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.
.
A case of Mistaken identity
Edwinstowe Historical Society’s website continues to attract interest. One of the recent enquiries has concerned an old postcard. When the Edwinstowe Historical Society was inaugurated in the 1960’s, among the many photographs added to the collection was one that is displayed on the current website, and refers to “Mrs Robinson” selling refreshments from a stall in Sherwood Forest. However, a recent communication from a reader, included a photograph of his Great Grandmother (Mrs Bullimore) which was the same image, with an inscription naming the lady as “Granny Bullimore” and indicating her death on 28th December, 1917. Once again, the researchers got to work and discovered that the 1871 census recorded a Bullimore family lived on Mill Lane in Edwinstowe and the neighbour was Mrs Robinson. Perhaps this is a reason for the confusion over the identity. Now it’s back to the drawing board!
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. 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. We will confirm nearer the time.
Snow Sculptures
The thought of winter sends shivers down the spine for many people. This must have been the feeling in Edwinstowe in March 1909 when there was a snowstorm. To commemorate the event a member of the Tudsbury family, who lived in the village, modelled several snow sculptures, which were recorded on picture postcards.
During the 19th century the family became involved in working with wood and produced an outstanding woodcarver, Richard, who exhibited at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. Richard John Tudsbury is reported to be the carver of the magnificent chimneypiece, which can be seen in the library at Thoresby Hall. His youngest son, Walter Albert, became a well-known local artist painting mainly woodland scenes and also carved the oak lectern, which may be seen in St Mary’s church Edwinstowe.
Additions to the website relate to the National Coal Board’s No. 3 Area headquarters for the East Midlands Division, based in Edwinstowe House. The building was occupied from the onset of Nationalisation of the Coal Industry in 1947 until January 1995.
“A Committee of Fun” and a “Gathering of the Foresters”
In November 1841 Edwinstowe witnessed a “Gathering of the Foresters”. However, this wasn’t a military operation but a bringing together of a group of people who were interested in literature, science, and art.
When the members of the Edwinstowe Lodge of Oddfellows met in the Jug and Glass they set up a ‘Committee of Fun’ to make plans for village festivities to be held from the 1st to 6th November 1841. During the week there would be various races, competitions and concerts, and the evening of 3rd November would be devoted to an intellectual gathering in honour of the celebrities who had added to the renown of Sherwood Forest. This became known as the ‘Gathering of the Foresters’. One hundred farmers, artisans, woodmen and agricultural labourers were present. The poet, Spencer T Hall, known as the laureate of Sherwood Forest, was the chief guest and was presented with an oak walking stick carved by local resident Richard Tudsbury, junior.
The event was so successful that on 5th July, 1842 several hundred people attended the second Sherwood Gathering which took place in a marquee in the forest. In the evening the whole party danced to the accompaniment of a band of music beneath the Major Oak. Edwinstowe was proud of its literary heritage and people walked from miles around to join the festivity. Unfortunately, the custom could not continue because all the organisers were working men dependent upon their labour, and did not have the time to fulfil their obligation.
Recent additions to the website include the Edwinstowe Labour Party, Methodist Drama Group, and Windmills.
Edwinstowe Historical Society