Eakring

infobox UK place
official_name = Eakring
os_grid_reference = SK673623
population = 395 (2001) [cite web |url=http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=798416&c=Eakring&d=16&e=15&g=479355&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&enc=1&dsFamilyId=779 |title=Parish Headcounts: Eakring CP |accessdate=2007-04-15 |work=Neighbourhood Statistics |publisher=Office for National Statistics ]
country = England
region = East Midlands
shire_county = Nottinghamshire
shire_district = Newark and Sherwood
latitude = 53.1534
longitude = -0.9923
map_type = Nottinghamshire
scale = 20000
post_town = NEWARK
postcode_district = NG22
postcode_area = NG
dial_code = 01623
constituency_westminster = Sherwood

Eakring is a village in the Newark and Sherwood district in Nottinghamshire situated between the A617 and A616, between Ollerton and Southwell.

The village pub is the Savile Arms on "Bilsthorpe Road". The Robin Hood Way passes through the village.

Eakring Mill was a five-storey brick tower windmill, built some time after 1840 (gbmapping|SK673628). The sails were removed in 1912 and the mill was derelict by 1936. It was converted to a house c. 1995 [Shaw, T. (1995). "Windmills of Nottinghamshire". Page 14. Nottingham: Nottinghamshire County Council. ISBN 0-900986-12-3] . A windmill was shown on a map of 1832, located in Mill Hill Field, where two footpaths cross (gbmapping|SK668616) and another windmill shown north of Eakring Brail Wood (gbmapping|SK662614).

The Reverend William Mompesson, the vicar of Eyam during the Plague in 1666, moved to the village in 1670, living there for 39 years, and is buried in the churchyard.

Drilling of oil during the Second World War

In the late 1930's oil exploration was undertaken by the D'Arcy Exploration Co Ltd, part of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company Ltd. Using geological data from colliery workings, geologists calculated that an anticline was situated under Eakring. A nearby borehole at Kelham had produced oil. Drilling to levels between 7463ft and 7468ft had found significant quantities of oil - which turned to be particularly significant when the Second World War and the U-Boat campaign started. Wells also produced oil at Caunton and Kelham Hills. The oil had a specific gravity of 0.86 - which is high grade oil. The UK typically had oil reserves of five million barrels, which were under strength. In March 1943, production began at around 100 wells, being coordinated by Philip Southwell, a petroleum engineer from the D'Arcy Oil Company who had liaised with Lloyd Noble, president of Noble Drilling Corporation in Oklahoma. Throughout the operation, the location of the oil field was kept secret. American oil workers lived in the Anglican monastery at Kelham Hall. [http://www.dukeswoodoilmuseum.co.uk/History.htm History of the Eakring Oilfield] In total, the oil field produced around 3.5 million barrels of oil. In contrast, the Germans had to rely on synthetic oil, manufacture of which largely ceased during 1944 as a result of Allied bombing raids.

References

Publication

* Guy H Woodward & Grace Steele Woodward, "The Secret of Sherwood Forest Oil production in England during World War II," ISBN 0-8061-3433-X

External links

* [http://www.eakring.org Village website]
* [http://www.dukeswoodoilmuseum.co.uk/History.htm History of the Eakring Oilfield]
* [http://www.ukoog.org.uk/history.htm Site with history and photos]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/eastmidlands/series11/oil_gallery/02.shtml Sherwood Forest's Secret Oil]
* [http://www.bl.uk/collections/sound-archive/nlscoil.html The 'best kept secret' of the War]
* [http://www.igreens.org.uk/dukes_wood.htm Brief history with map of Eakring oilfield]
* [http://www.wildlifetrust.org.uk/nottinghamshire/reserves/dukes_wood.htm Map of Dukes Wood]