Papplewick

The well and the old forest crossroads

A well sits inside the restaurant at The Griffin's Head, a Grade II listed pub at Papplewick's crossroads. The separate dining area and rear garden make it a natural stop after a village walk.

The pub's name comes from the griffin on the arms of the Montagu family, once local landowners. Regular beers include Black Sheep Best Bitter, Castle Rock Harvest Pale and Timothy Taylor Landlord. Dogs are welcome, the rear garden has hosted beer festivals, and the pub serves a seasonal menu.

A second pub and paths through the parish

The Burnt Stump Inn is a Marston's pub beside Burntstump Country Park, with a garden, patio, children's play area and a view over the cricket pitch. Dogs are welcome in the bar area, where water bowls and treats are available.

For walking, the short option is the Meadows Path to Linby, three-quarters of a mile past Papplewick Lodge, the church and an old stone bridge over the River Leen. The longer Moors Path crosses Papplewick Moors, once used as a landing strip, and passes Seven Mile Wood, where herons, lapwings and yellowhammers turn up. The Robin Hood Way runs through the parish in two loops, one heading north-west into the Newstead Abbey grounds.

Medieval stones and Victorian engineering

St James' Church is Grade I listed, with a 14th-century tower and a nave rebuilt in 1795 by Frederick Montagu. Its Norman font and ten medieval cross-slabs reward a closer look: the slabs appear in the nave, porch walls and churchyard path. One bears a hunting horn, bow, arrow and baldric associated with a chief forester. A bell dated 1620 bears the words: "I sweetly tolling men do call, to feaste on meates that feed the soule."

Papplewick Pumping Station was built for Nottingham Corporation between 1881 and 1884. Its two James Watt beam engines pumped water until 1969; the listed boiler house contains three Lancashire boilers. The site later became a museum, where steam events bring the engines back into operation.

From Domesday waste to modern connections

The Domesday survey recorded one Papplewick holding as worth one pound to its lord in 1066. Its entry was marked “Waste” in 1086, with no annual value recorded.

Hucknall has rail and tram connections. Stagecoach's 141 bus serves Papplewick on its route between Nottingham and Sutton in Ashfield.

Cricket since 1805

Papplewick and Linby Cricket Club has been playing since 1805. It now runs four senior teams and a youth section that takes children from the age of four.