Gotham
| Gotham | |
| Nottinghamshire | |
|---|---|
 Gotham | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SK535303 |
| Location: | 52°52’8"N, 1°12’18"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 1,563 (2011) |
| Post town: | Nottingham |
| Postcode: | NG11 |
| Dialling code: | 0115 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Rushcliffe |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Rushcliffe |
Gotham (pronounced Goat-am) is a village in Nottinghamshire, with a population of 1,563 at the 2011 census. The name 'Gotham' comes from the Old English gat ham, meaning goat home(stead)".[1]
The village has a 12th-century church dedicated to the Roman martyr St Lawrence.
Gotham in popular culture
The village is slandered in folk legend as a foolish village, producing stories of the "Wise Men of Gotham".[2] These depict the people of the village as being stupid, but the reason for the behaviour is said in the tales to be that the villagers wished to feign madness to avoid a Royal Highway being built through the village, as they would then be expected to build and maintain this route. Madness was believed at the time to be highly contagious, and when King John's knights saw the villagers behaving as if insane, the knights swiftly withdrew and the King's road was re-routed to avoid the village.
One of the mad deeds seen by the knights was a group of villagers fencing off a small tree to keep a cuckoo captive from the Sheriff of Nottingham. One of the three pubs in the village is known as the "Cuckoo Bush Inn". The alleged site for attempt at fencing in the cuckoo is known as the Cuckoo Bush Mound, which is a Neolithic burial mound about three thousand years old. (It was excavated in 1847.)
Reminded of the foolish ingenuity of Gotham's residents, Washington Irving gave the name "Gotham" to New York City in his Salmagundi Papers (1807). In turn, Bill Finger named the pastiche New York home of Batman, Gotham City, albeit that in this context the name is pronounced Goθem.[3] The existence of Gotham, Nottinghamshire in the 'DC Universe' was recently acknowledged in Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight No. 206 (and again in 52 No. 27),[3] although the connection between two names within the DCU has not been fully explained. In a story titled 'Cityscape' in Batman Chronicles No. 6 it is revealed that Gotham was initially built for the purpose of housing the criminally insane, and Robin reads a journal that tells of how Gotham got its name; "I even have a name for it. We could call it 'Gotham' after a village in England – where, according to common belief, all are bereft of their wits."[3]
Responding to the connection between the Gotham in Nottinghamshire and Gotham for New York City, former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani wrote that it was "a pleasure to have this opportunity to acknowledge the cultural and historical link" between the two places.[3]
Another result of the Batman connection, is that the village's signs are repeatedly stolen by Batman fans.[4]
Other points of interest
On 2 August 1984, as rain storms lashed the county, Gotham was hit by a tornado at approximately 5:50 pm, uprooting trees, blowing garden sheds onto power cables, destroying greenhouses and severely damaging houses, roofs and chimneys; however, no one was injured.[5]
Gotham Hill Pasture near the village is a biological 'Site of Special Scientific Interest'.[6]
Few physical traces remain from the War; just a pillbox, one of two pillboxes erected here to form a defence for the village and also to serve as a searchlight battery.
Pictures
-
The much-stolen sign -
The Square -
Gotham Legends wind vane -
The Cuckoo Bush Inn -
The Star Inn -
Thatched house on Nottingham Road -
St Lawrence's Church -
Gotham Manor -
The old gypsum workings on Gotham Hill -
Woods on Gotham Hill -
The Gotham branch of the Great Central Railway, now a footpath
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Gotham) |
References
- ↑ Hanks, Patrick; Hodges, Flavia; Mills, A. D.; Room, Adrian (2002). The Oxford Names Companion. Oxford: the University Press. p. 1048. ISBN 0198605617.
- ↑ "Local Legends: Wise men of Gotham". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/myths_legends/england/nottingham/article_1.shtml. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Caroline Lowbridge (1 January 2014). "The real Gotham: The village behind the Batman stories". BBC News. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-24760791. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
- ↑ "Batman fans take Gotham village sign in 'prank'. BBC News. Retrieved 20 June 2015
- ↑ "Hold on! Twisters in Nottinghamshire". BBC. January 2004. http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/features/2004/01/twisters_and_tornadoes.shtml. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
- ↑ SSSI listing and designation for Gotham Hill Pasture