The Friends of Thynghowe
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Sherwood Forest: Celebrating the heritage of Birklands and Thynghowe – a forest, a boundary and a meeting place.

There are tantalising references made to this area of Birklands in Sherwood Forest in ancient documents going back to the 1200s and earlier. This was a boundary and a meeting place between ancient tribes and kingdoms; possibly a bronze age burial mound; the Romans had a settlement nearby; King Edwin, one of the first Christian kings of England, died nearby; important meetings took place here during the Danelaw; the Normans may have used it as part of their administration of Forest Law; kings of England, Scandinavia and Europe hunted here and it was a route through Sherwood Forest for local people as well as knights, barons and bishops. But the understanding of this place has become hidden under conifer plantations; almost everyone has forgotten its significance.

We wish to bring the heritage and the history of this area back into common knowledge, and to celebrate our part in that history.

A forest - The Forest of Birklands has recently included commercial conifer plantations and is not immediately seen as historic landscape. Closer investigation reveals widespread evidence of its past.

A boundary - Using an 1816 document of The Perambulation of the Lordship of Warsop some local people investigated the ancient boundary and rediscovered many of the significant features.

A meeting place - Also rediscovered was Thynghowe, locally called Hanger Hill. As a result of our research this is now a scheduled monument because of its use as a Saxon and Danelaw meeting place or moot.

Please look through this site and discover more about this special part of Sherwood Forest.
Then you may wish to visit this area and maybe join The Friends of Thynghowe.

We hope that you will spread the word about the past of Thynghowe and Birklands, keeping the real history of Sherwood Forest alive!

How to find us

Thynghowe and The Forest of Birklands are located between the villages of Warsop, Meden Vale, Budby, Edwinstowe and Kings Clipstone in Nottinghamshire. There is roadside parking at Warsop Windmill and also near Budby Pumping Station. Public footpaths link this area of Birklands to Edwinstowe, Budby and Warsop.

How to contact us

Click on his link to email us to ask for more information, contribute to our research, comment on this site or request details of membership of The Friends of Thynghowe

Thanks to our supporters-

The Parish Councils of Edwinstowe, Clipstone and Warsop