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ON-LINE GUIDE TO NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
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This brief guide provides
summary information on towns, villages and places to visit
in Nottinghamshire as well as some interesting facts and
anecdotes on the local area. To find a specific place either
scroll down the page or use the find facility on your
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Nottinghamshire is the home of the legendary Robin Hood and various exhibitions
in Nottingham tell his story. Sherwood Forest,
part of a great mass of forest land that once
covered much of Central England, is officially
designated `Robin Hood Country'. The Industrial Revolution saw the mechanisation of the
lace and hosiery industry of which Nottingham was
a centre and on which many of the surrounding towns and villages were dependant. Mills
sprang up in the towns, taking the industry away
from the homes, and the Nottinghamshire
coalfields, which had been mined for centuries, saw
their scale of operation expanded dramatically. It
was into this environment that DH Lawrence was born in the late 19th century and the
family's terrace house is now a museum dedicated to
the novelist. One of the gems of the county is Southwell Minster, a wonderfully
graceful building that is probably the least well known
of England's Cathedrals. The medieval town of Newark has many reminders of the Civil
War, while the ancient village of Scrooby, in the
far north of the county, is closely associated
with
the Pilgrim Fathers, who sailed to America on the
Mayflower in 1620.
Nottingham
At the heart of the city is its Old Market
Square, believed to be the largest market square in
the country. This was the setting for the famous
Nottingham Goose Fair that began in medieval
times and continues today; it is now held at Forest Fields on the edge
of Nottingham. Not far from the square, The Tales of
Robin Hood tells the story of the celebrated outlaw who is
forever linked with the city.
On a rocky outcrop high above the city centre stands
Nottingham Castle, home now to a museum and art gallery and to the
Sherwood Foresters Regimental Museum.
At the base of Castle Rock lies the famous Trip to Jerusalem
Inn, where the crusaders are said to have stopped for a pint
before setting off on their long journey to the Holy Land. Dating back
to around 1189, it has claims to being the oldest pub
in England; it was once the brewhouse for the castle. Close
by, and set in the heart of Nottingham's historic Lace
Market, is the Museum of Nottingham Lace, where the story
of Nottingham's famous industry is told.
Nottingham is built on sandstone, and one of the
many caves tunnelled down the years to provide shelter or hiding places
has
been left as a memorial to the black days of the Second World War.
Around Nottingham
Ravenshead
9 miles N of Nottingham on the A60
This village is home to Longdale Lane Rural Craft
Centre, established in the 1970s and the oldest such centre in the country.
Just to the southwest lies Newstead Abbey, a
magnificent 13th century ruin attached to a Victorian reworking of a
Tudor mansion that is one of the county's most historic houses. The
abbey was founded by Henry II in the 12th century as part of
his atonement for the murder of Thomas à Becket.
Bingham
8 miles E of Nottingham A52
Celebrities connected with Bingham, the unofficial capital
of the Vale of Belvoir, include Edward VII's mistress, Lily
Langtry,
who is commemorated on the chancel screen in the
church. Bingham was also the third Nottinghamshire town to
provide an Archbishop of Canterbury - George Abbot.
To the east lies Aslockton, the birthplace in 1489 of
Thomas Cranmer; the church is appropriately dedicated to
St Thomas, and the village school also bears his name.
Ruddington
4 miles S of Nottingham on the B680
This historic village was once the home of many hosiery workers
and several of their cottages still remain. There are two
museums here: the Ruddington Framework Knitters'
Museum and the Ruddington Village
Museum, housed in the old village school building of 1852.
Beeston
4 miles SW of Nottingham on the A6005
Lying on the outskirts of Nottingham, Beeston is the
home of Boots the Chemist, which was started by Jesse Boot in the
late 19th century. From 1880 it was also home to the Humber
bicycle factory, which expanded to include motor cars before moving
to Coventry in 1908.
Just to the north, in Stapleford churchyard, can be found the
best preserved Saxon carving in the county in the form of a 10ft
cross shaft that dates from the late 11th
century.
Eastwood
8 miles NW of Nottingham on the A610
This mining town was the birthplace of DH Lawrence and
the Lawrence family home, a two up, two down, terrace house at
8a Victoria Street is now the DH Lawrence Birthplace
Museum. A place of pilgrimage for devotees of Lawrence, Eastwood
also attracts those with an interest in railway history. It was at the
Sun Inn in the Market Place that a group of `Iron Masters and
Coal Owners' gathered in 1832 to discuss the construction of
a railway that would eventually become the mighty
Midland Railway. A plaque on the wall of the inn commemorates the meeting.
The railway was formed to compete with the Erewash
Canal, completed in 1779 and effectively put out of business by the 1870s.
Almost a century later, following years of neglect, the canal
was cleared and made suitable for use by pleasure craft.
