Nottinghamshire

Lore & Background

Nottinghamshire lies on the Roman Fosse Way, and there are Roman settlements in the county; for example at Mansfield, and forts such as at the Broxtowe Estate in Bilborough. The county was settled by Angles around the 5th century, and became part of the Kingdom, and later Earldom, of Mercia. The name first occurs in 1016, but until 1568, the county was administratively united with Derbyshire, under a single Sheriff. In Norman times, the county developed malting and woollen industries. William the Conqueror in 1066 made Sherwood Forest a Royal Forest for hunting. King John died at Newark Castle in 1216. During the Industrial Revolution, the county held much needed minerals such as coal and iron ore, and had constructed some of the first experimental waggonways in the world; an example of this is the Wollaton wagonway of 1603–1616. In the 18th and 19th centuries, mechanised deeper collieries opened, and mining became an important economic sector. Although there are no remaining working mines in Nottinghamshire now. Until 1610, Nottinghamshire was divided into eight Wapentakes. Sometime between 1610 and 1719, they were reduced to six – Newark, Bassetlaw, Thurgarton, Rushcliffe, Broxtowe, and Bingham. Mansfield and surrounding areas in the 17th century became the centre of nonconformism in separation from the Church of England. Nottinghamshire is famous for its involvement with the legend of Robin Hood. Nottinghamshire was mapped first by Christopher Saxton in 1576; the first fully surveyed map of the county was by John Chapman, who produced Chapman's Map of Nottinghamshire in 1774. Nottinghamshire saw a slight change to its overall boundary in the extreme northern part of the county in 1974, when the villages of Blaxton, Finningley and Auckley (part) were merged into the Doncaster in South Yorkshire.

Reader's Guide

The geography of Nottinghamshire is largely defined by the River Trent, which forms a wide valley which crosses the county from the south-west to the north-east. North of this, in the centre of the county, is Sherwood Forest, the remnant of a large ancient woodland. The county has an area of 2160 km2. The largest settlement is the city of Nottingham, in the south-west of the county. Other settlements include Worksop in the north-east, Newark-on-Trent in the east, and Mansfield in the west. Nottinghamshire contains one green belt area, first drawn up from the 1950s. Completely encircling the Nottingham conurbation, it stretches for several miles into the surrounding districts, and extends into Derbyshire.

Did You Know?

• The village of Edwinstowe took its name from Edwin of Northumbria, who died in 633 nearby and was provisionally buried in St Mary's Church, Edwinstowe.
• King John's Palace ruin near Kings Clipstone was a royal residence for King John, the area being near to Sherwood Forest.
• The highest point in Nottinghamshire is a point just north of Newtonwood Lane, on the boundary with Derbyshire, at 205 m.
• The lowest point is Peat Carr, east of Blaxton, at sea level.