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One of the biggest and best equipped centres in the UK. The usual approach for a beginner is a “tandem” – strapped to an instructor, so minimum training and fitness are needed, but you do need decent weather. There’s another big centre at Hibaldstow north of Lincoln.
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Clocks, watches, and timepieces of all sorts.
Early poverty relief was organised by parish churches, but this was overwhelmed by the 1820s economic slump. Relief was then industrialised by the creation of workhouses - you could serve gruel into 160 small bowls more efficiently than a score of parishes each supplying a handful. But you must ensure that the place is as miserable as possible, to deter all but the most desperate. Southwell's gaunt Workhouse was built in 1824 and was a prototype for those that sprang up all over Britain and Ireland, and is the best preserved. The infirmary was added in the 1870s. The complex later became an asylum and refuge for victims of domestic abuse. It's now run by the National Trust.
Charming redbrick Georgian, pity about the traffic. Here, rather than at Newark, is where King Charles I surrendered; he was then taken to nearby Kelham Hall.
Gothic east and Romanesque west as they built in stages while dismantling the Saxon predecessor. The Bishop's Palace was wrecked in the Civil War but the Great Hall has been restored.
Cinema. Paragon Cinema on Middle Gate remains closed as of 2026. The Showgrounds occasionally have drive-in movies.