‘A present from Edwinstowe’
After an enjoyable holiday or a day out, people often purchase something which serves as a memento. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries visitors to Edwinstowe would buy picture postcards or a piece of crested ware which would be on sale in one of the shops on the High Street. The china souvenirs were in a variety of shapes and sizes, all embellished with a coat of arms, incorporating the Major Oak, stags, crowns, pheasant and Robin Hood. A. Tudsbury & Sons boasted of royal patronage, and tempted the visitor with their carvings in oak. Mr B Stocks, landscape photographer offered views of the village, the ducal houses and, as his speciality “a large selection of photographs of Forest Scenes”. A visit to one of the local hostelries and cafes would probably be made before making for home and, if returning by train, what better place to call than the Dukeries Hotel, en route to the station.
Edwinstowe Historical Society’s programme of talks for 2022/23 has been finalised, and at the meeting on Wed. 21st September Linda Hardy will talk about the Hop industry in the area. Additional talks will take members on visits to Nottingham Castle and Skegness (the latter will be a trip down memory lane for some), and present the opportunity to learn more about the Suffragette movement and Major Hayman Rooke, whose name is synonymous with the Major Oak.
Clumber House and the Dukes of Newcastle
At the June meeting of the Edwinstowe Historical Society the illustrated talk related to Clumber and the Dukes of Newcastle. Built between 1760 and 1772 for the 2nd Duke of Newcastle, it was one of the ducal properties forming part of the area known as “The Dukeries”. 4,000 acres of heath were landscaped into one of the most beautiful private parks in England, complete with a large man-made lake. Sadly, mainly because of crippling taxation, the decision was taken to demolish the house in August 1938. Subsequently in 1946 the park and outbuildings were purchased by the National Trust, and members of the public are able to enjoy the legacy left by the Dukes of Newcastle.
Clumber House and the Dukes of Newcastle
Once again, the Society was able to fulfil a request for information when Committee members met an Australian writer planning a series of fictional stories. Having visited Edwinstowe in the past she explained that she wished to incorporate historical information about the village, St Mary’s church and the forest into the young adult adventure novels.
Meetings are held in the Church Rooms, Mansfield Road, Edwinstowe, NG21 9NJ on the 3rd Wednesday of the month commencing at 2.00 p.m. and lasting for approximately 2 hours. The annual subscription is £12, and visitors are welcome at a charge of £3. The next meeting of the Society will take place on Wed. 21 st September, when Linda Hardy will speak about the Hop Industry in the area.
The Changing Face of Edwinstowe
King Edwin School, Edwinstowe. Built in 1928 and demolished in 2005.
At the Annual General Meeting of the Edwinstowe Historical Society held in May, the Chair reported that although meetings had not been taking place Newsletters had been circulated to members in order to keep them up to date. Work has continued behind the scenes dealing with a variety of enquiries, some coming from abroad, not to mention providing information and photographs for a number of local organisations. The Committee members had been re-elected with the addition of 2 new members. Work is progressing with plans for speakers for the new programme commencing in September.
After the meeting an illustrated talk outlined the changes that have taken place in Edwinstowe’s colliery village. Gone are buildings and recreational facilities which were developed to accommodate the families of the mining community when the Thoresby Colliery was opened in 1928. A school, sports ground, children’s recreation ground, bowling greens, tennis courts, Welfare Hall and Miners’ Institute were considered essential for the social life of the community. The school has been replaced and a nursing home now stands in place of the Miners’ Institute. However, the Thoresby Colliery cricket Pavilion built on the sports ground in 1936 and included in the original plans for the village, does remain. The rest has been developed for housing.
At a well-attended meeting of the Edwinstowe Historical Society in April, members heard about one of the lost properties in Nottinghamshire, namely Cockglode House, Edwinstowe, built in 1724, or thereabouts, and demolished in 1956.
Throughout its lifetime it has been home to several notable people, the first being the Rev William Sterne, Rector at Averham, whose ancestry included Richard Sterne, Archbishop of York, and Laurence Sterne, novelist and clergyman. The next tenant was Dr George Aldridge who built the elegant Georgian residence. His portrait, painted by Italian artist, Pompeo Batoni, was the subject of the BBC4 televised programme in 2019 “Britain’s Lost Masterpieces”. He was followed by Sir Robert Milnes, Bart. who had been Governor of Martinique; the next tenants were Colonel, the Hon Savile Henry Lumley; Cecil George Foljambe, Earl Liverpool; and lastly Mrs Eva Henrietta Hutton and her daughter Lady Eveline Maude, the latter involved with the inauguration of the Edwinstowe Women’s Institute in 1920, and the National Federation of Women’s Institutes. After 1940 Cockglode became difficult to let as a large house so it was converted into eight flats.
The nearby Thoresby Colliery which had been opened in 1928, expanded to mine deeper coal seams. This meant that more land was required for waste spoil so the National Coal Board bought Cockglode house and its immediate grounds, and in 1956 the once proud building was demolished and disappeared under the colliery spoil tip.
However, to mark the millennium, local Rotarians planted trees to cover the restored colliery tip and the area has been named “Cockglode Wood”.
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. 1689 – 1762
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu in Turkish dress – Wikipedia.
At the March meeting of the Edwinstowe Historical Society members learned about the contribution made by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu in the prevention of smallpox.
