Introduction
Sherwood Forest On Your Doorstep is a project for young people documenting the places and people along Sherwood Forest’s ancient borders. It is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. The project includes a number of creative heritage projects with youth groups near to and within the boundary lines. Young people will work with artists, archeologists, local historians and local people to investigate the ways in which the natural and industrial realm have affected the history in their area. Their research will span medieval, mining, forest and recent social histories and result in a number of events that will share their activities with local communities.
The projects tab above links to the blogs for each of the young people’s projects in Kirkby, Annersley, Newstead and Bilsthorpe. This website is an place for sharing creative materials generated in workshops and for youth groups to share materials with each other as well as an archive of the project.
Project development
The 1662 Perambulation of Sherwood Forest document is the starting point for the project. Perambulations or walks, were the main way in which the boundaries of Sherwood Forest were monitored. The last of these official perambulations was recorded in 1662. Writer Dave Wood then undertook an ambitious project in 2011 and walked the whole route again developing a creative project around his walk and stopping off to run writing and poetry workshops on the way and performing his poems to people met on the way. Dave produced Unfamiliar Bounds a new saga of over 18,500 words that charts his experiences and observations whilst undertaking the walk. You can read about his project and some excerpts from the Saga at Creative Perambulations of Sherwood Forest, his project website.
During the project, we will be attempting to walk the entire length of this walk again, capturing a photographic and audio record of the journey to share with youth groups and eventually form a new record of the landscape in 2016-18 to be submitted to Nottinghamshires Archives. Dave Wood will lead the walks, and re-tell his 2011 Saga, with additional information shared by local historians and experts who will also bring along excerpts from the 1662 document.
Project Team
This project is managed by Sian Stammers. Creative projects are lead by Jo Wheeler, David Severn, Rebecca Lee and Dave Wood.
Funding
This project is generously  funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.