Horne’s Castle, Nottingham

Horne’s Castle, Nottingham

HORNE’S CASTLE in Hollow Stone is one of those public-houses the meaning of whose sign is unknown to the general public. But Horne’s Castle recalls to the mind the life and doings of an unpleasant old reprobate, who lived in the middle of the eighteenth century.

In 1729 it was the residence of William Andrew Borne, "Esquire," as his contemporaries addressed him, who, in addition to being a wealthy man, was a real bad character, and at one time or another he seems to have committed every known crime, including murder.

He escaped the consequences of his misdeeds until he arrived at a ripe old age, and then Nemesis overtook him and he was condemned to death for a murder which he had committed many years previously.

In accordance with the custom of the times he was removed from the dock to his own house, Horne’s Castle, and, from thence he was driven in his own carriage, by his own coachman, to the place of execution, which was where the entrance to the Church Cemetery now stands, and there he was hanged. His body was afterwards placed on view for the public at his late residence in Hollow Stone.

He went out of the world in a very disgruntled state of mind, for it appears that he was accustomed to eat a plum pudding at twelve o’clock on his birthday. Now, he was hanged on the morning of his seventy-fourth birthday, and his grievance was that the authorities refused to postpone his execution till after twelve o’clock, and so he was deprived of his final plum pudding!