Bilsthorpe is a village and civil parish in the

Newark and Sherwood Newark and Sherwood is a local government district and is the largest district in Nottinghamshire, England. The district was formed on 1 April 1974, by a merger of the municipal borough of Newark with Newark Rural District and Southwell R ...

district of

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

, England.OS Explorer Map 270: Sherwood Forest: (1:25 000): According to the 2001 census it had a population of 3,076, increasing to 3,375 at the 2011 Census. It is located near the junction of the A614 and A617, around 5 miles south of

Ollerton Ollerton is a town in the Newark and Sherwood District, Nottinghamshire, England, on the edge of Sherwood Forest in the area known as the Dukeries. It forms part of the civil parish of Ollerton and Boughton. OS Explorer Map 270: Sherwood Forest: ...

, 9 miles east of Mansfield and 6 miles north-west of Southwell.

Facilities

The village has 2 children's

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

- parks as well as a small-sized

duck pond A duck pond is a pond for ducks and other waterfowl. Duck ponds provide habitats for water fowl and other birds, who use the water to bathe in and drink. Typically, such ponds are round, oval or kidney-shaped. An example is the lily pond in th ...

. It has also a members-only fishing lake created from the remains of the old colliery slag heap. The village is known locally as being two areas, the 'old' and 'new'. The village has two public houses (''Copper Beech'' and ''Stanton Arms'') and a miners' welfare club. The village used to have a village hall with squash and sauna facilities with some gym equipment. However, the district council of Newark decided to close these due mainly to the low usage of both the squash and sauna facilities. The old squash centre site has now been turned into a Miners Museum. The village hall's main part is still in use for coffee mornings, and other community gatherings including a bowls event for local people. Bilsthorpe parish church is the Grade I listed St Margaret's Church

Bilsthorpe Moor is to the south of the village. There was a supported-living home for adults with learning disabilities and autism called LifeWays which closed in 2019. Bilsthorpe Flying High Academy is the local education facility for children with access to nursery and primary learning. Part of The Flying High Trust, a multi-school organisation based in Cotgrave, Nottinghamshire, it opened for Autumn term 2015 and was previously known as Crompton View Primary School. Access to secondary education is in

Former colliery and memorials

The village's colliery closed in 1997 after 70 years in use. The colliery was the centre of national media and public attention on 18 August 1993 when a roof collapsed in the colliery, killing 31-year-old under-manager David Shelton and miners Bill McCulloch (aged 26) and Peter Alcock (aged 50). David Shelton was posthumously awarded the

George Medal The George Medal (GM), instituted on 24 September 1940 by King George VI,''British Gallantry Medals'' (Abbott and Tamplin), p. 138 is a decoration of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, awarded for gallantry, typically by civilians, or in cir ...

for bravery on 11 October 1995 for aiding the rescue of other miners; survivor Ray Thompson also received the George Medal. A memorial in the form of an miners lamp carved from

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

having the names of 77 deceased workers dating back to 1927 was established in 2011. A memorial to dead miners was also erected outside of the colliery site.

Sport

Bilsthorpe Welfare Youth Football Club won the Mansfield Youth Under 16s Division 2 football championship. BWYFC Bilsthorpe is also the home of non-league football club Nottingham United, one of the biggest semi-professional clubs in the county, currently playing at Step 7 of the National League System and based at Bilsthorpe Sports Ground on Eakring Road
NUFC

Transport

Stagecoach in Mansfield Stagecoach in Mansfield is a bus operator providing bus services in Mansfield and surrounding areas. It is a subsidiary of Stagecoach East Midlands, a subdivision of the Stagecoach Group. They have around 60 buses and 200 employees who carry m ...

operate one bus route *Sherwood Arrow which links Bilsthorpe with Nottingham and Ollerton and Worksop/Retford operated by Stagecoach Bassetlaw *28B which links the village with Mansfield and Eakring

References

External links

Bilsthorpe News & Online CommunityBilsthorpe Village Bilsthorpe village viewed on google maps
{{authority control Villages in Nottinghamshire Civil parishes in Nottinghamshire Newark and Sherwood