Worksop - Definition and Overview

Worksop is a town in Nottinghamshire, England, situated on the River Ryton although its nearest city is Sheffield in South Yorkshire. The town is located at 53º 19’N, 1º 7’W, at the northern edge of Sherwood Forest. Population (2004): 39,800.

History

Worksop was founded in Anglo-Saxon times, and existed for a long time as a market town. The building of the Chesterfield Canal in 1777, and the subsequent construction of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway in 1849, both of which passed through the settlement, led to a degree of growth. Discovery of sizable coal seams further increased interest in the area.

Miscellaneous

Worksop is known as the "Gateway to the Dukeries", so called for the number of ducal residences in the area.

The town was the setting for the children's television show, Maid Marian and her Merry Men, where it was depicted largely as a mass of mud.

Worksop was the birth place of:

• Donald Pleasance, actor
• Lee Westwood, golfer
• Bruce Dickinson, singer in the heavy metal band Iron Maiden
• Graham Taylor, football manager

External link

• The Worksop FactFile (http://www.nottsnet.co.uk/Worksop/worksop_facts.htm)