Tuxford

Tuxford
Tuxford Market Place
Tuxford  Tuxford shown within Nottinghamshire
Population	2,649 (2011)
OS grid reference	SK7370
Civil parish	Tuxford
District	Bassetlaw
Shire county	Nottinghamshire
Region	East Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	NEWARK
Postcode district	NG22
Dialling code	01777
Police	Nottinghamshire
Fire	Nottinghamshire
Ambulance	East Midlands
EU Parliament	East Midlands
UK Parliament	Newark
List of places UK England Nottinghamshire

Coordinates: 53°13′52″N 0°53′53″W / 53.231°N 0.898°W / 53.231; -0.898

Bridge across the A1 near the windmill

Tuxford is a village and a civil parish on the southern edge of the Bassetlaw district of Nottinghamshire, England. It may also be considered a small town as it was historically a market town. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 2,516,^[1] increasing to 2,649 at the 2011 census.^[2]

Geography

Nearby larger towns are Retford and Newark-on-Trent. From Harvest Cottage, near the East Coast main railway line, the southern boundary of the parish is also the boundary of Bassetlaw. It meets Weston and follows Goosemoor Dyke. To the south, in Newark and Sherwood, is Egmanton, on the opposite side of Goosemoor Dyke. At the point where the boundary crosses the railway to Ollerton, it meets Kirton. At Priors Park Farm where it crosses the A6075, it meets Walesby (in Newark and Sherwood). At Willoughby Hill next to the British Telecom mast, on south of Farleys Wood, the parish boundary leaves the district boundary of Bassetlaw, and it meets West Markham. Directly south of West Markham, the boundary meets East Markham and to the east is Fledborough.

Tuxford in Bassetlaw

The Great North Road runs through the village (now B1164), though the majority of traffic now uses the modern A1 trunk road, which splits the village in two. The village was bypassed in July 1967, opened by Stephen Swingler. The section of road, known as Carlton to Markham Moor, or the Sutton-on-Trent, Weston and Tuxford Bypass, was built by Robert McGregor & Sons, with concreting aggregates supplied by Hoveringham Gravels (later bought by Tarmac). The eight-mile section was authorised by Tom Fraser with a contract for £2.7 million, but ended up costing £3.4 million. The section is notable for the first use in British construction of the slip form paver using pervious concrete. The bridge sections came from Boulton & Paul Ltd in Norwich.

The A6075 passes through east-west and connects the A57 to Ollerton and Mansfield. The East Coast Main Line passes close to the east. The A611 previously went east-west through the village; this is now the A6075; the A611 now goes from Mansfield to Hucknall.

History

Tuxford has formerly been known as Tuxford in the Clays, Tuckers Ford, and in the Domesday Book as Tuxfarne.

St Nicholas church

The Church of England parish church^[3] of St Nicholas dates from the 12th century. Tuxford also has a Methodist church, whose current building was erected for another Free church in 1841.^[4]

Tuxford's local library is housed in a 17th-century building that was originally the Read Grammar School. The school was founded in 1669 by the bequest of Charles Read (1604–1669), who was born at Darlton about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from Tuxford, and became a wealthy shipper in Kingston upon Hull. Read also founded grammar schools at Corby Glen in Lincolnshire and Drax in Yorkshire. Read Grammar School in Tuxford closed in either 1912^[5] or 1915.^[6] The building served for a time as a child welfare centre before becoming the local library.

Tuxford has a village lock-up: one of only three in Nottinghamshire. Built in 1823 it stands on the village green in Newcastle Street. It has two separate cells, one each for men and women, each with its own earth closet. Ventilation to each cell is via two circular holes, with iron bars on the front and back walls. In 1884 an extension was added to the back of the lock-up to house Tuxford's fire engine. Early maps show that also behind the lock-up was the village pinfold, which remained in use until the 1920s.

Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation (Dosco) make mining equipment in the village.

Tuxford Windmill is a tower windmill, built in 1820 and restored to working order between 1982 and 1993. It is open to visitors daily except Tuesdays throughout the year. The mill with its large white sails dominates Tuxford's skyline. The mill produces flour which is sold from the mill shop. The mill bakery produces cakes, soups & rolls. A wooden post mill once stood close by. It was moved from Grassthorpe in 1874, continued working until about 1926 and was demolished in 1950.

