_Frontispiece_

Worksop Manor 8

Robin Hood's Larder 14

The Major Oak, Thoresby Park 20

The Beech Avenue, Thoresby 26

Welbeck Abbey 32

Clumber 36

Thoresby 42

Ollerton 48

Rufford Abbey 52

The Japanese Garden, Rufford Abbey 56

Edwinstowe 60

[Illustration: THE DUKERIES]

WORKSOP AND THE MANOR

Although within the last twenty-five years Worksop has suffered many
changes, unfortunate enough from an aesthetic point of view, the Dukeries
end of the principal street still suggests the comfortable market town
in the neighbourhood of folk of quality. The only relic of notable
antiquity is the quaint inn, known as the Old Ship--a building with
projecting upper story and carved oaken beams that might have been
transported from Chester.

The twin-towered Priory Church, a gatehouse of singular interest, and
some slight, gracefully proportioned ecclesiastical ruins are the main
features of interest. The Priory was founded by William de Lovetot, and
used by the canons of the order of St. Augustine. Great men were buried
there, notably several chiefs of the Furnival family, who had for town
residence Furnival's Inn in Holborn. The interior of the church contains
some excellent round and octagonal pillars, and one or two ancient
effigies. The walls are coated with stucco, which detracts considerably
from the beauty of this handsomely proportioned building. One of the
most interesting things to be seen is a piece of a human skull, pierced
with an arrowhead. This hangs to the left of the doorway by which the
vestry is reached. There is a weird superstition concerning the moving
of this relic.

Near by is the ruined chapel, erected about the middle of the thirteenth
century. It was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and in olden times must
have blazed with gorgeous colours. The roof has fallen; little remains
of its former beauty save the lancet windows. The double piscina and the
sedilia are still in fair preservation, and we are shown the round holes
in the stonework once filled w