Farnsfield
Encyclopedia
Farnsfield is a village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 and civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 in Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...

 in Sherwood Forest
Sherwood Forest
Sherwood Forest is a Royal Forest in Nottinghamshire, England, that is famous through its historical association with the legend of Robin Hood. Continuously forested since the end of the Ice Age, Sherwood Forest National Nature Reserve today encompasses 423 hectares surrounding the village of...

. It is in the local government district of Newark and Sherwood
Newark and Sherwood
Newark and Sherwood is a local government district of eastern Nottinghamshire, England. The district is predominantly rural, with some large forestry plantations, and the towns of Newark-on-Trent, Southwell and Ollerton....

.

In 1944, an RAF Halifax bomber MZ519-LKU crashed on the south side of the village. All on board were killed. The site of the crash has a large memorial.

Location

The village is located 4 miles (6.4 km) north west of Southwell
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Southwell is a town in Nottinghamshire, England, best known as the site of Southwell Minster, the seat of the Church of England diocese that covers Nottinghamshire...

. According to the United Kingdom Census 2001
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....

 it had a population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...

 of 2,681.

History and amenities

The parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....

 of St Michael
St Michael
St Michael was a brand that was owned and used by Marks & Spencer from 1928 until 2000.-History:The brand was introduced by Simon Marks in 1928, after his father and co-founder of Marks & Spencer, Michael Marks. By 1950, virtually all goods were sold under the St Michael brand...

 was rebuilt in 1859-60 following a fire.

To the south of the village, along the footpath to Oxton
Oxton, Nottinghamshire
Oxton is a village in Nottinghamshire, England, with a little over 500 residents.Oxton is located 5 miles west of Southwell, 5 miles north of Lowdham, 10 miles NE of Nottingham and 2 miles NE of Calverton, and lies on the B6386, and is very close to the A6097 trunk road.Oxton has a church, a post...

, is a small Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 marching camp, a small Roman fort. One mile south west of the village is a small oval earthwork at Combs Farm. Encircled by a bank and ditch it appears (from excavated material) to be Romano-British
Romano-British
Romano-British culture describes the culture that arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest of AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, a people of Celtic language and...

 in origin. Two ditches in a wood at Camp Hill, 1½ miles north east of Farnsfield are the remaining traces of an Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...

 earthwork, a hillfort, which was estimated in the 18th century to have been 40 acres (161,874.4 m²) in area.

There was a tower windmill
Windmill
A windmill is a machine which converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Originally windmills were developed for milling grain for food production. In the course of history the windmill was adapted to many other industrial uses. An important...

 on Siding Lane shown on a map of 1898 as an 'old windmill'. It was recorded as a shell in August 1935, with the cap and fantail gone. The mill was owned at some time by a miller called Whitehead, who also milled at Edingley watermill. When in use, it was powered by a gas engine.

The Good Intent windmill was a tower mill, built c. 1820 for Holliday, a resident of Farnsfield. Material for building the mill was carted from Fiskerton
Fiskerton
Fiskerton may refer to:*Fiskerton, Lincolnshire*Fiskerton, Nottinghamshire...

. The tower was of 6 storeys, brick-built and untarred, with 4 sweeps driving 3 pairs of stones (1 French and 2 grey). The mill was worked by William Shaw, who was succeeded by his son Alec c. 1893. The mill was sold to George Hutchinson who worked it for short periods until the machinery was dismantled and the tower blown up c. 1915.

A post windmill was recorded near the Junction Inn, the property of Bower.

On 6 July 1944 an RAF Halifax bomber MZ519-LKU crashed on the south side of the village on its return to RAF Burn
RAF Burn
RAF Burn was a Second World War air station located southwest of Selby and immediately east of Burn in North Yorkshire, England.The airfield was opened in 1942 and first hosted No. 431 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force as part of 4 Group RAF Bomber Command. No. 431 Squadron flew Wellington Mark X...

 near York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...

. The Halifax had been on a mission to destroy a V1 flying bomb site in Nazi-occupied France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. All on board were killed. The site of the crash has a large memorial set before of a copse of English oaks and Canadian maple
Maple
Acer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as maple.Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or together with the Hippocastanaceae included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, favour inclusion in...

s dedicated to the Canadian and English crewmen.
A "History of Farnsfield" was published in 2000 by the Farnsfield Millennium Trust and an aural History was compiled with recordings and transcripts, copies of which were given to the local schools. A copy available in the Library is illustrated by local artist Barbara Coulam.

Farnsfield is twinned with the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 village of Andouillé
Andouillé
Andouillé is a commune in the Mayenne department in north-western France. It is twinned with the Nottinghamshire village of Farnsfield.The city of Andouille is located 15 kilometers from Laval, head of the department of Mayenne , to which it is connected by the RD 131 and RD 115, and by the river,...

.

See also

  • Aviation accidents and incidents
    Aviation accidents and incidents
    An aviation accident is defined in the Convention on International Civil Aviation Annex 13 as an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft which takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight and all such persons have disembarked, in which a...

  • List of closed railway stations in Britain: D-F


External links

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