MANSFIELD, a market-town and parish, comprising
the hamlets of Pleasley Hill, Radmansthwaite, and
Moor-Haigh, in the northern division of the wapentake
of BROXTOW, county of NOTTINGHAM, 14 miles (N. by
W.) from Nottingham, and 138 (N. N.W.) from London,
containing 7861 inhabitants. The name of this place,
anciently written Maunsfeld, is derived from its situation
on the small river Mann, or Maun, which rises about three
miles westward: the town is of great antiquity, and is
supposed to have been of British or Roman origin. During
the Saxon Octarchy it was a temporary residence of the
Mercian kings, for the convenience of hunting in the
Royal forest of Sherwood; in the reigns of Edward the
Confessor, William the Conqueror, and William Rufus,
it was a royal demesne, and so continued till the time
of Elizabeth, except that, in the reign of Henry VIII., it
was, with other manors, given to the Duke of Norfolk;
but afterwards restored to the crown, in exchange for
other property: it was ultimately granted away, by
letters patent, in the 44th of Elizabeth. The custom of
gavelkind prevails in this manor, within which there
is a small manor belonging to the Dean of Lincoln.
Till the year 1715, the courts for the forest of Sherwood,
celebrated in ballad story as the scene of the exploits
of the renowned archer, Robin Hood, and his
band of freebooters, were held at Mansfield. The town
is situated on the road from London to Leeds, in a deep
vale, in the centre of the ancient Forest of Sherwood;
it is of considerable size, and consists of three principal
streets, besides others branching from them, which
are narrow and irregular: the houses are principally
built of grey stone, and, at the entrance to the town,
from Southwell, there are several excavated in the
sand-stone rock. Considerable improvement, has been
made within the last five years, under two acts of parliament
obtained in 1823 and 1825, under the authority
of one of which the town is lighted with gas, by a
joint-stock company, the approach from the London
road has been widened, and the market-place considerably
enlarged. On the north side of the town is a cold
bath, supplied by a spring issuing from an adjacent
rock. A small theatre is open during the summer
months; and races take place at the July fair; a subscription
library was established in 1825, and there is
an excellent news and reading-room. The moot-hall
was erected in 1752, in the market-place, at the expense
of Henrietta Cavendish Holies, Countess of Oxford
and Mortimer: besides the apartments for the transaction
of public business, the building comprises an assembly-
room. Mansfield has some considerable manufactures
in cotton, hosiery, and lace; of the first, one
mill contains two thousand four hundred spindles, and
affords employment to one hundred and sixty persons;
besides this there are six other cotton-mills upon the
river Maun, within two miles of the town; upwards of
seven hundred frames are engaged in weaving stockings
and gloves, both of silk and cotton; there are ironfoundries
for light castings; and a very extensive trade
is carried on in malt, also in cutting and working into
architectural ornaments the fine freestone obtained from
several adjacent quarries, which is afterwards sent to
various parts of the kingdom. The trading interests
of the town have been much benefited by the construction
of a double railway, about seven miles in length,
from Mansfield to Pinxton basin, there communicating
with the Cromford canal, under an act of parliament
passed in 181?, at an expense of £33,000; the price of
coal obtained from the pits at Pinxton and Kirkby has
thus been reduced about one-third. In the reign of
Henry III. the inhabitants obtained a charter for a
weekly market on Monday, afterwards altered to Thursday;
also the privilege of housebote and haijbot, or timber
for repairs, and wood for fences, out of the forest,
which they still enjoy. The market has been held on
Thursday from time immemorial: there are two annual
meetings (not chartered fairs), on April 5th and July
10th, for the sale of cattle and hogs, and a fair on the
second Thursday in October, for horses, cattle, sheep,
and cheese.
