Artisans dwelling area related to coal industry in Forest Town. Built in late C19. Good condition, needs landscape and planting scheme. Interesting example of high density housing. Note front and rear access (1970). (1)

One of the most remarkable coalfield settlements in Nottinghamshire. Built at the end of the nineteenth century. There is a central road off which terraces almost 200ft long run at right angles on each side, eighteen on the east and seventeen on the west. (2)

[A] Bolsover Company village constructed for their new Crown Farm colliery opened in 1905. (3)

The layout is nevertheless highly geometric and the provision for public open space was extensive and firmly embedded in the core values of the model village and the garden city movement. The main entrances to the village, from Pump Hollow Road and Clipstone Road announce emphatically that the core value of public open space provision and access to nature is at the heart of the village. (5)

The amount of open space evident on either side of the village, including the cricket ground, recreation ground, for football and games, tennis courts, Institute (rebuilt), bowling green (expanded) and allotments was very progressive for its day. (5)

The ‘village’ at Forest Town was established piecemeal between 1905 and 1911, with the Co-op dated to 1906, the Cricket Pavilion dated to 1908 and the Drill Hall dated 1908-09. (5)

Although it is recorded that the architect Percy B. Houfton was responsible for the design of the housing, there are no drawings of the first phase of the terraced housing. (5)

Associated parsonage, school and primitive methodist chapel survive. (4)

At Forest Town, whilst there is no central green, the layout is nevertheless highly geometric and the provision for public open space was extensive and firmly embedded in the core values of the model village and the garden city movement. Being surrounded by allotments was a core value of Ebenezer Howard’s principles. The main entrances to the village, from Pump Hollow Road and Clipstone Road announce emphatically that the core value of public open space provision and access to nature is at the heart of the village. Stepped terraces of open space commence at Clipstone Road with the Institute framed by its tennis courts and bowling green, and then step down along Pump Hollow Road to a cricket oval, with a cricket pavilion at the western end, and then step down further to a recreation ground, and the final step, on a slope, is the colliers allotments. Further allotments were provided to the east of the colliery housing, but these were not stepped and are now largely hidden from view; half of them have been built upon in recent decades. Provision of vegetables, to supplement the miners’ diet, and activities such as pigeon fancying was encouraged on the allotments amongst the company’s workforce to provide recreation. The amount of open space evident, including the cricket ground, recreation ground, for football and games, tennis courts, Institute (rebuilt), bowling green (expanded) and allotments was very progressive for its day. By 1985 a second Bowling Green had been established to the east along with tennis courts and children’s playground, where they still survive. At Forest Town Main Avenue runs down the hill, off which are nine separate avenues running perpendicular to it. There are 36 houses in each avenue, split by the main avenue. The housing at Forest Town follows a systematic form of terraces, with no variation in the detail and most of the houses have been rendered, with the consequent loss of detail, moulded arched windows, etc. Interestingly, many of the same moulded brick details and segmental arched windows found in Creswell were used at Forest Town, suggesting a common designer / source of materials. The plan form at Forest Town is unusual as it adopts a traditional form of terraced housing, using communal back alleys and picket-fenced front gardens, as with New Bolsover Model Village, but limitations on space and the hilly nature of the environment seem to have prevented a more typical ‘garden village’ layout. Although it is recorded that the architect Percy B. Houfton was responsible for the design
of the housing, there are no drawings of the first phase of the terraced housing in the Nottingham archives. Many original drawings were destroyed during the closure of the British Coal offices. Drawings for the Drill Hall, Cooperative Stores and Cricket Pavilion, all designed by P.B. Houfton, however, do survive and all three buildings still stand, in various states of preservation Forest Town as a complete ‘model’ village is a non-designated heritage asset. The later terraced development of George Street and the northern terraced frontages to Clipstone Road are recorded in the archives, designed by Frank Cook, Architect, Mansfield, but are not of special interest. Local Listing includes Forest Town Model Village -encompasing housing for colliery workers, Church of St Albans,
school and adjoining buildings, drill hall, recreational lane and allotments.(6)


Grid ref centred.

Data Held: Ground Photograph (Ground photograph). SNT2646.

5 BW print, SMR

<1> CBA, Industrial Survey (Published document). SNT184.

Other Refs: IA4 50/17

<2> Smith DM, 1965, The Industrial Archaeology of the East Midlands, p 261 (Published document). SNT1304.

<3> Palmer M & Neaverson P, 1992, Industrial Landscapes of the East Midlands, p 104 (Monograph). SNT5.

<4> White J, 2002, Pers Comm (Personal comment). SNT1529.

<5> Melanie Morris, 2018, Heritage Impact Assessment, HELAA - Preferred Options 2013-2033: Site allocations Mansfield District Local Plan 2018 (Unpublished document). SNT5792.

<6> Mansfield District Council, 2004, Mansfield District Council Local List (Published document). SNT5967.