Remnants of some of Nottingham’s lost Victorian past were discovered by accident during gardening work.
Martin Marshall had aimed to plant trees near the flats in Elm Close, off Mapperley Road, but found an almost untouched red roof path.
A short video about the research posted on social media has been viewed more than 12 million times.
The search connected the path to one of the large properties of the prestigious Victorians in the 1880s.
Mr Marshall, who runs his own landscaping and gardening business, said they plan to plant three fruit trees.
“We were just getting started when we hit something solid and clearly big,” he said.
“We discovered bright red tiles and started following them and it turned into a road.
“It was clear that we couldn’t plant trees there, because we certainly weren’t going to destroy the path, so we moved the trees and covered the path.”
Shortly after the discovery, Mr Marshall posted a series of photos on Instagram.
“It went crazy,” he said. “I think it got 12.6 million views.
“It’s phenomenal, it’s gone worldwide.
“This is by far the most interesting thing we found, usually it’s a few bottles or just junk.”
Demolished houses
Nottingham historian Lucy Brouwer, who leads walks linked to local architect Watson Fothergill, said the area attracted some of the most prominent citizens of the Victorian era.
“The whole area was open until it was bought by a man called Edwin Patchitt – twice mayor of Nottingham – who started selling it in the 1850s,” he said.
“It was then sold to various large houses, including that of Fothergill in 1871.
“This site is longer and is marked as The Elms on an 1875 map.
“But it seems there were a lot of places called Elms in Victorian times, so it’s not clear who the owner was, but it could have been a prominent barrister, William Acton.
“This house seems to have had buildings, so the floor could be part of a greenhouse or similar, which were popular at the time.”
Many of the “villas” eventually fell into disrepair, including Fothergill House, and were demolished in the 1960s, with flats built in their place.
The pavement is currently uncovered and may become a permanent feature of the current gardens.
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