The living is a vicarage, in the peculiar jurisdiction
of the court of the Lord of the Manor of Mansfield,
rated in the king's books at £ 7.7. 6., and in the patronage
of the Duke of Portland, as lessee under the Dean of
Lincoln. A chaplaincy is attached to the church, for the
support of which the vicar and churchwardens were
incorporated and invested with lands in the 4th and 5th
of Philip and Mary; there is likewise an afternoon lectureship
on Sunday, the stipend arising out of certain
lands, called the " Eight Men's Intake," and from
a gallery in the church, called the "Vicar's Gallery; "
the chaplain is appointed by the vicar and churchwardens,
and the lecturer by the trustees of the endowment.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Peter, exhibits
specimens of each style, from the Norman to the
later English; the two lower portions of the tower are
in the early Norman style, and there is one window in
the early English; the arches, piers, and north door, are
in good decorated character; the tower is surmounted by
a low spire. There are places of worship for General
Baptists, the Society of Friends, Independents, Primitive
and Wesleyan Methodists, and Unitarians. The free
grammar school was founded by letters patent, dated
March 8th, 1561, for the education of youth in grammar,
under a master and an under-master: the vicar
and churchwardens for the time being were incorporated
governors, and enabled to acquire and hold lands, and,
with eight of the principal inhabitants, who are chosen
by the rest of the parishioners, appoint the master and
under-master the deed of incorporation having reference
to the maintenance of the chaplain, as well as of the
school, and the lands belonging to each having become
indistinguishable, it was decided in Chancery, about
1680, that two-thirds of the income of the joint estate
should be paid to the chaplain, and the remaining third to
the master and his assistant, in the proportion of twothirds
to the former, and one-third to the latter. Four
scholarships, of £10 each per annum, were founded at
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, by Dr. Sterne, Archbishop
of York, one for natives of Mansfield. The
school-house was built in 1567, and rebuilt in 1705,
when Quecn Anne gave twenty tons of timber from the
Forest of Sherwood for that purpose; the master's
house, which adjoins the school, was erected in 1719.
A free school, for the clothing and education of thirtysix
poor boys, was established in 1702, and was at that
period supported by subscriptions amounting to £ 12
per annum. In 1709, Samuel Brunts bequeathed lands,
directing the proceeds, which then amounted to £436.15.,
to be thus applied; £ 4 per annum in putting poor boys
to school, £4 per annum in apprenticing boys, and the
remainder to be distributed, in sums of £4 per annum
each, to poor residents in Mansfield not receiving alms,
In 1725, Faith Clarkson bequeathed the sum of £2000
to trustees, for erecting a school-house, and vesting-the
remainder in land for charitable uses; by a decree in
Chancery, in 1743, it was awarded that the rental of
these lands should be divided between Mansfield and
Mansfield-Woodhouse, in support of a master and mistress,
to teach twenty boys and twenty girls in reading,
writing, and arithmetic; £ 8 to be applied in clothing
ten boys and ten girls of the school, and £10 in apprenticing
two boys; the number of children in this
school is sixty-two; the master and mistress receive
together a salary of £40 per annum. In 1784, Charles
Thompson bequeathed £ 1200 in the three per cents, to
the trustees of Samuel Brunts' charity, for the better
educating of poor boys, and £400 to the vicar and
churchwardens, the interest to be applied in the purchase
of coats and petticoats for twenty poor persons:
a school-house was built in 1786. An infant school
was established in 1830. By deed, dated January 15th/
1691, Elizabeth Heath founded and endowed almshouses
for twelve poor persons: the inmates receive
40a. each per month, with clothing and a load of coal
at Christmas; and the surplus rents are applied in apprenticing
poor children. In 1795, Joseph Sales bequeathed
£ 1000 three per cents, to the vicar and churchwardens,
as trustees, the interest to be divided amongst
six poor housekeepers of Mansfield, of the age-of fifty
and upwards. A bequest of £10 per annum, to be
divided amongst poor housekeepers, was made by John
Bold, in 1726; and there are numerous other benefactions
for the relief of the poor. In the neighbourhood,
are traces of several Roman exploratory camps; also
two Roman villa, one containing nine rooms, and the
other thirteen, with hypocausts, baths, and other appendages;
in one of them was a tesselated pavement,
also various fragments of paterce, earthenware, and
other relics of antiquity. Remains of two Roman
sepulchres, with urns, bones, &c., have been discovered
near the same spot. Humphrey Ridley, an eminent
physician and anatomist, was born here about 1653.
Dr. Sterne, Archbishop of York, and Dr. William Chappel,
afterwards Bishop of Cork and Ross, in Ireland,
were natives of Mansfield; and Robert Dodsley, author,
of the "Economy of Human Life," was bom in the
vicinity, and apprenticed in the town. James Murray,
inventor of the patent circular saw, resided here.
Sir William Murray, on his being appointed Lord
Chief Justice of the court of King's Bench, was elevated
to the peerage, November 8th, 1756, by the
title of Baron Mansfield, of Mansfield, in the count}
of Nottingham, of which he was created Ear], October
19th, 1776, and obtained a fresh patent, August 1st,-
1792, creating him Earl of Mansfield, of Caen Wood,
in the county of Middlesex; the original barony expired
at his death, but the earldom is now enjoyed by
his grand nephew.