Thoresby Park / Thoresby Estate various photographs part 3.

Above: Strong winds bring down a tree in Perlethorpe Church graveyard. (2020). Below: Beautifully overgrown during the “lockdown” summer of 2020. Thoresby employs an excellent ecosystem for trimming the grass: sheep, which are yet to be deployed.

Above: The Cricket Pavilion. Thoresby had a long history of participating in cricket matches against local teams such as Ollerton, Worksop, Welbeck, Nottingham, etc. The earliest known reference to the team comes from a Church Newsletter dated 1890, which mentions a concert being held in April of that year in order to raise funds. Certainly, in the 1950s / early 1960s, the game still thrived here.

Above: Seemingly used today to house farm machinery, the Deer Hutt was originally intended to shelter and feed the park’s deer during the winter months.

 Thoresby photos 1 on THIS LINK.

Thoresby photos 2 on THIS LINK.

 

Below: Perlethorpe lockdown during the pandemic of 2020.

 

River Meden, Perlethorpe, Pt 2.

Old maps of Perlethorpe depict the location of a cotton mill just north of, but close by, Home Farm. Although most items you see here are from a later date, one can see clear evidence from this point and eastward across the field, how at least some portion of the River Meden was once diverted to bypass the site of Perlethorpe Village and run closer to the Kennels.

In 1862 this mill was described as having two grey millstones, two French buhr stones (said to produce a superior wheat product), and a Gorse Bruising Machine, the latter of which rendered a gorse bush into a palatable thorn-free food supplement for horses and cows when mixed with chopped hay or straw during those months when green forage might be thin on the ground. Dairymen were also of the opinion it made the milk richer and tastier.

 More about the River Meden on THIS LINK.