Stone Road End Mill was a brick-built four-storey tower windmill, built before 1840. The mill was out of use by 1906 and now only the 38-foot high tower remains.^[7]

Railway stations

Former railway stations

Despite its small size, Tuxford had three railway stations but all are now closed. The Great Northern Railway opened the East Coast Main Line through Tuxford in 1852. The GNR's station at Tuxford was served by local trains between Newark-on-Trent and Retford. In 1897 The Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway opened its line through Tuxford, linking Sheffield and Chesterfield with Lincoln. The LDECR called its station Tuxford Town, and the GNR renamed its station Tuxford North. In 1907 the Great Central Railway took over the LDECR and renamed Tuxford Town Tuxford Central. Dukeries Junction station was built where the two railways cross, and was a split-level affair with platforms on both lines, existing solely as an interchange point surrounded by open fields with no proper road access. Its name was taken from The Dukeries district of Nottinghamshire.

In March 1950 British Railways closed Dukeries Junction station. It had had minimal use throughout its life. In July 1955 BR closed Tuxford North and withdrew passenger services from the former LDECR line in September of the same year, resulting in the closure of Tuxford Central. The former LD&ECR railway line has since been reopened by Network Rail in 2009 as the High Marnham Test Track for testing trains between Thoresby Jn and High Marnham at speeds of up to 75 mph, with extensive sidings and mock OHL electrification being built at Tuxford approximately 5 miles away from the former Tuxford Central Station.

Amenities

A1 bridge over A6075

There is a Co-op on Newcastle Street in addition to three village pubs.

Education

Tuxford Academy^[8] opened as a County Secondary School (Secondary modern school) in 1958 and became a comprehensive in 1976. It performs very well compared with most of Nottinghamshire, and especially with most of Bassetlaw. Tuxford School recently underwent a full re-build, completed in March 2007. A company called Transform Schools (mainly represented by building company Balfour Beatty) spent millions of pounds re-building six secondary schools within the Bassetlaw area as part of a PFI funded project. The new Tuxford School is located on what used to be the old school field along with a field next to it which has been bought over. The site where the old school stood has now been converted into the new school playing field and nature areas.

Former grammar school

Tuxford Academy has, surprisingly, only had three head teachers during its lifetime to date: Bernard Woodward, Keith Atkinson, and Chris Pickering and now the heavenly principal, Mr D Cotton, he really is a gem. The school has steadily increased in size (now 1450 students) and reputation, and is one of the highest performing state secondary schools in Nottinghamshire, having gained an OfSTED grade of 'outstanding' in May 2009. It has been designated as a National Support School, is a specialist Technology College and Training School, and leads loose federations of secondary and primary schools in Nottinghamshire. It is well known for its welcoming atmosphere and innovative practices in education. Tuxford also has a community primary school.^[9]

Sport

Tuxford has four youth football teams. Tuxford Gladiators^[10] are an U9s team and Tuxford YFC are under 14's both teams compete in the Newark Youth League. These two teams are managed by a local firefighter and police sergeant. Tuxford YFC under 15's also play in the Mansfield League and the under 12s play in Newark.

The footballer Craig Disley comes from Tuxford. He played for Mansfield Town 1999–2004 and now plays for Grimsby Town.

BT transmitter south of Farleys Wood, to the west

On 7 November 2011, the London 2012 Olympic Organising Committee announced that the Olympic Torch would travel through Tuxford on 28 June 2012 on its way from Lincoln to Nottingham.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tuxford.

• Tuxford Mine of Information
• Tuxford and its stations on a navigable 1947 OS map
• PC abducted girls in 2003
• Windmill starts again in 2005

Ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire
Unitary authorities	Nottingham
Boroughs or districts	Ashfield Bassetlaw Broxtowe Gedling Mansfield Newark and Sherwood Rushcliffe
Major settlements	Arnold Beeston Bingham Calverton Carlton Cotgrave Eastwood Harworth Hucknall Kimberley Kirkby-in-Ashfield Mansfield Newark Nottingham Ollerton Rainworth Retford Ruddington Stapleford Southwell Sutton-in-Ashfield West Bridgford Worksop See also: List of civil parishes in Nottinghamshire
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