Hucknall
7½ miles NW of Nottingham on the A611
Hucknall attracts a constant stream of visitors who come to
St Mary Magdalen Church to gaze not so much at the 14th century font
or the Kempe stained glass but at a simple marble slab set in the
floor of the chancel that marks the last resting place of Lord Byron.
Hucknall boasts another famous son, Eric Coates, who
is best remembered as a composer of light music: his
Sleepy Lagoon is immediately recognisable as
the signature music of BBC Radio's long-running programme
Desert Island Discs.
Newark-on-Trent
The market square of this elegant medieval town is lined
with handsome houses and inns. The most remarkable of these is
the 14th century former White Hart Inn, whose magnificent frontage
is adorned with 24 plaster figures of angels and saints. Dominating
one side of the square is the noble Georgian Town
Hall, which now houses the town's civic plate
and regalia and an art gallery displaying works by Stanley Spencer,
William Nicholson and notable local artists.
The most glorious days of the 12th century castle were during
the Civil War, when the townsfolk, who were fiercely loyal to Charles
I, endured three separate sieges before finally surrendering
to Cromwell's troops.
Newark possesses several other reminders of the Civil War and
of the two small forts that were built to guard this strategic crossing
over the River Trent only the Queen's
Sconce has survived. Nearby is the Governor's
House, where the governors of Newark lived
during the Civil War and also where Charles I quarrelled with
Prince
Rupert after the prince had lost Bristol to Parliament.
With such a wealth of history inside its boundaries,
Newark naturally has its fair share of museums and, along with those
in the town, to the east is the Newark Air
Museum, one of the largest privately managed collections in
the country.
Around Newark-on-Trent
Sibthorpe
6 miles S of Newark off the A46
All that remains above ground of a priests' college, founded here in
the 14th century, is the parish church and a
Dovecote that stands in the middle of a field. Of the
three Archbishops of Canterbury born in Nottinghamshire, Thomas
Cranmer is by far the best known, but Sibthorpe was the childhood
home of Thomas Secker, Archbishop from 1758 to 1768.
Southwell
6 miles W of Newark on the A612
Undoubtedly one of England's most beguiling towns, Southwell
is dominated by its Minster, whose twin towers, with their
pyramidal Rhenish Caps, are unique in this country. Perhaps the least
well-known of England's cathedrals, Southwell's history goes back
to AD 956 when Oskytel, Archbishop of York, established a church
here. The present building was erected in three phases between 1150
and 1290. Octagonal in design, the
Chapter House has been hailed as the pinnacle of the
Decorated period of architecture. The Cathedral stands in a
delightful precinct surrounded by attractive buildings, while to the south
stand the ruins of the palace of the archbishops of York built in
the 14th and 15th centuries. The Workhouse, in the care of
the National Trust, tells what life was like for 19th century paupers.
Southwell can claim to be the birthplace of the Bramley apple.
The story goes that in the early 19th century, two ladies
planted some apple pips in their cottage garden in the nearby village
of Easthorpe. Nature took its course and one of the seedlings grew
into a tree. By this time, Matthew Bramley owned the cottage and
the quality of the tree's fruit began to excite public interest.
Henry Merryweather, a local nurseryman, persuaded Bramley to let him take
a cutting, which he subsequently propagated with enormous success.
Mansfield
16 miles W of Newark on the A617
The second largest town in the county, Mansfield stands at
the heart of what were once the great North Nottinghamshire coalfields.
That industry has now vanished but Mansfield still has the
atmosphere of an industrial town although its economy is now based on
a broader spread of varying businesses. The most
distinctive structure in Mansfield is undoubtedly the great
railway viaduct, built in 1875, which
sweeps through and above the town, carried by 15 huge arches
of rough-hewn stone.
Laxton
9 miles NW of Newark off the A616
Laxton is one of the few places in the country that has managed
to retain its open field farming system. Devised in the Middle Ages,
this system was generally abandoned in the 18th and 19th centuries
when the enclosure of agricultural land took place. The site has a
Visitor Centre and Museum. Another unique feature of this
interesting village is the magnificent Dovecote Inn that is owned by the Queen.
Just north of the village, along a lane close to the church, is
the Norman motte, known as Castle Mound, which lies almost
hidden beneath the trees. At the beginning of the 12th century,
the stewardship of Sherwood Forest moved to Laxton and the
village became the administrative centre for the forest. As a
consequence, the motte and bailey castle was one of the biggest in this part of
the country.
Ollerton
12½ miles NW of Newark on the A6075
Ollerton is a delightfully preserved cluster of old houses, a
charming Georgian coaching inn, a church set beside the River Maun and
the ancient Ollerton Water Mill.
To the south lies the pretty conservation village of
Wellow, whose village green has the tallest permanent
Maypole in England, 60 feet high and colourfully
striped
like a barber's pole, with a cockerel perched on the top.
