And so they came.
They came on day one to witness the start of something. To be in on the ground floor as history was made. To savour the pomp of the opening ceremony; to pause and remember the victims of the Nottingham attacks; then to bask in the action which lay before them.
Day two brought the soundtrack of schoolchildren once more. The excitement of new experiences; the day trip of a young lifetime.
Over the weekend, they came to see the game move through the gears. To live and breathe every ball as the match moved this way and that.
And they came on the final day – a ‘people’s Monday’ of dubious sick days, new faces in the crowd and the unexpected delight at witnessing world-class sport free of charge.
Although, they would, in truth, have liked to witness more.
But still they cheered.
They cheered every shot which crept to the boundary's edge, every run which gave an inkling that maybe, just maybe, this could be England's day.
They rose to acclaim Danni Wyatt's fifty on Test debut – a half-century that was as much a testament to application and grit as her first-innings forty was a banquet of strokemaking.
But they appreciated the endeavour, skill and success of the Southern Stars too. In thrall to the wicketkeeping of captain Alyssa Healy, the whip-smart stumping of Amy Jones drawing astonished gasps as it was replayed on the big screens.
They applauded the acumen of Ashleigh Gardner, who claimed the second-best Test figures of all-time at Trent Bridge, behind that famed Stuart Broad burst in 2015.
Her eight wickets secured both the spoils and a place on the freshly-minted Trent Bridge honours board which recognises some 44 years of women's cricket history at the venue to date.
And they appreciated the organic fight to the finish that a five-day Test so often offers, on a pitch which yielded 1,371 runs, 20 wickets and a final day on which all four results were possible.
Those day five patrons were among a 23,207-strong crowd over the course of the match – comfortably a record for a Women's Test on these shores – who created a Trent Bridge buzz that was at once familiar and all its own.
It was an atmosphere of warmth and celebration – and how those on the field responded.
Despite double-centuries and five-wicket hauls, England now require five wins from six white-ball fixtures if they are to regain the urn. It is, undoubtedly, a tall order against a side with a claim to be the finest currently operating in all sport, anywhere.
But they will head to Edgbaston for the first IT20 buoyed by the moments where they had their opponents on the run – and the way in which the Nottingham public responded.