A Hucknall History

Sherwood Forest

Introducing the legendary Sherwood Forest may seem a remotely distanced subject. Many today can better relate themed holiday parks around an Edwinstowe visitors centre, where central density of trees represents modern notion of a forest setting. Sketching out this background is nonetheless, aimed at fully supporting when and why a renamed Hucknall Huthwaite next became called Dirty Hucknall.

Mention usually conjures heroic images of the infamous outlaw Robin Hood. His Nottinghamshire renown is still proudly maintained, although a popular pub name and related links go far beyond featuring a past city brewery logo.

Huthwaite still displays an 1872 Robin Hood Terrace on Blackwell Road. However, naming of Sherwood Street truly does offer historic recognition, likewise for many localities being once situated inside much broader forest boundaries of an influential Norman shirewood.

SCIRWUDA

Woodlands once spanning conjoined Derbyshire borders sportingly entertained Anglo-Saxon kings. A 958 charter marking a North Nottinghamshire boundary for the crowns land being granted to the Archbishop of York gives oldest known mention of scirwuda. Records concerning that individually termed shirewood next introduces 1177 mention to the Forest of Sherwood.

Dense woodlands offered more than construction materials. Foliage sheltered wildlife from natures top predators. Even wolves might find wild boar a ferocious challenge, although they'd more often reward royal hunts filling noble banquet tables. Prize game was chasing out elusive herds of deer.

Venison was especially appreciated by the Duke of Normandy in pursuit his personal passion for hunting. The 1087 crowned King William I made it a prerogative asserting privileged rights lawfully protecting that noblest of royal pastimes.

William the Conqueror firstly defined a medieval English forest. It meant any type of land legally differentiated outside common law held by and for crowns privileged hunting grounds. Regional forest areas elsewhere could diversely span just open marsh or moors. But 1079 Forest Laws had generalised interest in denser woodlands where natural habitats protected well stocked game.

Good reason this Mercian Midland forest proved a regular distant attraction for royal hunting visits may be excellent mix of varied conditions. Prime grounds between Mansfield and Edwinstowe had diverse range of bushed meadows and grassland soils. Not just skillfully sporting fuller range of game, it best suited exhilarating steeple chases pursuing a fine stock of hart, hind, buck and doe.

Concentrated reduction of Sherwood Forest still showed inclusion of Huthwaite on extreme west border. The addition of Hucknall can logically be concluded having been broadly used to identify crown forest grounds in which it obscurely stood. The kings High Sheriff influenced that alternative forest address gaining local use before combined into Hucknall Huthwaite. Its grounds also extended south into a later separated Fulwood area next revealing the literally related foul woods behind a Dirty Hucknall. Earliest known 1218 to final 1662 forest perambulations covered those changes.

Significance of this shirewood for the villages lay within must not be underestimated. Stricter laws banned clearance of shrubbery or timber effectively restricting arable and residential expansion. Heavy fines for trespass with dogs or armed for hunting lost all free rights to common meats. If desperate peasants risked chance, harshest penalties were imposed when interfering with or killing forest game. Loss of hands, blinding or even death all seemed justifiable punishments under the next crowned King William II.

The conquerors third son known as William Rufus inherited his fathers English kingdom, plus a higher protective passion for forest hunts. Peasants might have enjoyed the irony of him being killed by a freak 1100 hunting accident among his closer New Forest.

Mansfield recorded and retells tales of visiting kings who most likely lodged in Kings Clipstone. Remnants of King John's Palace acknowledges much more than a royal hunting lodge that grandly served an identified eight monarchs, complete with chapel, deer park and fishing pond.

Expenditures on the King’s house at Clipstone from 1164 Pipe Rolls dates start of extended size and grandeur entertaining heads of government. Its disuse after Richard III notes decline to ultimately describe a 1525 roofless ruin. Between other identified kings, John actually only took shortest stay. Mapped 1774 location just associated name, possibly because historic bad repute remembered him being cause behind signing a 1215 Magna Carta.

