Deb's World

Deb's World Fun facts • Quirky places • The unnoticed bits
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Inside St Mary Magdalene Church in Newark-on-Trent there is a pair of painted panels that date back to the early 16th ce...
07/09/2026

Inside St Mary Magdalene Church in Newark-on-Trent there is a pair of painted panels that date back to the early 16th century - and they are among the rarest artworks surviving in England.

The paintings are known as the Dance of Death, and they are found on the outside of the Markham Chantry Chapel. One panel depicts a prosperous young man, well-dressed and with a coin purse. The other shows a skeleton carrying a carnation and gesturing towards a grave.

The message was deliberate: death comes to everyone, regardless of wealth or status. Only one other surviving example of this type of painting exists in the whole of England - in Hexham, Northumberland.

Have you ever heard of the Dance of Death before, or is this new to you?

Good morning!It’s a filming day today! 🎥Lots more videos coming your way very soon… 👀
07/09/2026

Good morning!

It’s a filming day today! 🎥

Lots more videos coming your way very soon… 👀

Sandwiched between Newark-on-Trent Town Hall and the bank next door, there is a building that most people walk straight ...
06/09/2026

Sandwiched between Newark-on-Trent Town Hall and the bank next door, there is a building that most people walk straight past without ever noticing it. That is possibly because it is only 6 feet 9 inches wide.

Known as the Thinnest House - or sometimes the Little House - this remarkably narrow building is squeezed into what looks like a gap between its much grander neighbours. A pen and ink drawing from 1776 - the same year John Carr completed the Town Hall - shows it already standing, which means it is thought to have been part of a row of Georgian shops that have since disappeared around it.

How it has survived while everything else changed around it is its own quiet mystery.

Have you ever noticed this building before?

Shout out to my newest followers! Excited to have you onboard!Ben Wilkes, David Paling, Joanna Starbuck, Richard Baldry,...
06/09/2026

Shout out to my newest followers! Excited to have you onboard!

Ben Wilkes, David Paling, Joanna Starbuck, Richard Baldry, Susan Shaw, Sabrina Garcia-Soltys, Simon Dyer, Thomas Fairclough, Ivan Silva, Chris Blount, Pete May, John Langley, Stephen Clarridge, Ian S Clarke, Irene Coleman, Betty Crowe Leviner, Renee Penn, Stuart Kirkpatrick, Eva Evoque, Laura Anne Henry, Parker Barlow, Lauren Staton Armstrong, Jamie Richardson, Trev Waring, Allyson Scott-Edwards, Rachel Rowlands, Sarah Wood, Lisa Hallatt, Sue Marsh, Bridget Whotton, Excelomo Aghaku, Moggie Morris, Gary May, Jules Paxton, Kathryn Payandeh, Iris Busley, Ray Buchanan, Jody Parker, Dana Metwally, Kelle Ohara, Marie Kenny, Amie Solace, Jackie Mellor, Barbara Elliott, Jean Fidell, Tom Barradell, Garry Musson, Sarah Jane Perkins, Catherine Haslam, Paul Drulia

Next time you are in Newark-on-Trent, look down as you walk along Church Street next to St Mary Magdalene Church - becau...
06/09/2026

Next time you are in Newark-on-Trent, look down as you walk along Church Street next to St Mary Magdalene Church - because you might be walking over a map of the world.

Set into the paving is a large circular plaque celebrating all the places in the world that carry the name Newark. Listed around the edge are Newarks from across the United States - from California to Vermont - as well as places further afield including Queensland in Australia.

Did you know so many places around the world share this name?

06/09/2026

Did you know that the King of England once granted his mistress a piece of Nottinghamshire? 👀👑

I’m at Bestwood Lodge, a place with centuries of royal history behind it!

Bestwood had been used as a royal hunting park for hundreds of years when, in 1681, King Charles II leased Bestwood Lodge to his famous mistress, Nell Gwyn. 🌳

And there’s a brilliant legend attached to it…

It’s said Charles told Nell she could have as much land as she could ride around before breakfast, so she supposedly set off before dawn, dropping silk handkerchiefs along the way to mark the boundaries!

