Petition Tag - medieval

St. Ann’s Well is an important historic site in Nottingham which deserves thorough professional archaeological investigation. The need for this has become urgent as the City Council has granted planning permission for houses to be built on the site.

St. Ann’s Well, formerly Robin Hood’s Well, was considered to be the main Nottingham site connected with Robin Hood until the 19th century, and fits the description of the location of his hideout.

The Well was the destination for a procession of most of the citizens of the town, led by the mayor, each Easter Monday throughout the middle ages. Deer were culled for a venison feast for all.

Water from the spring was considered to have healing properties and the Knights Templars built a stone immersion chamber here to treat skin diseases. This chamber was in use through the centuries until 1887 when it was covered over by workmen before a railway bridge was built.

Around 1600 an early brick house was built here for Nottingham’s woodward and this building became a public house, visited by royalty, including James I. The house also displayed “relics” of Robin Hood and hosted a society called the Brotherhood of the Bow. Some interesting artefacts have been found here, including a medieval gold ring and coin. Since it was an important focus for a thousand years it is likely there are more to be discovered.

St. Ann’s Well faded from public memory after the railway bridge was constructed over the site. The bridge was demolished in the 1960s and a pub built on the site. The pub too has now been demolished. As a result, there is currently an opportunity for an archaeological investigation to dig down to the level of the stone chamber and locate building remains and artefacts from the area’s history.

Planning permission requires that the developer funds some archaeological investigation on the site. But this will only be shallow, to the depth that new building may damage. The immersion chamber and medieval relics are likely to be deeper underground, covered by soil from the railway embankment. Once houses are built and the land is split up into separate ownerships it is unlikely it can ever be investigated again.

So far, Nottingham City Council has shown little interest in the site, though they promote the cjty’s connections with Robin Hood. We don’t want the opportunity to be lost to research a place with a strong connection with the outlaw which became an important part of Nottingham’s heritage.

St. Ann's Well-Wishers

View petition

A fantastically educational history programme is being aired across the globe by the history channel. For some unknown reason we, the UK, where most of it originates from are being overlooked.

It has already been shown in the USA and dates have been released recently for a showing in New Zealand.

The history channel said it isn't a priority at the moment to show it in the UK, but showing non history based programmes is? Let's make them listen we want Going Medieval shown now.

View petition

In 1990, the United Kingdom was introduced to Channel 4's newest game show- 'The Crystal Maze'! The show was hosted by Richard O'Brien, who lead a team of six contestants, fronted by a team captain and a vice captain, around the maze. Richard O'Brien left the show after series four, however, making way for Ed Tudor-Pole.

The Crystal Maze tested the initiative of the team's six contestants, in 15 puzzling games, where the objective was to beat the clock and escape with a time crystal. The time crystals were worth 5 seconds of time in the Crystal Dome, where your goal was to collect as many gold tokens as you possibly could in the time achieved by the team through collecting 'Time Crystals', but any silver tokens collected were deducted from the total of gold, making it harder for the team to reach their goal of 100 gold tokens, to gain their much-deserved prize!

The Crystal Maze was sectioned off into four zones: 'Medieval', 'Aztec', 'Futuristic' and 'Industrial' (which later changed to 'Ocean' towards the end of Richard O'Brien's time as a Crystal Maze presenter). The team members took it in turns, decided by the team captain, to tackle the tasks set before them in the games, hopefully gaining possession of that all-important time crystal. If they failed to complete their task and escape in their allocated amount of time, however, they would be locked in, only to be released by a sacrificed crystal, otherwise they would be locked in for the entirety of the show. The team had a choice of four types of game to tackle: 'Skill', 'Physical', 'Mental' and 'Mystery'.

It was up to the team captain to choose the team member who was best suited to this task. The team's outfits were each a different colour, later having a 'Time Crystal' printed on the backs.

The Crystal Maze had its residents, other than the host. In Medieval, and probably the most famous of all, was 'Mumsy', who was Richard O'Brien's Mother. She was a fortune teller, who was the main part of a Mystery game, where she would ask the chosen contestant three questions, which required a lot of thought and figuring out.

One correct answer would win them the 'Time Crystal', which rose from a crystal ball. Richard's Aunt Sabrina, who was consequently played by the same actress, replaced the character of Mumsy in the third series. The Futuristic zone had its own character- the computer, which asked the team a question when they arrived.

How can such a successful show be buried in the TV archives?

View petition