Cruellest tyrant king John died at Newark Castle of dysentery in 1216. A nine year old Henry III took to the throne. Throughout his reign the Magna Carta was revised several times. To clarify and generally satisfy broader public justice beyond just free men gaining right to a free trial, this eventually formed an important part of English law.

Subject interest refers to a newer 1217 charter that specifically concerned royal forests. They legally covered about a third of England, where offences initially fined by Henry II next provided one major source of revenue for king John. The separated and revised 1225 Forest Charter partly made attempt to reduce full extent of all restricted areas.

Hucknall and Sutton still remained edging far west boundary inside the Nottinghamshire Sherwood. A commonly referenced Testa de Ville extract stated Sutton in Ashfield and Hucknall were a whole Villa, and not Gildable, being of the ancient Demesne of the Crown, except the fourth part which Jordan of the same held of the King with the Advowson of the Church. One historian interpreted this as a means to promote interest in his town by claiming The great privilege of being freed from the payment of taxes was due to the fact of its being the personal property of the King as lord of the Manor. In actual fact, the lack of taxation would have been outweighed by heavier penalties imposed whilst under harsher forest laws, which also severely restricted any potential growth of both areas.

Some relief may have been locally felt by the revised forest charter banning capital punishments for many forest offences. Assuring no man shall lose either life or member for killing deer sounds positively humane. But if convicted and unable to pay grievous fines, chance of surviving imprisonment for a year and a day may find release can then lead to banishment from the realm of England. Anyone forced into taking such desperate risks in order to survive must have realised only alternative was to become an outlaw.

Inferring later revisions were all gifts, grants and liberties generously awarded by the king can find better examples. Exempting those having woods within the forest from fines for erecting buildings and creating new arable land, does allow good opportunity to start improving and expanding profitable farmland. This would doubtless benefit some named de Sutton lords afforded small part of a reinstated manor. Construction of a stone church probably managed to assert and retain fullest extent of Sutton boundaries with influential parish status, while the manor itself changed hands and shared interests still under higher Mansfield Manor authority.

Hucknall Huthwaite Fulwood

Another favourable forest law enabled someone to occupy a separately named Fulwood. That also identifies how they managed to prove grounds would be no loss to the king, advantaged by this entry All woods which have been made forest by King Richard our uncle, or by King John our Father, until our first coronation, shall be forthwith disafforested unless it be our demesne wood. At lower end a hierarchy of officials employed to maintain and protect these kings forests were the likes of rangers and woodwards.

One Broxtowe boundary regarder walterum le wlfuntte de Mammesfelewodehouse testified 1287 case against folk clearing wood land for arable use. Nottingham 1339 inquisitions post mortem interestingly translates name behind another kings service as Walter the Wolfhunter of Mansfield Woodhouse. Horseshoeing, training and keeping royal falcons, simply notes just a few of the countless various professions under crown employment, all readily prepared to support nobility during occasional hunting visits. Nonetheless, role of Woodward was protecting forest land against illegal activities, such as theft of clay, coal, kindling, timbers, fruits and wildlife.

Significance of parish borders for legal purposes might be realised when a 1340 Woodward living in Hucknall Huthwaite displayed powerful authority by impounding cattle found being pastured on Fulwood belonging Roger le Wyne. A long suit in the Court of the Exchequer followed and finally Roger (who lived in a moated castle close to South Normanton Colliery) was made to keep his cattle off the Forest land.   It wasn't only non-parishioners who showed interest acquiring use of those southern Hucknall meadows though, because In the Great Regarde or Survey of the Forest made by John de Cromwell and John de Bristol in 1358, Ralph de Caen Clerke was accused as having "usurped to himself a piece of ground in Fulwood". His land was described as being in Hucknall Houthwaite and as having been in the hand of John the king.