Forest Recreation Ground
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Forest Recreation Ground
The Forest Recreation Ground is a recreation ground in Nottingham, England, about a mile north of the city centre. The name comes from mediaeval times when the land was part of Sherwood Forest that once extended from Nottingham itself up to the north of the county. This was one of the original parts of the 1845 Nottingham Inclosure Act which preserved eighty acres (324,000 m²) of Sherwood Forest for recreational use.
Sport on the forest
Cricket was played on the Forest long before the land was enclosed. On the 26th August 1771 a Nottingham eleven beat Sheffield on the north side of the Race course. After the Second World War many cricket teams were organised or started again using the Forest as their home or practice ground.
Nottingham Forest started playing here in 1865 when they were known as Forest Football Club.
The ground was also the home to Nottingham Racecourse. It moved some years later to its present location at Colwick Park, south east of Nottingham center.
Future of the forest
The Forest has never been more important to Nottingham but it currently faces a combination of problems. A substantial amount of land is now used as a park and ride for cars, lorries and other vehicles park overnight, and mature trees on its western side have been cut down to make way for a Nottingham Express Transit tram line. When the Inclosure Act attempted to preserve the Forest for public recreation in 1845, the town's population was about 50,000. Today Nottingham is a city with about 270,000 inhabitants. The Forest has been part of Nottingham's history and heritage for many years but it is currently under great pressure.
Links
- The Forest Reacreation Ground (http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/coun/department/nccw/grounds/forest/default.asp)
- Nottingham Forest FC (http://www.nottinghamforest.co.uk)
- Nottingham City Council (http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk)