Blidworth

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Blidworth
Nottinghamshire

Welcome sign on Dale Lane
Location
Grid reference: SK592560
Location: 53°5’53"N, 1°6’59"W
Data
Population: 4,457  (2011)
Post town: Mansfield
Postcode: NG21
Dialling code: 01623
Local Government
Council: Newark and Sherwood
Parliamentary
constituency:
Sherwood

Blidworth is a village in Nottinghamshire, approximately five miles east of Mansfield. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 4,457.

The history of the village can be traced back to the 10th century, although many of the current houses were built in the first half of the 20th century to provide housing for workers at Blidworth Colliery (1926–1989). These are mainly in estates north of Dale Lane known as New Blidworth. The area around Main Street, west of Beck Lane and including the church, is Old Blidworth, containing some of the oldest buildings. Blidworth Bottoms is a hamlet about less than half a mile south of Old Blidworth.

Name

Blidworth seems to come from the Old English Bliðanweorð, meaning 'Blitha's enclosure', after an otherwise unknown landowner.[1]

History and geography

The first recorded reference of Blidworth was in the Domesday Book of 1086. It is recorded as Blideworde and as having a population was five households and the total tax assessed was 1.1 Geld Units.[2] Although this is the first recorded reference of Blidworth, the village is much older and was possibly used by the Romans.[3]

Up to the end of the 19th century it was a farming community with 150 houses clustered around Main Street (Old Blidworth) and 26 farms and 3 mills, with a population of about 2000.[4] A major change came with the construction of a colliery north of Belle Vue Road in 1921 with the resulting construction of housing for workers.[4] Thus the major part of the population is in an area east of Old Blidworth, between Belle Vue Lane in the north and Dale Lane in the south. Mansfield Road forms the west of this and is the main shopping area. The mine closed in 1989.[4] There is now an industrial estate on Burma Road, north of Belle Vue Lane, as well as a Leisure Centre and the Miners Social Welfare Centre.

Other 20th century industries included factories for the manufacture of shoes, hosiery, textiles and metal products.[4] Much of these industrial areas have been redeveloped and new housing has been constructed around the periphery of the village, with new street names, such as Will Scarlet Close.

Churches

  • Church of England: The Church of St Mary of the Purification
  • Independent / evangelical:
    • Sherwood Forest Community Church
    • St Andrew's Mission Hall
  • Methodist: Blidworth Methodist Church

Legend of Robin Hood

Will Scarlet grave marker

According to legend, Will Scarlet is buried in the churchyard of the Church of St. Mary of the Purification. An unmarked grave stands near the iron gates of the churchyard, formed from the original apex of the church tower and other assorted stones, and is generally attributed to the outlaw.[3] As outlaws were not generally buried in churchyards, though, it is more likely that, if he existed, Will Scarlet was buried in one of the much older graves to be found on the same hillside within the boundaries of Sherwood Forest.

Other local legends suggest that Blidworth was the birthplace of Maid Marian, although there is little or no evidence to support these claims.[3]

About the village

Blidworth Mill

Blidworth Mill is a 'Subscription Mill' was built c. 1816 as a three-storey brick tower windmill. With 3 pairs of millstones, it was working in 1892 but was dismantled some time during the First World War.

The mill had four double patent sails, an ogee cap and an 8-bladed fantail. The tower still stands to a height of 26 feet north of Old Blidworth (SK585557).[5]

One of the post windmills from Nottingham was moved to Blidworth in the 1850s, and was later moved to Hemsworth. A post windmill at Windmill Close, between Mount Pleasant and Belle Vue Lane was recorded in 1842; the owner was John Need and the tenant miller Thomas Blatherwick. A post windmill in Mill Croft, behind the Wesleyan chapel, was worked by miller William Holloway in 1864. It was demolished c. 1878.

Druid Stone

Druid Stone

On the outskirts of the village of Blidworth, on farmlands, stands a stone known locally as the Druid Stone, a pillar of cemented glacial gravel standing on a base of the Nottingham Castle rock formation (Bunter Pebble Beds). This monumental object is 14 feet high, 84 feet around the base and has a hollow centre large enough for a man to pass through. Though known as the Druid Stone, there is no evidence to suggest that it has ever been used by druids. It is a naturally forming outcrop.

Sport and society

  • Football: Blidworth Welfare F.C. were formed in 1926. In 1982, they changed their name from Folk House Old Boys F.C. to their present name.

Blidworth Welfare Band[6] is a brass band with mining heritage, starting in the late 19th century as the Stanton Hill Temperance Band based in Sutton in Ashfield; the band later changed their name to the Stanton Hill Silver Band until the coal industry paid an interest in brass banding in general. An alliance with Teversal, Silver Hill and Sutton Collieries saw a name change for the band, and it became the Teversal Collieries Band until the demise of those mines in the late 1970s, which forced the band to relocate to Blidworth in 1980 and a change of name to the Blidworth Welfare Band.

The band has established itself over the years as an extremely successful contesting band and competes in the Championship Section, with a number of CD recordings to its name.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Blidworth)

References

  1. Mills, Anthony David: 'A Dictionary of British Place-Names' (Oxford University Press, 2003) ISBN 978-0-19-852758-9
  2. Blidworth in the Domesday Book
  3. Jump up to: 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Blidworth & District Historical Society & Heritage Society". http://blidworthhistoricalsociety.co.uk/3801.html. 
  4. Jump up to: 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Durkin, John (2011). "Blidworth, before and after the mine". Blidworth & District Historical Society & Heritage Society. http://blidworthhistoricalsociety.co.uk/17801.html. 
  5. Shaw, T. (1995). Windmills of Nottinghamshire. Page 8 ISBN 0-900986-12-3
  6. Blidworth Welfare Band