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Thieves Wood
Mountain Biking Thieves Wood
A cracking mountain bike trail from the entrance of Thieves Wood through to the A60 halfway between Mansfield and Nottingham. This is part of the 20-mile loop I call ' Pig Hill' due to the climb halfway round. Check out the video capturing the trail.
Thieves Wood is situated just south of Mansfield and is part of the old Royal Wood of Lyndhurst. It is now managed by the Forestry Commission and is part of the Royal Forest of Sherwood. although mainly Forestry Commission plantations. Thieves Wood consists of 200 Hectares of mainly Pine forests. Hundreds of years ago, trees from these woods provided timber for the construction of Nottingham Castle. Since that time, they have virtually remained untouched until 1976 when violent storms destroyed thousands of mature trees. A large-scale replanting followed this disaster in subsequent years and acres of woodlands have gradually been replenished. The wood extends past Fountain Dale, with its Friar Tuck legends, along Rainworth Water to the lakes at Rainworth, where eccentric local ornithologist Joseph Whitaker lived at Rainworth Lodge.
It is a popular place for quiet walks and cycling. With, its many tracks and trails it makes a great place to formulate a good mountain bike ride. If you extend the ride to Harlow Wood or Newstead Abbey, you can be biking for miles.
If the biking has left you feeling peckish, it’s a decent place to stop and refuel. There are many picnic benches dotted around to take a well-earned rest particularly by the car park. Forgot to pack food? You’re in luck: there’s also a refreshment cabin where you can grab some snacks.
This beautiful forest just south of Mansfield is the ideal place to surround yourself with beautiful nature and learn all about England’s epic mythology. My favourite time to pass through Thieves Wood is on an autumn adventure. There’s nothing quite like discovering Thieves Wood during autumn, surrounded by the beautiful fiery trees and leaves crunching beneath your rolling tyres. But no matter the time of year, it's a spectacular place to come and admire gorgeous scenery and the epic stories it has to tell.
You might know Nottingham as the stomping ground of Robin Hood, the famous thief who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. In days gone by Thieves Wood was once part of the Royal Wood of Lyndhurst owned by the King. The main route north from Nottingham, called Kings Great Way, was a road that linked London to Nottingham and beyond, and used to run through Thieves Wood. It is thought that the fate of the unfortunate travellers upon it gave the wood its name.
A short distance away is Fountaindale, it is said that Robin Hood met Friar Tuck at Fountain Dale on the east side of the wood, a legendary place.
Later legends tell that Robin Hood and his men drove a particularly nasty band of robbers from these woods who were harassing the people of the Ravenshead area. Friar Tuck sent for Robin's help after they kidnapped a young girl from Mansfield and robbed her father. The girl was eventually rescued of course, and her father's money returned.
The longer trail here will take you along the same path that Robin Hood himself would have walked while he searched for well-about folks to rob. Despite its name, thieves and highwaymen seem to have abandoned this forest since the days of Richard the Lionheart.
Yet you never know who might be lurking in the undergrowth, so if you consider yourself rich and you have an expensive bike, be on the lookout for outlaws in the bushes!
The other notable item in Thieves wood, although not so legendary, is the 'Bird Stone'. It is inscribed:
'This stone was placed here by J. Whitaker of Rainworth Lodge [Nottinghamshire], to mark the spot where the first British specimen of an Egyptian nightjar was spotted by A. Spink’s on 23 June 1883. It is only the second occurrence of the bird in Europe.'
Albert Spink’s was a gamekeeper who lived opposite the Bessie Sheppard stone on the edge of Harlow Wood. He was firing at a rabbit and the sound caused the bird to fly out, so Spink’s shot it. It was only by chance that he mentioned this to Whitaker - a naturalist and writer of sorts - before disposing of it. The very grateful Whitaker salvaged the bird and had it stuffed.
Joseph Whitaker was the elder son of Joseph Whitaker of Ramsdale, where the younger man was born. He was educated at Uppingham School and inherited a love of the outdoors from his father, who was one of the backers of the local boxer Bendigo. Whitaker lived most of his life at Rainworth Lodge, where his house resembled a museum, containing cases of stuffed birds and other natural history exhibits. Whitaker was a keen sportsman, botanist, fisherman and collector of curios. He published a book on medieval dovecotes in Nottinghamshire, although not all the examples were medieval and not all were even in the county. He also had his own deer park and collected deer horns.
The original Bird Stone that Whitaker put in Thieves Wood was vandalized in the 1980s, and the replacement erected to remind passers-by of the event. At the same time, it keeps alive the memory of one of Nottinghamshire's eccentric characters who furthered our knowledge of birds, dovecotes, and other topics. Mansfield Museum and Art Gallery holds the Whitaker Collection of exhibits in its archive, which include the Egyptian nightjar.
You can take a waymarked route between the two sites, ‘the bird stone’ and Fountain dale. I use Thieves wood for many connected rides. See some of the amazing photos of Thieves wood in my article ‘Friday morning in the sun’. Then there is the video I made of the fast entrance trail from the A611 on the west side of the wood, ‘into the Woods’. What about when the wood is at its best in Autumn. A fantastic time with all the leaves golden brown and falling like snow, check out ‘biking on a bed of golden leaves’.
As you may agree a great wood for biking in. Check out the next section of the Pig hill loop ‘Mountain Biking in Harlow Wood’. Another amazing wood to link biking routes together. Alternatively, if you missed the previous section, take a look at the section ‘Mountain biking the Pitt tip Kirkby’, a bit of industrial history.
Have a look at all the sections of the Pig Hill loop, one of my go to rides in the summer.
Mountain Biking the Pit Tip Kirkby
Mountain Biking Route 6 to Ravenshead
Mountain Biking Blidworth Waye
