St. Mary's Church, Nottingham

Across the street from the National Justice Museum is the Church of St Mary the Virgin, aka St Mary's in the Lace Market. Most of the buildings on High Pavement, one of the oldest streets in Nottingham, are listed for their outstanding architectural or historic value; this church is one of them.

It was first mentioned in William the Conqueror's Domesday Book, but is thought to date back to Saxon times. The present building is the third at this location. It was constructed from 1377 to 1509. The nave was finished by 1475 in the perpendicular Gothic style; the tower was built during the reign of Henry VIII.

The ballad of Robin Hood and the Monk, written in a manuscript dating from about 1450, tells of Robin attending a mass at St Mary's. Betrayed by a dishonest monk he was attacked by the Sheriff whilst praying in front of the rood screen (separating the altar and congregation). Robin fought with the Sheriff and his men, killing or wounding several of them by the altar prior to being captured and imprisoned. In the tale, with the help of Little John, Robin Hood later escaped from prison by scaling the city wall and disappearing into the forest.

Today the rood screen is gone, but the altar and other points of interest from the church’s thousand-year history are still extant, such as the wooden Chantry door from the 1370s (one of the oldest surviving medieval doors), notable burials, and a collection of Victorian stained glass windows by Charles Eamer Kempe. The unique bronze doors, made in 1904 by Henry Wilson, are holding up as well.

The church carries an octagonal medieval font with a palindromic Greek expression: "Wash my transgressions, not only my face." There is an alabaster panel of St Thomas Becket. The present tower clock, rising 126 feet above street level, and fitted with an electric auto-wind, is by George & Francis Cope.