National Justice Museum, Nottingham (must see)

On the street of High Pavement, occupying one side of the Lace Market, stands the Shire Hall and County Gaol (jail). Back in medieval times this was also known as the "Sheriff's Hall", the seat of power of the Sheriff of Nottingham from which he enforced law and order in Nottinghamshire.

The "justice" meted out here in those days rendered Shire Hall a somewhat spooky place, with ghosts and shadowy figures reported, especially in the chapel and the caves. Indeed, underneath the building is an oubliette (a dungeon; from French meaning ‘to forget’) where, back in the day, none other than Robin Hood himself was imprisoned.

As time went by, the medieval structure fell into disrepair. In 1724 the courtroom floor collapsed during a trial, seeing everyone and everything drop into the caves beneath. The presiding judge, however, calmly looking on, granted a continuance.

Presently, both Shire Hall and its Edwardian neighbour house the largest justice museum in the United Kingdom. Its courtrooms, cells and 40,000 artifacts tell a story of justice and injustice and the history of law enforcement in the country. Several exhibitions are dedicated specifically to Robin Hood. Visitors may also find the door of Oscar Wilde's cell, items from the Great Train Robbery and the prisoner's dock from London's Magistrate's Court; Dr Crippen, the Kray Brothers, Emmeline Pankhurst and other defendants, famous and infamous, have stood here.

Among the exhibits is the bathtub from the "Brides in Bath" murders by George Smith in 1915; George hung for it. Speaking of hanging, here are gibbet irons, hand-made. Have a seat in this rare "birching stool", to be used with birch rods, but not after a sauna. There are items for force-feeding suffragettes (not widely used).

Tucked behind the gaol is a gallows. It sits on the very spot where convicts were hanged after public executions were banned – out of sight, out of mind, as it were. It is said that the gallows is kept in good working order (one never knows). Among the guests of these particular gallows were Lord Haw-Haw of WWII, and burglar Derek Bentley (later pardoned, oops!).

A high point of the tour is a visit to the wood-paneled courtroom, a venue for reenactments of famous and not so well-known trials. One may climb the stairs from the holding cells to the prisoners' dock, look up to the galleries and the judge's intimidating perch.

Tips:
Discounts on city cave tours are available with a purchase of admittance to the museum.