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Settlements have existed in Ashfield for over two millenniums. Roman settlers, for example, brought in by the two Roman highways Ermine Street and Fosse Way, built villas and farmsteads near to existing old English settlements such as nearby Newstead and Mansfield Woodhouse. Ashfield’s major settlements of Selston and Sutton, however, have traditionally Saxon names, while Kirkby is thought to have been a Danish Viking military settlement.

Much of the region was covered by the extensive Sherwood Forest until the 17th Century when the enclosure movement caused much of the forest to be felled, flushing out the poachers and outlaws and leaving the rest of the forest to be properly managed.

Throughout the middle ages right until the present day much of Ashfield has been covered by a rich spread of agricultural land which defines a mixed farming style. While farming is still important to the district, part of the region benefits from Rural Development Area status, Ashfield’s economic history is better defined by the rise (and fall) of two of Britain’s oldest industries.

Coal mining, albeit on very basic scale, could well have taken place in Ashfield since Roman times when coal from the Nottingham region was documented as being shipped to the fens, probably as return cargo for grain. There is evidence that coal was being widely burned as fuel for lime burning, baking, brewing and iron forging in the Nottingham area as far back as the 1200s.

The first documented mine lease was awarded in 1316, at this time mining would have taken place in the form of quarrying into an exposed coal seam although this was soon superseded by the bell-pit method which remained in existence until the 19th Century. Despite a large number of bell-pits springing up from the 1600s onwards, and the rise of canal based transportation, mining remained a localised market until the mid-19th Century when the railways finally allowed the bulk transportation of coal products right from the centre of the coal field out to the rest of the UK.

Coal mining dominated Ashfield’s economy from the mid-19th Century onwards and, with twelve active collieries in its heyday, sealed Ashfield’s status as Britain’s wealthiest region. From the 1970s onwards, however, the industry has been in steep decline. January 2000 saw the closure of Annesley Bentinck Colliery (Ashfield’s last), marking the district’s departure from a 1000 year or more association with the industry.

The East Midlands region has a history of textiles manufacture dating back to the Doomsday Book. As the Peak District in Derbyshire became Britain's centre for sheep farming a ready supply of raw materials began to find its way into the East Midland towns. Consequently, Leicester has a long tradition of hosiery manufacture and Nottingham is famous for its lace making. By the early 17th Century an extensive framework knitting industry had established itself in the settlements of Kirkby, Sutton and Selston. As the industrial revolution took hold, textile manufacturing companies thrived in Ashfield providing employment for the wives of the local miners.

By the 1960s a combination of the district’s twelve highly productive collieries and approximately 40 textiles factories producing hosiery and allied products, employing 60% of the female labour force, had given Ashfield one of the highest average incomes of any industrial area in the country.

The last three decades have seen a serious decline in both of Ashfield’s previously supportive industries. In the year 2000, with the closure of Ashfield’s last colliery and the considerable downsizing/closure of three of the region’s principle textiles employers Courtaulds, Cooper and Rowe and Coats Viyella, Ashfield is adapting for the 21st Century faster than any other region in the UK.

Economic Development is paramount in Ashfield and with enormous support from local, regional, central and European government we are confident that Ashfield will be one of the top 20% of EU regions by 2010. With its superb location and comprehensive supportive infrastructure emphasising lifelong learning, community togetherness and business support, we are certain that Ashfield will once again thrive as one of Britain’s most productive regions, boasting an environment not only of clean natural beauty, but also practicality for life in the 21st Century.