Mansfield Woodhouse

History

Roman Period

thumb|150px|left|The Roman tessellated pavement found in Mansfield Woodhouse The Romans had a fortress and a civilian settlement in the area (remains of two Roman Villas were found here by Major Hayman Rooke in the 1780s). A Roman tessellated pavement was found in one of the villas near Mansfield Woodhouse.

13th and 14th Century’s

The area declined after the Romans left but by the 13th century, there was a growing settlement of smallholders.

Off the road to Edwinstowe, Peafield Lane, stands the Parliament Oak, which, according to legend, was once the location of a session of Parliament held by King John and Edward I. There is a commemorative plaque.

On 12 September 1304, fire destroyed the settlement, including its timber-framed church. The settlement was rebuilt using local materials and the new stone-built church, Church of St Edmund, still stands.

Tudor/stuart Times

The town recovered and by Tudor times, was home to a number of wealthy families. Farming and quarrying were the main livelihoods.

The Manor House (which used to be known as the castle) was formally the home of the Digby family. In 1589, John Digby married Elizabeth Slaughter, the daughter of Margaret , the half sister of Bess of Hardwick Countess of Shrewsbury. Elizabeth had a close relationship with Bess and was one of Bess’s trusted ladies in waiting. On the birth of Elizabeth’s baby both Bess and Lady Arbella Stuart gave gifts.

George Fox the founder of the Quakers visited the Church of St Edmund in 1649. He tried to preach in the church but was severely beaten, placed in the stocks at cross hill for a time, then stoned out of the village.

18th Century

Major Hayman Rooke lived at Woodhouse Place in Mansfield Woodhouse, but originally from the City of Westminster, London. In 1790 he discovered the Major Oak Tree in Sherwood Forest.

thumb|left|Former Home of Major Hayman Rooke

19th Century

Mansfield Woodhouse also prospered with the growth of the textile and hosiery trades into the 19th century.

In 1816 the church steeple at St Edmunds Church was damaged by an earthquake, which necessitated repairs.

In 1839, the designer of the present Houses of Parliament, Sir Charles Barry, selected a sand-coloured magnesian limestone as the stone that would be used in its construction. This was quarried in Anston, South Yorkshire as well as in Mansfield Woodhouse.

Today

The town was recorded as having a population of 18,500 according to the 2011 census.

It has a number of schools; the larger primary schools are St. Edmund's Church of England Primary School, Northfield Primary and Nursery School, Peafield Lane Primary and Nursery School, Leas Park Junior School and Nettleworth Primary and Nursery School.

thumb|left|Old Market Place

The largest school is The Manor Academy; originally a grammar school (opened in 1959), it merged with Forest View Secondary Modern (opened 1956 – both at Park Hall Road) and Yorke Street Secondary Modern to form a comprehensive school, opened in September 1973. The Yorke Street building was about a mile away to the south.

After a fire in 1996, the Park Hall Road buildings were enlarged during rebuilding to incorporate the former Yorke Street facility, which was sold for housing land. Near the school is The Manor Sport and Recreation Centre, a public amenity which forms part of the school's facilities.

The Co-op store in Mansfield Woodhouse was opened in late 1984, and closed in January 2009. The building was transformed into the then-386th Morrisons store, formally opened in June 2009 by Tony Egginton, then Mansfield's Executive Mayor. The locality is being redeveloped in other areas, including replacement of the older terraced housing around Thoresby Road, near the railway station and from Sherwood Street–Blake Street with new housing estates. A new-build police station served the area since 2007, but was earmarked for closure in 2013 by Nottinghamshire Police Commissioner Paddy Tipping. In use by police until 2017, it was sold in 2019 for around a third of the new-build cost.

The town is served by Mansfield Woodhouse railway station, on the Robin Hood Line.

The town also has a volunteer-run newsletter called The Woodhouse Warbler, produced quarterly since late 2000, with a circulation in the thousands. It also produced a magazine collating locals' Second World War memories, funded by the Big Lottery Fund.

Sport

The Manor Sport and Recreation Centre is a £1.9 million indoor and outdoor sports facility opened on 11 May 2002, largely funded by a £1.4 million Sport England Sports Lottery grant, with the remainder from a variety of organisations and sponsors. The Manor Sport and Recreation Centre is not open to the public and is privately owned by The Manor Academy for their students to use.

First mooted by Mansfield District Council advertising for volunteer organisers in August 2012, a weekly running event was envisaged in collaboration with Nottinghamshire County Council and Manor Academy.

From 29 September 2012 the Manor Park, adjacent to the Sports complex accessed from Kingsley Avenue, has regularly hosted a Park Run – an informal, timed 5 km fun-run for any class of participant.

The town also has its own non league football club, Sherwood Colliery F.C. who play in the at Debdale Park.

Mansfield Woodhouse is known around Nottinghamshire for its junior football clubs: Woodhouse Colts JFC and Manor 4th FC, both of which offer football to youngsters from 6 to 18.

Mansfield Woodhouses' and Manor Parks newest sports club addition is the Sherwood Wolf Hunt Youth Rugby League teams, offering Boys and Girls Rugby League from 12-18 and play in the Midlands and Hull leagues respectively.

