A Forgotten Settlement

Words and photographs contributed by Frank Eyre


The Parish of Rufford derives its name and beginning from an early settlement established on rough land by a ford.  This small settlement was slowly abandoned after the foundation of the Cistercian Abbey on the banks of Rainworth Water.

Rufford is steeped in the history the area, its many secrets still locked within its rolling landscape.  Finding the original Rufford would not be without contention.

The histories of the Abbey and the ensuing estate have been well documented over many centuries.

The development of the Abbey and the success of the later estate were in many ways a disadvantage to the small settlements working to survive on the early landscape with its dense covering of trees on a mixture of heavy clay soils to the eastern boundary and dry sandy conditions to the western edge.

Those early occupied settlements must have found it very difficult to work this land.

Today it is still a scattering of settlements and farmsteads roughly based on the Abbey’s early holdings, all surviving in the largest recorded parish within the County.

Even though the area was remote and sparsely populated it was on a main route from Nottingham to the north, passing Rufford and the eastern section of the Royal Forest of Sherwood.

In the main it is today a farming landscape with a high proportion of forestry and associated activities, a mixture of light industry and tourism with a capital T.

Most visitors when questioned would consider the present country park holds the key to the true Rufford, it is not so, the original Rufford or rough land by a ford is elsewhere.

Rufford offers many opportunities to many visitors, it is a destination and an end to thousands of journeys from a multitude of places, it is estimated that over 20 million people live within a day’s car drive of the Parish.

Amongst its various opportunities it has a holiday village, 18 hole golf course and driving range, horse-riding facilities, paintball activities, karting/motor sports and endless cycle ways within the forest area, it also offers the Robin Hood Way for keen walkers, all interwoven throughout the Parish.