Mansfield - An Introduction
Some descriptions of the town from early histories and guide books
1795: From The Gentleman's Magazine of 1795: "The town of Mansfield , with few exceptions, consists of handsome white stone houses. The Church, though a good building, is not remarkable, either for beauty or size. I was disappointed in copying epitaphs or describing anything worthy of notice thereon, by its being the hour of prayer, and I was obliged to leave the town early - J.P. Malcom"
Quoted in the Mansfield Advertiser 7th October 1910 p4 c5
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1850: "The River Man or Maun (from which it derives its name) flows along the southern and eastern sides of the town, which is so completely surrounded by a beautiful range of undulating hills , that approach it as you will, it has an air of coziness and comfort, calculated to create a very favourable impression upon the mind of a stranger.
"Nor is this impression destroyed by entering the place, which, instead of being as I once remember it, a dull, dirty, miserable hole, is now a well-lighted, well-paved, pleasing little town, with a market place and public buildings calculated to throw those of more important towns sadly into the shade.
"Thanks to the public spirit of the inhabitants, and to the provisions of an act of parliament, passed, I think, in 1823 called the Mansfield Improvement Act, this spacious and elegant market-place is now looked upon by its noble town hall, savings bank, and a host of newly-erected shops, where once stood a ponderous mass of such old dilapidated buildings as would have disgraced the meanest village.
From A Visit to Sherwood Forest (Anon), Mansfield (1850) pp.6-7
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