Trench system was digitised and mapped using lidar survey data and walkover survey (2)

Building of the hutted camp began in late 1914. The main contractors were W Hodson and Sons of Nottingham. The site of the camp was located to the west of Sherwood Pines, between the new mining village of Forest Town and the hamlet of Clipstone. The chosen site was bounded by Clipstone Drive and Mansfield Road. Five battalions of the Royal Fusiliers arrived in 1915 to help construct the trenches and firing ranges. The rate of soldiers arriving at Clipstone outstripped hut construction, so temporary tented camps were set up. The Forest Town camp, between Walkers Plantation and Forest Town, accommodated 2,000 men, and remained in operation until September 1915. A second tented camp was set up in the field next to Sherwood Hall and a third in the paddock at Crown Farm, where officers were also billeted in the house. (3)

The Mansfield Reporter on the 12th March 1915, stated that the camp was being built to accommodate 12 battalions. The camp plan shows that it was organised in lines that provided self-contained accommodation for whole battalions (approximately 1000 men). Each line, the longest of which was a mile long (Ottewell, 2005), consisted of 60 buildings providing separate sleeping quarters for officers and men (30 to a hut), a cook house, a mess room, a bathhouse, latrines, stables, coal storage, equipment storage and a parade ground. (3)

Camp communal buildings included churches, shops, three Young Mens Christian Association (YMCA) huts and later a Navy, Army Canteen Board (NACB) hut. A hospital and medical centre looked after their health. (3)

<1> J C Fairham, 1994, Clipstone Camp: An Account of a military training camp of the first world war (Bibliographic reference). SNT5251.

<2> Chris Casswell, 2022, Veiled Landscape Project: Sherwood Pines LiDAR Survey and Ground Truthing Report (Unpublished document). SNT5320.

<3> Helen Wallbridge, 2023, From Forest to Frontline: Understanding Clipstone Camp through Archival Research (Unpublished document). SNT5925.