Worksop

infobox UK place
country = England
official_name= Worksop
latitude= 53.3096
longitude= -1.1227
map_type = Nottinghamshire
population = 39,072
shire_district= Bassetlaw
shire_county = Nottinghamshire
region= East Midlands
constituency_westminster= Bassetlaw
post_town= WORKSOP
postcode_district = S80/S81
postcode_area= S
dial_code= 01909
os_grid_reference= SK585795
static_

static_image_caption=Worksop Town Sign

Worksop is a town in the Bassetlaw district of Nottinghamshire, England on the River Ryton at the northern edge of Sherwood Forest. It is about 19 miles East South East of the City of Sheffield and its population is estimated (mid-2004) to be 39,800. It is twinned with the German town Garbsen.

Worksop is known as the "Gateway to the Dukeries", so called for the number of ducal residences in the area. An important manufacturer in the town is Premier Foods UK, which produces products such as Batchelor's Soups and Super Noodles and Oxo. Oxo is solely produced in Worksop. Wilkinson's Distribution Centre is also an important employer as well as the recently opened B&Q Distribution Centre. The Wilkinson UK headquarters are at JK House, south of the town near the A60. The town is also home to Worksop College a co-educational day and boarding school. The local football team, Worksop Town F.C. relegated from the Conference North in 2007 and no longer play in the town.

History

Evidence that Worksop existed before the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 is provided by the Domesday Book of 1086::"In Werchesope, (Worksop) Elsi (son of Caschin) had three carucates of land to be taxed. Land to eight ploughs. Roger has one plough in the demesne there, and twenty-two sokemen who hold twelve oxgangs of this land, and twenty-four villanes and eight bordars having twenty-two ploughs, and seven acres of meadow. Wood pasture two miles long, and three quarentens broad." [White, Robert (1875) "Worksop, The Dukery, and Sherwood Forest". Transcription at Nicholson,
http://www.nottshistory.org.uk/white1875/introduction.htm Nottinghamshire History] (Accessed 24 December 2005).]

This early period of the town's history was humorously depicted in the children's television show, "Maid Marian and her Merry Men", where it was largely portrayed as a mass of mud.

After the conquest, in about 1103, William de Lovetot established a castle and Augustinian priory at Worksop. Subsequently Worksop grew into a market town. The building of the Chesterfield Canal in 1777, and the subsequent construction of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway in 1849, both of which passed through the settlement, led to a degree of growth. Discovery of sizable coal seams further increased interest in the area. In recent years Worksop has been recognised as having a serious drugs problem attributed to the decline of coal mining in the early 1990s during the government of John Major. The member of parliament for Bassetlaw, John Mann, has fought a high-profile campaign to tackle the problem, once described as being at levels seen in inner cities.In July 2007 Worksop was hit by one of its worst floods for a hundred years, along with the rest of the near by villages.

Education

*Welbeck College, a sixth-form college for potential army officers was based near Worksop from 1953 until 2005, and has now moved to Woodhouse in Leicestershire.
*The [http://www.portland.notts.sch.uk Portland School] is on Sparken Hill near the A57/B6034 roundabout.
*Valley Comprehensive School is on Baulk Lane near the leisure centre in the town centre. Both schools have sixth forms which work as a consortium. How ever they have built a new 6 form. [http://www.nnc.ac.uk North Notts College] is on Carlton Road (A60) in the town centre. Valley School achieves higher results at GCSE. Both of the two secondary schools in Worksop, are currently undergoing a major redevelopment. Both schools are being rebuilt and will be knocked down when construction is complete.
*Also a new Post 16 centre has been opened on the 3rd September 2007, which offers a wide range of A level qualifications along with vocational courses. The centre runs in partnership with the two schools and the college.

Health

Worksop is served by the Bassetlaw District General Hospital, part of the Doncaster and Bassetlaw NHS Foundation Trust. It is a large hospital, treating 33,000 people in year in addition to 38,000 emergencies at the A&E department. It is also used as a Teaching hospital by the University of Sheffield Medical School.

Local economy

Coal mining was an important source of employment. Manton Wood had a large colliery until 1994. This site has now been redeveloped as the main distribution centre for Wilkinson's in England, just off the A57. It is the home of the Manton Wood Enterprise Zone. [http://www.greencore.com Greencore sandwiches] (formerly Hazelwood Foods) and [http://www.ocgcacao.com/uk/sites/s-notting.htm OCG Cacao] , and [http://www.solway.com Solway Foods] (now part of Northern Foods and make pre-packed sandwiches) are based there. Major retail sites are Tesco, on Gateford Road, near the town centre and Sainsburys, on Highground Farm Road in Rhodesia, next to the A57 roundabout with Sandy Lane (A60).

Worksop has two radio stations: Trax FM, which is broadcast mainly from Doncaster and has taken much criticism for this factor over recent years.POV-statement|date=September 2008 It broadcasts from studios on Bridge Street on 107.9. The other radio station is Trust AM which is the Bassetlaw Hospital Radio station which can be found on 1278MW around the Hospital grounds.

The town is connected by rail to Nottingham and Mansfield by the Robin Hood Line, which follows the A60. The Sheffield to Lincoln/Cleethorpes rail line also passes through the town and Robin Hood Airport is close by and provides employment for many locals . The A57 connects the town to the M1 with the A1 and the M18 also nearby. This good motorway access probably explains why Worksop has attracted several distribution centres. Netherthorpe Airfield, 2 miles west of Worksop, provides facilities for general aviation and pilot training.

Places of Interest

Worksop Priory

Clumber Park

Clumber Park, just south of Worksop is a country park owned by the National Trust and is open to the public.

Mr Straw's House

Worksop is home to Mr Straw's House, the family home of the Straw family, which was left by the Straw brothers, William and Walter Straw when their parents died in the 1930s. The house remained unaltered until the National Trust acquired the house in the 1990s and opened it to the public. [ [http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-mrstrawshouse.htm Mr Straw's House] by The National Trust, accessed May 28, 2006.]

The Worksop Regal

[http://www.regalcentre.org.uk Young Potential] have taken over the former Circle Arts and provide theatre and recording studio facilities in the heart of Worksop including professional live music and arts performances and a range of arts training courses and social support services. It is managed and run mainly by volunteers who believe that involvement with the arts is vital for individual and community health.

Famous people from Worksop

* Bruce Dickinson, Iron Maiden singer and commercial pilot for the carrier Astraeus
* Neil Entwistle, Convicted murderer who shot dead his wife Rachel and their nine-month-old daughter Lillian at their home in Massachusetts in January 2006
* Anne Foy, BBC Children's TV presenter
* Sarah-Jane Honeywell, BBC Children's TV presenter
* Mick Jones, Leeds United striker of 1960s and 70s
* John Parr, musician
* Derek Smith, Gardener
* Donald Pleasence, actor
* Graham Taylor, football manager
* Lee Westwood, golfer

ee also

* Worksop College, a public school
* Worksop Priory, the Church of England parish church
* Worksop railway station, the railway station that serves the town
* Worksop Town F.C., the local football team
* Worksop Rural District, a former rural district
* Worksop Manor

References and notes

External links

* [http://www.nottshistory.org.uk/white1875/introduction.htm "Worksop, The Dukery and Sherwood Forest", by Robert White (1875)]
* [http://www.worksopguardian.co.uk/ "Worksop Guardian"]