Meering is a geographically small

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. With a population of zero (2021 census), it is grouped with Girton to form a

parish meeting A parish meeting is a meeting all the electors in a civil parish in England are entitled to attend. In some cases, where a parish or group of parishes has fewer than 200 electors, the parish meeting can take on the role of a parish council, with ...

. The parish was originally an

extra-parochial area In England and Wales, an extra-parochial area, extra-parochial place or extra-parochial district was a geographically defined area considered to be outside any ecclesiastical or civil parish. Anomalies in the parochial system meant they had no ch ...

, and was once populated, although not in more than single figures since census records began. The parish is bound by the Carlton Rack meanders of the

River Trent The Trent is the third Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, longest river in the United Kingdom. Its Source (river or stream), source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands ...

to the west (which forms the border with Sutton on Trent) and to the east a lagoon and a brook called The Fleet which is thought to be an old Trent channel, separates it from Girton civil parish. Besthorpe Nature Reserve, despite taking the name of the nearby village of Besthorpe, is within Meering parish, Known as Meering Marsh, it is an area of marsh land supported by the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust that is attractive to wading birds and other wildlife.

History

Meering was named in the 1086 Domesday Book as 'Meringe' and had no recorded population. It was held by

William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...

, and afterwards passed to the

Earl of Richmond The now-extinct title of Earl of Richmond was created many times in the Peerage of Peerage of England, England. The earldom of Richmond, North Yorkshire, Richmond was initially held by various Breton people, Breton nobles; sometimes the holde ...

, with Richard de Sutton of Sutton in Ashfield having oversight of the Meering area. Later family relations had the Meering name while residing there from the 12th century, and held it and wider land within the county. Two members of the family, William Meryng and William Meering were Members of Parliament for

in the 15th and 16th century. By the 20th century only one property remained to the west of the parish. The whole area was farmland until

World War II 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 ...

, when the lower portion of the parish was mined for gravel and sand. By 1999, Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust had taken over the long-term lease of the pits from Lafarge Aggregates, Meering Marsh was created from the flooded excavated areas and currently comprises three habitat types; reedbeds, open water with islands and shingle.

References

External sites

Besthorpe Nature Reserve - Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust
Civil parishes in Nottinghamshire Newark and Sherwood {{Nottinghamshire, state=expanded