map at a sufficiently useful scale (1 statute mile to one inch) to provide basic information on village layout and the existence of landscape features such as roads, milestones, tollbars, parkland and mills.

Physical geography
Nottinghamshire, like and, sits on extensive  measures, up to 900 s (3,000 ) thick and occurring largely in the north of the county. There is an near. These are overlaid by s and s in the west and in the east. The north of the county is part of the. The centre and south west of the county, around Sherwood Forest, features undulating hills with ancient woodland. Principal rivers are the, , and. The Trent, fed by the Soar and Erewash, and Idle, composed of many streams from Sherwood Forest, run through wide and flat valleys, merging at. The highest point of the county is Newtonwood Lane,  at 204 m/669ft.

Nottinghamshire is sheltered by the to the west, so receives relatively low rainfall at 641-740  (25-29 ) annually. The average temperature of the county is 8.8-10.1 degrees (48-50 degrees ). The county receives between 1321 and 1470 hours of sunshine per year.

Politics
Nottinghamshire is represented by, of which nine are members of the , and two are. , representative for, is a front-bench member of the government. of is a former Conservative.

The County Council is Labour controlled. There are 67 councillors, of which 36 are Labour, 26 are Conservatives and five are.

Economy and industry
In 1998 Nottinghamshire had a per-capita of 12,000, and a total GDP of £12,023 million. This is compared to a per-capita GDP of £11,848 for the East Midlands, £12,845 for England and £12,548 for the United Kingdom. Nottingham has a GDP per-capita of £17,373, North Nottinghamshire £10,176, and South Nottinghamshire £8,448. In October 2005 the United Kingdom had 4.7% unemployment, the East Midlands 4.4%, and Nottingham travel-to-work area 2.4%. Along the Trent on the county's eastern edge, close to the former coalfields, are two large power stations of and. is now closed. South of Nottingham, again near the Trent, is the and near Newark there are plans for a  at, next to the Trent, on the site of the former Staythorpe A & B s. There are two current coal mines at Thoresby between  and , and Welbeck at  near.

Education
The county has comprehensive secondary education with 47 state secondary schools and 7 independent schools, including, and the City of Nottingham has 18 state schools and 6 independent schools, not including s. Results at  of the percentage who get 5 grades A-C, including Maths and English, varies considerably across the district councils. Rushcliffe, the most wealthy council district in the East Midlands, gets the second highest GCSE results in the East Midlands ( gets the highest). The highest achieving school at GCSE is the Minster School in Southwell with 72% — the average for England is 45.8%, and Nottinghamshire's average is 40.1%. The lowest achieving is the Queen Elizabeth's Endowed School in Mansfield with 12%. In the City of Nottingham, the best school is the, a catholic school in with 78%. In general however, the city's schools are considerably below average. At A level, the highest achieving school in the county is the, followed by the then the  in. Few schools in the city have sixth forms, and the county's schools generally do better at A-level, although the city has better highest performing schools. The is the city's best, followed by, which both get better results than any county school. Overall in both LEA areas, the best A levels are at the independent, followed by , which get the top two best A level results in the East Midlands.

Average score at GCSE by district council (%)
% of pupils who gain 5 grades A-C including English and Maths in 2006; compare this table to average house price by district.
 * 1. Rushcliffe 58.8
 * 2. Gedling 45.2
 * 3. Broxtowe 42.9
 * 4. Newark and Sherwood 40.7
 * 5. Ashfield 34.4
 * 6. Bassetlaw 32.6
 * 7. Mansfield 30.1
 * (City of Nottingham Unitary Authority 28.5)

Culture
Nottinghamshire contains the ancestral home of the, Newstead Abbey, which he sold in 1818. It is now owned by Nottingham City Council and open to the public. The author was from Eastwood in Nottinghamshire. The North of the County is also noteworthy because of its connections with the Pilgrim Fathers. William Brewster, for example, came from the village of Scrooby and was influenced by Richard Clyfton who preached at Babworth church.

is a  club who play at  in West Bridgford. They won the in. is a football club and  and  are in. Other notable teams are and.

Settlements and communications

 * See also: .

The traditional county town, and the largest settlement in the historic and ceremonial county boundaries, is. The City is now administratively independent, but suburbs including, , , and  are still within the administrative county and West Bridgford is now home of the county council.

There are several s in the county. is a bridging point of the and, but is actually an  market town with a now ruined. sits on the site of a settlement, but grew after the. , in the north of the county, is also an Anglo-Saxon market town which grew rapidly in the with the arrival of s and s and the discovery of. Newark, Mansfield and Worksop have suffered from the decline of mining since the. Other market towns include, , , , and.

The main railway in the county is the which links   to  via Nottingham. The between Nottingham and Worksop serves several villages in the county. The East Coast Main Line from London King's Cross to Doncaster, Leeds, York, Hull Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Scotland serves the eastern Nottinghamshire towns of Newark and Retford. The runs north-south through the county, connecting Nottingham to London,  and many other towns and major roads.

The follows for the most part the path of the Great North Road, although in places it diverges from the historic route where towns have been bypassed. Retford was by-passed in 1961 and Newark-on-Trent was by-passed in 1964, and the A1 now runs between Retford and Worksop past the village of. Many historic s can still be seen along the traditional route.

The is just outside the county in, while the  lies within the historic boundaries of Nottinghamshire but is just inside. These airports serve the county and several of its neighbours. Together the airports have services to most major an destinations, and the East Midlands Airport now also has services to and  countries. As well as local services throughout the county, Nottingham and its suburbs have a  system,.

Places of interest

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