The centre is available for hire to groups and schools by ringing the Forestry Commission on tel: 01623 822447.

• Select this link for address and telephone number
• Select this link for map
• Listen to sound recorded from the area

Thieves' Wood car-park is 12 miles north of Nottingham on the Mansfield Road (A60). Before entering Mansfield, take the Kirkby road shortly after Newstead Abbey. After 500 metres turn right into the B6139 (Coxmoor Road) and park in the first car park, on the right, or the second, on the left. 

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 the violent storms destroyed thousands of mature trees. A large scale replanting followed this disaster in subsequent years and acres of woodlands were gradually replenished.

Thieves wood is managed by the Forestry Commission and is part of the Royal Forest of Sherwood. It was once part of the Royal Wood of Lyndhurst owned by the King. The main route north from Nottingham, called Kings Way, used to run through Thieves Wood, and it is thought that the fate of the unfortunate travellers upon it gave the wood its name!

Today, Thieves' Wood consists of 200 hectares of mainly pine forest. There is ample free parking and a choice of two way-marked trails (blue and white). In addition to walking, the site is also suitable for cycling and horse riding, although cycling must be kept to the hard tracks and forest roads, whilst horse riding requires a permit, details of which can be obtained by ringing the Forestry Commission on tel: 01623 822447.

Covering gentle undulating terrain with a variety of woodland landscapes many different species of flora and fauna have chosen Thieves' Wood as their home. 

Despite the woods undoubted popularity, within minutes of leaving the car parks you are able to enjoy utter peace - the ideal "stress buster" after any hectic day, with only glimpses of the abundant wildlife to interrupt your thoughts.

 Although there are two main clearly marked pathways through the heart of the woods (blue and white walks - see map below) there are many unmarked tracks and narrow paths to wander along.

You'll soon find your own favourite secluded spot!

Thieves' Wood Centre is situated at the far side of the woods where you are able to relax and enjoy the natural beauty of the forest.

Visitors are provided with all of the information on woodland that they are likely to need in an easy to follow and interesting format.

Display boards in the Centre give access to valuable facts about a wide range of topics.

There are conveniently located picnic areas allowing the perfect opportunity to enjoy the abundant and fascinating wildlife. 

Within easy driving distance there are a number of other places of interest and/or natural beauty. These include: Portland Training College and Craft Centre (just across the A60); Longdale Craft Centre; Teversal Trail Visitor Centre; and Portland Park.

Refreshments are available from all of the above places.

The Robin Hood Way long distance footpath also passes through the woodland.

The Bird Stone

The Bird Stone is a popular landmark within Thieves' Wood. It is a simple stone plinth with a carving of a bird and the date 1883. Though many pass by it, very few will know its significance.

But this is not the original Bird Stone, which read:

This stone was placed here by J Whitaker of Rainworth Lodge, to mark the spot where the first British specimen of an Egyptian nightjar was spotted by A Spinks on 23 June 1883. It is only the second occurrence of the bird in Europe. 
 
That tells us more, but doesn't explain that the Albert Spinks mentioned was not a bird-spotter by nature, but a gamekeeper who lived opposite the Bessie Sheppard stone on the edge of nearby Harlow Wood. He had been firing at a rabbit and the sound of his gun-shot caused a bird to break cover. Spinks shot the bird dead.

Before disposing of the carcass, Spinks mentioned the bird in passing to the Naturalist Joseph Whitaker, who recognised it for the rare species in Britain that it was. Whitaker salvaged the bird and had it stuffed.

The very same stuffed Egyptian nightjar is contained in the Whitaker Collection of exhibits at the Mansfield Museum and Art Gallery and can be viewed by appointment. The sighting is recorded in "The Zoologist 1883: 374". The second accepted sighting of an Egyptian nightjar in Britain and Ireland was just over a hundred years later in Dorset on 10th June 1984.

Robin Hood

Robin Hood met Friar Tuck in the ballads at Fountain Dale, just to the East of Thieves' Wood. Here there is a Friar Tucks Well and the remains of a Saxon moat that may have surrounded an anchorage that became associated with the Friar. (The long distance walkway '"The Robin Hood Way" passes by it, as do "Friar Tuck Walks" starting from the café at Portland College laid out by the Forestry Commission).

The events of their encounter, with Robin asking the 'Curtal Friar' to repeatedly carry him across a stream before the Friar threw Robin in, is told in the ballad of "Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar" (written down in the Seventeenth Century), which finishes up:

This curtal friar had kept Fountains Dale
Seven long years or more;
There was neither knight, lord, nor earl
Could make him yield before.

The term curtal is disputed amongst scholars of Robin Hood. Most feel it refers to a shorter gown, worn for mobility: friars were associated with travel among the ordinary people, which was both a source of corruption and also, as in the Robin Hood tradition, popular acceptability. A "tucked friar" is another way of expressing this, which has become the basis for the friar's usual name, Tuck. Others have also suggested that tuck is derived from the Anglo-Saxon tucan - to afflict, disturb or torment and hence a misbehaving trouble-maker (which certainly fits the image we have of him as a gluttonous, bawdy, drunkard!).

Full transcription of the Ballad of Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar

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.

Badgers

We can't promise you'll see any, but you never know!

Forestry Commission information about Thieves' Wood