Lady Mary, née Lady Mary Pierrepont of Thoresby Hall was born at Holme Pierrepont Hall in 1689 and grew up at Thoresby Hall. As a young woman she contracted smallpox which left her with disfiguring facial scars.
Mary avoided an arranged marriage by eloping with Edward Montagu, a Whig member of parliament, who was appointed Ambassador to Turkey, where they lived for a while. Mary had discovered the Turkish method of inoculation, or variolation, against smallpox during her travels in the Ottoman Empire and introduced engrafting, as she called it, to Britain in the 1720’s. She had her 5-year-old son inoculated by Embassy surgeon Charles Maitland in 1718, and during a smallpox epidemic in England in 1721 she had her daughter inoculated by Charles Maitland. This was the first such procedure performed in Britain. She met with great scepticism and resistance from the medical establishment. After experimental work, Dr Edward Jenner successfully vaccinated 8-year-old James Phipps with pus infected with cowpox.
When her relationship with her husband deteriorated Mary withdrew from life at the Royal Court. She travelled extensively in Europe, and for many years lived in France and Italy. Her husband died in 1761 and Mary returned to England in 1762 where she rented a house in Hanover Square, dying there from cancer, only seven months after her homecoming.
On Wed. 16th February, members of the Edwinstowe Historical Society met for their first meeting since the advent of Covid. The illustrated talk focussed on Edwinstowe, Tourism and Sherwood Forest.
Sherwood Forest and the Major Oak’s attraction for visitors to the Edwinstowe area began in the 19th century, bringing artists, writers, and poets who all found inspiration in the leafy glades. The newly opened railway station in 1896 brought in the tourists, who were met at the station and had the opportunity to be driven through the forest in horse drawn coaches. Of course, hungry and thirsty travellers could find sustenance at the Dukeries Hotel (built especially for “The Dukeries Line” coming to Edwinstowe), and other inns and boarding houses in the village. As the 20th century developed visitors continued to arrive, not necessarily by train but in coaches or their own transport. In 1976 a Visitors’ Centre opened in the forest, but after many years the decision was taken to demolish the centre and erect a new one that opened in 2018 on a site near the cricket ground. In 1984 the first Annual Robin Hood festival took place.
The Edwinstowe Fire Brigade
An enquiry has been received from a member of the Fire Brigade Society requesting permission to use some of the information on Edwinstowe Historical Society’s website relating to the Edwinstowe Fire Brigade. This is to be included in an article for publication in their quarterly magazine Fire Cover.
The original Fire Station was situated at the junction of High Street with West Lane, and in the early years the fire engine used a manual pump pulled by a horse, which was kept in the field near the River Maun. No doubt there were occasions when a bag of oats failed to coax the horse into harness, which must have added to the delay in the firemen setting off. In the 1930’s the first mechanical fire engine arrived, and was named “Mona”. The Fire Station was replaced in 1958 by a new building located on Mansfield Road, and is staffed on a Wholetime basis.
There were three major fires which the firemen were called upon to deal with. One occurred in 1907 when fire broke out in the Co-operative Society Stores; another in 1929 when the Dukeries Hotel was seriously damaged; then in the early 1940’s the Methodist Chapel on High Street was damaged by fire. More detailed information may be found on the website www.edwinstowehistory.org.uk
The website continues to expand, with additions to St Mary’s Church, St Mary’s Church School, the Major Oak, Visitor Centre, NCB, Festivals, and Edwinstowe Businesses.
FOOTBALL – PIT BOYS v PUBLIC SCHOOL BOYS
In November, last, the Edwinstowe Historical Society was contacted by the Editor of the Royal Windsor website asking for information relating to a football match that had taken place at Windsor in 1927, between Thoresby Colliery Football Club and the Imperial Service College. A photograph was provided of the match, which showed the players wearing the kit from Edwinstowe’s St Michael’s football team, and in goal was the College’s Headmaster. The result of the match was 13 goals to 3 in favour of the pit boys.
This was the first information the Society had about the event, so the researchers began to make enquiries. Reports from local newspapers were scrutinised and revealed that a party of Notts pit lads, pony drivers and haulage boys had played a football match with a team of public-school boys at Windsor. The match had been organised by Major Moncur who was responsible for the Bolsover Colliery Company’s Welfare Centre, based at Edwinstowe Hall, and the boys were selected from each of the company’s pits to make up an eleven to meet the Imperial Services College XI Windsor.
The boys were accommodated in one of the college houses, and the following day were shown round Windsor Castle followed by a visit to see places of interest in London. The reason why the team travelled all the way to Windsor from Nottinghamshire remains a mystery.
The Society has arranged a collection of photos depicting Sherwood Forest during the winter months. These are on display in the Craft Centre, Forest Corner.
The Society plan to hold the first meeting of members on Wednesday, 16th February, 2022 at 2.00 p.m. in St Mary’s Church Rooms, Mansfield Road, Edwinstowe. WE CAN CONFIRM THAT THE MEETING WILL GO AHEAD.
Visitors will be welcome for a charge of £3.
The duration of the meeting will be shorter than usual, lasting one hour, including a power point presentation about Edwinstowe, Tourism and Sherwood Forest.
Refreshments will NOT be served, but anyone wishing to bring their own drink is welcome to do so.
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Edwinstowe Historical Society