Eakring is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

Newark and Sherwood Newark and Sherwood is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest district by area in the county. The council is based in Newark-on-Trent, the area's largest town. The district also incl ...

district of

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

, England. Its population at the 2011 census was 419, and this increased to 440 residents for the 2021 census. There was sizeable oil production there in the mid-20th century. The village's name is of

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

origin: ''eik-hringr'', which means "the circle of oak trees".

Geography

The village lies between the A617 and the A616 roads between Ollerton and Southwell. Dukes Wood to the south is situated on the top of an

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. Due to the similarity, the term '' scarp'' may mistakenly be incorrectly used inte ...

, giving good views over the Trent valley to the east and towards Southwell to the south. Clouds formed by the Cottam Power Station were previously seen on clear days to the northeast. A steep hill descends into the village from the south, on which the road passes a large residential training centre for

National Grid plc National Grid plc is a British multinational electricity and gas utility company headquartered in London, England. Its principal activities are in the United Kingdom, where it owns and operates electricity and natural gas transmission networks ...

Heritage

The village pub is the ''Savile Arms'' in Bilsthorpe Road. The Robin Hood Way, a long-distance footpath that passes through the village, is altogether 168 km (104 miles) long. Eakring Mill was a five-storey brick tower windmill, built some time after 1840 (). The sails were removed in 1912 and the mill was derelict by 1936. It was converted into a house in about 1995. A windmill was shown on a map of 1832, located in Mill Hill Field, where two footpaths cross, () and another windmill shown north of Eakring Brail Wood (). The parish church is dedicated to

St Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( ; ; ; ) was an apostle of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was a fisherman and one of the Apostles in the New Testament, Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus. The title First-Called () used by the Eastern Orthodox Chu ...

, the Apostle. The

grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

building was constructed in the 13th–15th centuries and restored in the early 1880s, when the seating was replaced. It contains a font bearing the date 1674, and a plaque commemorating the installation of the tower clock in 1887. When Gilbert Michell was Rector in the earlier 18th century, the Tudor parsonage house (now the Old Rectory) was the largest house in the village. It "came with a large

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Modern tithes are normally voluntary and paid in money, cash, cheques or v ...

barn and other outbuildings, a fold for animals, and a neighbouring orchard and two fish ponds described as 'pleasure grounds' for the house."

Notable people

In birth order: * Reverend William Mompesson, vicar of

Eyam Eyam () is an English village and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales that lies within the Peak District National Park. There is evidence of early occupation by Ancient Britons on the surrounding moors and lead was mined in the area by the Ro ...

during the Plague in 1666, moved to the village in 1670, lived there for 39 years, and was buried in the churchyard. *

John Michell John Michell (; 25 December 1724 – 21 April 1793) was an English natural philosopher and clergyman who provided pioneering insights into a wide range of scientific fields including astronomy, geology, optics, and gravitation. Considered "on ...

(1724–1793), Eakring-born cleric and natural philosopher, made notable discoveries in astronomy, geology, optics and gravitation. * Helen Cresswell (1934–2005), a prolific writer for children, died at her home in Eakring on 26 September 2005.

World War II oil

Geological survey

Building pylons At Eakring training centre - geograph

In the late 1930s oil exploration was undertaken by the D'Arcy Exploration Co Ltd, part of the

Anglo-Iranian Oil Company The Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC; ) was a British company founded in 1909 following the discovery of a large oil field in Masjed Soleiman, Persia (Iran). The British government purchased 51% of the company in 1914, gaining a controlling numbe ...

. Using geological data from colliery workings, geologists calculated that an

anticline In structural geology, an anticline is a type of Fold (geology), fold that is an arch-like shape and has its oldest Bed (geology), beds at its core, whereas a syncline is the inverse of an anticline. A typical anticline is convex curve, c ...

was situated under Eakring. A nearby borehole at Kelham had produced oil. Drilling to levels between had found significant quantities of oil – which turned out to be particularly significant when the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and the U-Boat campaign started.

Drilling

Wells produced oil at Caunton and Kelham Hills. Their

specific gravity Relative density, also called specific gravity, is a dimensionless quantity defined as the ratio of the density (mass of a unit volume) of a substance to the density of a given reference material. Specific gravity for solids and liquids is nea ...

of 0.86 qualified them to be high-grade oil. The UK typically had oil reserves of , which were under strength. In March 1943, production began at around 100 wells, coordinated by Philip Southwell, a petroleum engineer from the D'Arcy Exploration Company (now BP), who had liaised with Lloyd Noble, president of Noble Drilling Corporation in

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

, United States. During the war, the oilfield produced over or perhaps of oil from 170 pumps ("nodding donkeys"). Production continued until 1964 and the wells produced . The location of the wells was kept secret throughout the operation. American oil workers lived at the Anglican theological college at Kelham Hall.

References

External links

*A news item
Villagers oppose drilling in November 2003
*
Village websiteSt Andrews churchSherwood Forest's Secret Oil
{{Nottinghamshire, state=expanded History of the petroleum industry in the United Kingdom Newark and Sherwood Oil fields of England Science and technology in Nottinghamshire Villages in Nottinghamshire Civil parishes in Nottinghamshire