Sherwood Forest in 1609

A new publication* which provides a graphic picture of central Nottinghamshire in Jacobean times has just been produced by the Thoroton Society, the county's historical and archaeological society. The edition of the Survey of Sherwood Forest in 1609 is the culmination of fifteen years' work by the two editors, Steph Mastoris and Sue Groves.

The original written royal survey (in the Public Record Office, London) lists nearly 2,000 individual plots of land in 46 Nottinghamshire parishes ranging from Nottingham in the south to Mansfield and Clumber in the north. For each plot the name of the owner, occupier and often the field is given, along with its acreage and some indication of whether it was open arable fields, enclosures, common pastures or woodland.

The written survey is complemented by maps relating to nearly half of these places mainly in the Nottingham -- Bestwood -- Calverton -- Lowdham area showing virtually every house and plot of land. "The maps are astonishingly accurate for their date", says Steph Mastoris, "Most can be directly compared with modern Ordnance Survey maps. However, the original 1609 map was in such a poor state it was sometimes impossible to distinguish a field boundary from a crease! It has had to be meticulously redrawn and published as 20 separate parish sheets".

The survey volume and the maps are enclosed in an attractive slipcase printed with a full-colour reproduction of the original map showing Nottingham town, which has significant differences from the well-known near-contemporary plan by John Speed.

"Together, the survey and maps provide a fascinating insight into the landscape and land ownership of central Nottinghamshire in Jacobean times" says Nottinghamshire's Principal Archivist, Adrian Henstock. "Indeed, we believe this is the only survey of such a large tract of countryside anywhere in the country before the 1800s". The text is fully indexed and contains some 5,000 personal names and nearly 1,000 field names.

The publication is available from Nottinghamshire Archives Office, County House, Castle Meadow Road, NOTTINGHAM
NG2 1AG, price £29.95 (£25 to members) plus £4 p&p in the UK.

* Sherwood Forest in 1609: a Crown survey by Richard Bankes. Edited by Steph Mastoris and Sue Groves. Published by the Thoroton Society Record Series (Vol. 40, 1997). ISBN 0 902719 15 7