Why is there a metal line running through Old Market Square?

Have you ever noticed the metal line running down the middle of Old Market Square?

Have you ever walked past the metal line in Old Market Square and wondered why it’s there?

If you live in Nottingham, then chances are you’ll have passed through Old Market Square dozens of times.

The pedestrianised square is used by thousands of people every day as a meeting place or simply somewhere to relax and do a bit of people-watching.

As the largest public space in the UK after London’s Trafalgar Square, the 12,000 square metre area has acted as a focal point of the city for generations.

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Each year the square hosts the popular Nottingham Beach and Nottingham Winter Wonderland events, with tens of thousands of people drawn to the city centre.

But the square as we know it only dates back to 1928, when a redevelopment shrank its perimeter from 22,260 square metres.

The square’s history as a centre-point dates back to the 11th century, before even the City of Nottingham was formed.

At this time Nottingham was divided into two rival communities - the Anglo-Saxons and Normans.

You can read more about the streets that divided the city by clicking here.

Old Market Square has hosted a market for hundreds of years

At some point during the late medieval period, a market was founded in the centre of the city to allow people from both sides of the divide to purchase goods.

However, like two sets of rival footballers clashing, precautions had to be taken to avoid the Anglo-Saxons and Normans crossing each other's paths.

And what better way to separate the two communities than a huge wall?

The wall ran down the middle of Old Market Square and divided the animal market from the grain and commercial market.

The wall was demolished in the 18th century and eventually the two settlements grew to become one large unified community.

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A metal drainage channel now marks where a wall once stood to divide the Anglo-Saxon and Norman communities

Those who have walked through Old Market Square in the past two decades may have noticed a steel drainage channel running from one end to the other.

The metal line was added following a redesign of the square in 2006 to mark where the original diving wall once stood.

Today, much like the time of the Anglo-Saxons and Normans, Old Market Square remains the centre-point of the city, where people can meet and shop.

The metal line dividing Nottingham's Old Market Square hails back to city's medieval heritage