Perlethorpe

Perlethorpe is a village in Nottinghamshire. Nearby is Thoresby Hall, the former home of the Earl Manvers.

Perlethorpe is a small village situated in Thoresby Park, where the A614 crosses the River Meden. The name tells us it started life as a Viking settlement, "Thorpe" meaning "new village". The word Perle is open to broader speculation. In middle and old English dictionaries it means "rush of water", most appropriate considering the river which runs through the village. But other historians point out that, before printing established an accurate and common spelling of words, this village was sometimes referred to as both Palethorpe, ("pale" being an area enclosed by a boundary), and Peverelthorpe, (perhaps after William Peverel the younger who, in the reign of Henry Third, had control of this part of the country). The parish register for Perlethorpe was established in 1529, a full ten years before parish registers were formally ordered to be kept.The oldest buildings in the village today date from the mid 19th century, but those most associated with the name Perlethorpe are the red brick houses around the Village Green built c.1950 for the exclusive occupancy of those employed on Thoresby Estate's three main industries: The farm, the Forestry Commission, and the Woodyard. The only shop in the village was the post office. Public transport consisted of one bus per week, whilst communication with the outside world came via the bundle of newspapers collected from a communal box at the side of the farmyard arch.Perlethorpe children attended the stone brick primary school. Until 1957 the school's only source of heating remained a Victorian stove in the middle of the room, desks were fixed in rigid Victorian style rows, and the toilets were stagnant tin tubs, emptied daily. Ball point pens were not commonplace, and writing lessons involved dip in pens, the nibs of which were first placed in the mouth to remove the wax coating. But standards of education were high, enriched by numerous nature walks in the local forests, or other outdoor pursuits such as maypole dancing. A good percentage of these children passed the 11-plus, thus laying the foundation for an education which would one day take them beyond the village boundaries. That school is now a successful Environmental Education Centre, offering city children a taste of Victorian style education in the countryside.