Speedway racing, then known as dirt track racing, took place at Mansfield Woodhouse in the pioneer days of 1928.

Industrial Revolution

During the UK miners' strike, some coal miners at nearby Sherwood Colliery on the edge of Mansfield Woodhouse continued working, a decision made with members and officials as part of the Union of Democratic Mineworkers, a breakaway from the National Union of Mineworkers. The pit closed in 1992. The Colliery's football and cricket teams carry on through Sherwood Colliery Football Club and Sherwood Colliery Cricket Club, with the former swimming pool that was part of the original pit head baths complex being renamed as Rebecca Adlington Swimming Centre in 2010.

Notable people

Natives of Mansfield Woodhouse include D'Ewes Coke (1747–1811), an unusual combination of clergyman and colliery master, and the pianist and composer John Ogdon (1937–89).

References

References

1. OS Explorer Map 270: Sherwood Forest: (1:25 000):{{ISBN. 0 319 24040 1
2. "maps_k_top_33_45".
3. "Worksop, The Dukery, and Sherwood Forest".
4. Inspire Picture Archive. Nottinghamshire County Council. Retrieved on the 20th April 2023
5. Palmer, F. P.; Forrester, Alfred Henry (1846). The Wanderings of a Pen and Pencil. J. How. p. 360. access date 10 May 2025
6. Hight, Julian (2011). Britain's Tree Story. London: National Trust. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-907892-20-2.. access date 10 May 2025
7. "Mansfield Woodhouse - History".
8. "The Manor House – The Old Mansfield Woodhouse Society".
9. Robert White, Worksop, The Dukery, and Sherwood Forest, (1875). access date on 3 May 2025
10. [[Mansfield Urban Area]]
11. [https://www.inspirepicturearchive.org.uk/image/22624/Co-op_Superstore_opened_18th_October_1984 Co-op Superstore, opened 18th October 1984] Nottinghamshire County Council via Inspire cultural services. Retrieved 4 February 2025
12. "Memory Lane: Checking it out..." ''Chad'', 8 January 2014, p.10. Accessed 4 February 2025
13. "Mayor opens Morrisons store". ''[[Chad (newspaper). Chad]]'', 1 July 2009, p.5. Accessed 15 January 2026
14. "Car parking protest at supermarket. ...a Morrisons spokesman said: The current parking system was introduced over 18 months ago..." ''Chad'', 26 January 2012, p.7. Accessed 16 June 2022
15. Mansfield District Council]], 18 June 2009. Retrieved 16 June 2022
16. [https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/555de34be5274a74ca000087/Morrisons_Coop.pdf Completed acquisition by WM Morrison Supermarkets plc of 30 stores from Co-operative Group Limited] assets.publishing.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 16 June 2022
17. [https://web.archive.org/web/20160624193351/http://www.chad.co.uk/news/local/new-woodhouse-police-station-opens-soon-1-694586 New Woodhouse police station opens soon] ''Chad'', 2 October 2007. Archived from [http://www.chad.co.uk/news/local/new-woodhouse-police-station-opens-soon-1-694586 the original] on 24 June 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2025
18. 'Appalling'. "Controversial plans to close down Mansfield Woodhouse Police Station have been branded as 'appalling' by Mansfield MP Sir Alan Meale" ''Chad'', 4 December 2013, p.1. Accessed 29 December 2013
19. [https://www.chad.co.uk/news/former-mansfield-woodhouse-police-station-sold-for-ps390000-121852 Former Mansfield Woodhouse police station sold for £390,000] ''Chad'', 11 March 2019. Retrieved 4 February 2025
20. [https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/local-news/plans-convert-former-mansfield-woodhouse-2585878 Plans to convert former Mansfield Woodhouse police station into offices] ''[[Nottingham Post. NottinghamshireLive]]'', 27 February 2019. Retrieved 4 February 2025
21. "Woodhouse Warbler - Newsletter for Mansfield Woodhouse".
22. "Manor Active {{!}} Gym, Sports & Recreation Centre, Mansfield, Notts.".
23. "On your marks for new Park Run event". ''Chad'', 22 August 2021, p.30. Retrieved 23 October 2022
24. "parkrun Support".
25. "home {{!}} Mansfield parkrun {{!}} Mansfield parkrun".
26. "Sherwood Colliery F.C. Full-Time : Club".
27. "Mansfield Woodhouse 1928".
28. Amos, David (December 2011). "THE NOTTINGHAMSHIRE MINERS', THE UNION OF DEMOCRATIC MINEWORKERS AND THE 1984-85 MINERS STRIKE: SCABS OR SCAPEGOATS?" (PDF). University of Nottingham. p. 12 retrieved on the 20th April 2023
29. [https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/in-mansfield-they-are-waiting-for-robin-hood-to-return-miners-redundancy-money-will-go-only-so-far-what-then-tourism-esther-oxford-visits-a-hard-luck-town-being-dealt-yet-another-blow-1557634.html Independent Sherwood Colliery closed January 1992] Retrieved 26 May 2014
30. "Our Mansfield and Area {{!}} Places {{!}} MANSFIELD {{!}} ANNALS OF MANSFIELD FROM 1086 TO 1999 {{!}} Some notable events in the history of Mansfield".