Heritage Day in Jacksdale, 24 April 2010

Spent an interesting hour or so wandering around the stalls at Jacksdale's Heritage Day this lunchtime. It was a fascinating mix of themes and periods: from medieval finds uncovered by Channel 4's Time Team at Codnor Castle a couple of years ago to lengths of late 18th/early 19th century iron rails (for transporting coal from pit to canal wharf) discovered locally a few weeks ago. It was delightful to see so many people milling about!

Robin Hood Month, May 2010

The county and city councils are busy promoting a wide range of Robin Hood-related events planned for next month. 'Robin Hood Month' is designed to tie in with the release on 14 May of the blockbuster movie, starring Russell Crow and Cate Blanchett.

There are talks on Nottinghamshire in the middle ages, the medieval architecture of the county, medieval herbs, a day school organised by Nottinghamshire Archives, story walks in Sherwood Forest, archery lessons and much, much more:

• Nottingham City Council: The Home of Robin Hood


• Nottinghamshire County Council: Robin Hood Month

Evelyn Gibbs and the Murals at St Martin's Church, Bilborough (14th April 2010)

Robin Hood in The Guardian

There's an very interesting and entertaining article in today's Guardian newspaper about the Robin Hood legend. Among the several experts the journalist talks to is David Crook, editor of the Thoroton Society Record Series publications and former assistant keeper at The National Archives. David is currently writing a book about Robin Hood and thinks he has traced him to Yorkshire in 1225 (not music to the ears of Nottinghamshire's tourist industry!). He has discovered a character called Robert Hod (described as 'an outlaw and evildoer of our land') who may be the same person as Robert of Wetherby who was hunted down by the Sheriff of Nottingham and his men.

Fascinating stuff so I recommend you take a look at the whole article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/apr/14/robin-hood-russell-crowe

Pentagon Local History Society exhibition at Elston: 8-9 May 2010

Over the weekend of 8th and 9th May, the Pentagon Local History Society will be holding a second exhibition to display the results of their Lottery-funded heritage project. The exhibition will include a photographic archive, oral history from the last 100 years, the history of the parish church and details of burials, and a computerised archive containing details of a wide range of historical material and press releases from 1900 to today which are relevant to Elston. The Society would particularly welcome visitors from other local history societies in the county.

The exhition will be held at Elston Village Hall between 10.00am and 4.00pm. For more information contact Stan Firth, Secretary of the Pentagon Society, on sfirth7@talktalk.net.

The Pentagon Society covers the following villages in south-east Nottinghamshire: East Stoke, Elston, Shelton, Sibthorpe, Syerston, Flawborough, Kilvington, Alverton and Staunton.