[1] There is an adjacent ward, Bulwell Forest, which includes Highbury Vale, Rise Park and the west of Top Valley, its population at the same census being 13,614.

In response to the complaints, a local law was enacted (around 1320) forbidding anyone without "fixed... and at least part-covered premises" to sell goods or services close to the original businesses.

[3][full citation needed] The statute was ill-worded: salesmen simply fixed posts in the ground, creating market stalls similar to their modern counterparts.

The strong, easily worked and durable rock, a dull yellow-orange magnesium limestone similar to the Bunter sandstone under Nottingham Castle, offered a building material easy to quarry.

Running as part of much larger seams criss-crossing the region, the coal lies underneath the layers of sandstone and is in places only a few feet beneath the surface.

One of the world's first railway lines, completed in 1604 between nearby Strelley and Wollaton, was built by Willoughby's heir, to aid transportation of the coal from his mines.

Horses and other beasts of burden would pull the rows of trucks filled with coal, with the rails acting as a guide and a smoother surface than the roads of the time.

[6] An 1852 act of Parliament allowed a gas pipeline from Basford and the south to be extended and provide street lighting and commercial and domestic service that revolutionised life in the town.

The earliest supply of mains water did not arrive until 1877, to replace many local springs, wells and the river providing for the needs of business and domestic use.

The proportion of children dying before their fifth birthday decreased by over 75 percentage points in Bulwell between 1870 and 1890, although this brought overcrowding and further demand for overstretched services like housing.

Despite the fly-tipping and lack of active conservation, the site surprisingly supports a wide variety of wildlife, from rare wildflowers to mammals such as grey squirrels, hedgehogs and urban foxes, and up to 20 different species of bird.

Sellers Wood was declared a Site of Special Scientific Interest by English Nature in 1981 as "a fine example of broad-leaved semi-natural woodland... of regional importance".

It includes warehousing and distribution for national food retailers, printing factories, office blocks of all sizes, and small to medium-sized units for various goods and services.

A large Cash and Carry wholesalers recently joined the supermarket, petrol station and small row of fast-food outlets between this industrial estate and the rest of Bulwell.

Thereafter the crowd is said to have "dispersed quietly and as directed with no further disturbance," later winning the fight to designate the land for the "pleasure and leisure of the people of Bulwell".

[13] The whole Bogs area was set to be demolished in 2002 to make way for a road bridge and transport interchange for buses, trams, taxis and trains.

[13] With help from local community groups and residents, the facilities at Bulwell Bogs were instead upgraded in 2003 to produce a bigger play-park, a safer paddling pool and a cleaner feel, and won a Green Flag Award in 2004 for work done to regenerate the area.

[16] Next to Bulwell tram stop is the railway station, where trains on the Robin Hood Line run from Nottingham to Mansfield and Worksop.

Fights were regularly held in the nearby Market Place after closing time on Saturday night, with scores being settled and money made or lost on the outcomes.

[27] The series, a mockumentary, follows Sue Tuke (played by Selina Mosinski[26]) as the manager of a fictional charity shop on Bulwell Main Street.

[29] A memorial stone marking the spot where PC Walker died[29] was vandalised in January 2006, with a hammer being used to deface and damage the engravings.

The special constable required extensive reconstructive surgery after being dragged along the road by a car when trying to arrest a man on Bulwell Hall estate.

The fatal shooting of local man Marvin Bradshaw outside a Bulwell pub in 2003, led to gangland-style reprisal attacks that attracted international interest.

[32] A passenger in the car Bradshaw had been driving on the night of his murder, whilst unhurt in the attack, himself died within months of the event, leading friends and family members to seek revenge on his behalf.

Three of the eight men arrested on charges of conspiracy to murder John and Joan Stirland, O'Brien's mother and stepfather, were found guilty, in a case still being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

[40] Another local man was shot in the neck and back outside the Lord Nelson in November 2006, then abducted, tied up, driven to a country road and left for dead.

It is supposed to derive from the spring called "Bull Well", which runs out of the Bunter sandstone over a bed of clay, near the north end of the forest.

[44] One legend has it that the town was named after a bull struck a sandstone rock causing it to seep water – a now sealed well-housing in the nature reserve off Bestwood Road, is said to be the original.

Both Bulwell St Mary's School and the Seventh-day Adventist church next door have illustrations of the tale relief carved into sandstone blocks.

Generations of Bulwell's children have grown up with the legend and the city council recently erecting a statue of a bull goring a well in the market place.