On Thursday 25th February Year 5 paid a visit to Nottingham and discovered an incredible subterranean city and the grim realities of Victorian justice.

Deep beneath a very 21st century shopping mall the boys were equipped with hard hats and descended several flights of steps to a remarkable network of sandstone caves which had been in use for over seven hundred and fifty years. We were shown where people lived and worked, with splendidly detailed (and disgusting) descriptions of the ancient leather tanning industry. During the Second World War the caves protected the citizens of Nottingham from air raids with one particular cave being large enough for four thousand people.

At the Galleries of Justice Museum we learned how those who fell foul of the law were dealt with during the 18th and 19th centuries. In the courtroom, summary justice was meted out by Judge Bansal upon the notorious reprobate and rioter, Convict Bhalla, much to the approval of those in the Public Gallery. Having then been taken down to the cells, the harsh conditions and punishments which awaited the villains of old Nottingham were vividly demonstrated. Thankfully, due to the efforts of prison reformers like Elizabeth Fry (look on the back of a £5 note!) the jail was closed in 1878 and so the West House boys were released without a stain on their characters.