True or not, Nell and Charles’s son, Charles Beauclerk, became the 1st Duke of St Albans in 1684, beginning a family connection with Bestwood that lasted for generations.

The lodge standing here today came much later, after the earlier building was demolished and the 10th Duke of St Albans commissioned the incredible Victorian Gothic building we see today. 🏰

And Bestwood’s royal history goes back even further…

Richard III was reportedly hunting here in August 1485 when news reached him that Henry Tudor had landed in Wales. He headed to Nottingham, gathered his forces and marched towards the battle that would become Bosworth Field.

What a history this place has! 😮

Have you ever visited Bestwood Lodge?

On this brick building in Derby city centre is a blue plaque connecting two of the greatest names in British science and...
05/09/2026

On this brick building in Derby city centre is a blue plaque connecting two of the greatest names in British science and art.

John Flamsteed, born in Denby, Derbyshire in 1646, was educated at Derby School and went on to become Britain's very first Astronomer Royal - appointed by King Charles II in 1675. He spent over 40 years cataloguing nearly 3,000 stars and laid the foundation stone of the Royal Greenwich Observatory.

Joseph Wright of Derby, born in 1734, also had a connection to this part of the city. He became one of Britain's most celebrated painters, described as "the first professional painter to express the spirit of the Industrial Revolution."

Have you heard of John Flamsteed before, or is this the first time you've come across his Derby connection?

Have you ever heard of the man who helped turn Sheffield into the birthplace of modern football?John Charles Shaw was bo...
04/09/2026

Have you ever heard of the man who helped turn Sheffield into the birthplace of modern football?

John Charles Shaw was born in 1830 and spent much of his life at the heart of Sheffield's football story. He founded Hallam FC in 1860 - the second oldest football club in the world - and led the team to victory in the Youdan Cup in 1867, the world's first football tournament. He later served as President of the Sheffield Football Association from 1869 to 1883, and it was during this period that he oversaw the merging of the Sheffield Rules with the Football Association's national rules in 1877 - a step that helped shape the game we know today. This blue plaque marks the site of his business and home on Norfolk Row.

Have you heard of John Charles Shaw before, or is this someone new to you?

04/09/2026

Did you know Rushcliffe Country Park was once one of the most secret and dangerous places in Nottinghamshire? 👀💣

During the Second World War, this peaceful country park was home to Filling Factory No. 14 – a HUGE bomb-filling factory with more than 200 buildings, its own roads and even its own railway station! 🚂

At its peak, around 4,000 people worked here filling and storing bombs and ammunition for the RAF.

But the story doesn’t end there…

After the war, the site became a massive military surplus auction site, with everything from trucks and tanks to Land Rovers being sold here! 🚙

And I’ve actually got my own little bit of history with this place too! 😁

Before Rushcliffe Country Park opened, I worked in the set design department at Central TV and we used the old site as a filming location for the series Hard Cases.

We created an entire street here for a riot and car chase sequence – and I still have one of my original drawings from the set! 🎬✏️

Then, in 1993, Rushcliffe Country Park finally opened on the very same ground. 🌳

It’s amazing to think how many different lives this one place has had!

Did you know any of this? 👀

Inside the grounds of St Mary's Church in Handsworth, Sheffield, there's a pub that has been serving pints since 1804 - ...
03/09/2026

Inside the grounds of St Mary's Church in Handsworth, Sheffield, there's a pub that has been serving pints since 1804 - and many locals still know it by its former name, The Cross Keys.

The building itself dates back to around 1250, when it originally housed chaplains connected to the church. It sits within the boundary walls of the churchyard and is considered one of only four pubs in the UK that stand on consecrated ground. It was renamed the Chantry Inn in 2019 when a local brewery took it over.

Have you raised a glass in this pub before?

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