Description: The pub is named after Earl Manvers was lord of the manor, and owned about two-thirds of the parish of Sneinton. Sneinton was originally crown land, but King John granted it to William de Brimere, from whom it went, in the reign of Edward I, to Tibetot, and was held of him at the same time by Robert Pierrepont (the 1st Earl Manvers), by the service of a pair of gloves or one penny. Behind the pub is the cliff and caves of Sneinton Hermitage. The Hermitage is a long range of perpendicular rock, overlooking the vale of the Trent. The caves which are found here as well as all over Nottingham are one of the most difficult and intricate problems of local archaeology. Some of them are natural; others are artificial, but date back to prehistoric times, others again are mediaeval or even modern cellars. They have always been famous, and Asser, the friend and biographer of King Alfred, writing about 900, tells us that the ancient name for Nottingham was Tiuogobauc, which he translates as meaning ' the cave dwellings.' The caves at Sneinton are given the name 'Hermitage' which suggests the home of either a 'Dark Age' or Medieval religious recluse. Etchings and pictures show the caves with windows fixed in place, used for habitation and storage. They could keep beer at a constant cool temperature hence the location of this and The White Swan Inn nearby.