Close by lies Rufford Country Park, in the grounds of
Rufford Abbey, which contain nine formal gardens near the house along with
a display on Nottinghamshire's history.
Edwinstowe
13½ miles NW of Newark on the A6075
Lying at the heart of Sherwood Forest, the life of this village is
still dominated by the forest, as it has been since the 7th century
when Edwin, King of Northumbria died in the Battle of Hatfield in AD 632;
the village developed around the church built on the spot where
he was slain. The Church of St Mary was the first stone building
in Edwinstowe and, according to legend it was here that the
marriage took place between Robin Hood and Maid Marian.
Tracing the stories of Robin Hood is a difficult task, as the
tales,
which have been told for over 600 years, were spoken rather
than written. Visitors still flock to see the great hollow tree that
the outlaws purportedly used as a meeting place and as a cache
for their supplies. The mighty Major Oak is located about 10
minutes walk along the main track in the heart of the forest. A little way
up the road leading northwards out of Edwinstowe is the
Sherwood Forest Visitor Centre, which houses a display of characters
from the Robin Hood stories with appropriate scenes of merrymaking.
Cresswell
21 miles NW of Newark on the A616
Cresswell village is actually in Derbyshire but its most
famous feature lies just inside the Nottinghamshire border.
Cresswell Crags form a dramatic limestone gorge pitted with
deep, dark and mysterious caves and here the bones of prehistoric
bison, bears, wolves, woolly rhinos and lions
twice the size of their modern descendants have been found.
The Visitors' Centre contains some fascinating archaeological
finds and there are some pleasant walks past the lakes to the crags.
Retford
Retford is actually two communities, East and
West Retford, set either side of the River Idle.
Cannon Square takes its name from a Russian
cannon dating from 1855 and weighing over two tons. It was captured
by British soldiers at Sebastopol and brought to Retford at the end
of the Crimean War. One of Retford's most infamous
visitors was the highwayman Dick Turpin, and several historic inns still
stand as a reminder of the days of stage coach travel. Another man
who stood and delivered here, though in a more respectable fashion,
was John Wesley, who conducted many open air meetings in East
Retford. The Bassetlaw Museum is housed in Amcott House,
an imposing late 18th century town house.
Around Retford
Mattersey
5 miles N of Retford off the B6045
To the east of the village lie the ruins of
Mattersey Priory, founded in 1185 for the Gilbertine Order, the
only monastic order to be established by an Englishman, Roger
de Mattersey. The original priory buildings at Mattersey
were destroyed by fire in 1279 so the remains seen today are of
the 14th century dormitory, refectory, and the walls of the Chapel of
St Helen.
North Wheatley
4 miles NE of Retford off the A620
Famous for its strawberries that are
sought after for their delicious taste and excellent quality,
North Wheatley is also home to a peculiar 17th century brick house, known
as the Old Hall, where all the external features, including
the vase-like decorations, are made from bricks. Just to the south
is the splendid North Leverton Windmill, which was built in
1813 and still grinds corn today.
Worksop
7 miles SW of Retford on the A60
One of the major attractions of Worksop is the 14th century
Priory Gatehouse that was originally the portal to a large
Augustinian monastery; the gatehouse and the Church of St Mary and St
Cuthbert are all that remain today. There is also a wayside shrine, which
makes it a unique ecclesiastical attraction.
Mr Straw's House, along with an endowment of one
million pounds, was bequeathed to the National Trust by William Straw
in 1990. It was found that nothing in this seemingly ordinary
Edwardian semi-detached house had been altered or added to since
1932, though it had been occupied by Straws until the death of the
last Straw in 1990. Worksop Museum has a Pilgrim Fathers exhibition
and is the start of the Mayflower Trail that guides visitor around the
local sites connected with the Fathers.
To the southeast lies the 3,800-acre Clumber
Park, created in 1707 when the 3rd Duke of
Newcastle was granted permission to enclose part of the Forest of Sherwood as
a hunting ground for Queen Anne.
Only the foundations of Clumber House remain, but other
buildings still stand in this lovely setting. The estate
houses feature high-pitched gables and massive chimneys,
and the redbrick stables are surmounted by a clocktower crowned by
a domed cupola.
Scrooby
7 miles NW of Retford on the A638
This ancient village is best known for its links with the
Pilgrim Fathers and, particularly, with William Brewster. Having
formed his radical ideas on religion at Cambridge and in the
Netherlands, Brewster returned to England, settling in Scrooby. In 1598 he
was summoned before the ecclesiastical court for poor church
attendance, but he continued to maintain his battle for religious belief to be
free of State control and was imprisoned for a short time
before going back to Amsterdam. After some years he returned to
England and became an Elder of the Separatist Church; it was a
group of some 40 members of this church who, in 1620, boarded
the Mayflower for the famous voyage which eventually landed at what
is now Plymouth, New England.
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