To my thinking
the finest feature of Ollerton is the old Hall, within a stone's throw
of the "Hop Pole". This was probably erected upon the site of a former
house in the beginning of the eighteenth century. The walls are
admirably mellowed, and many of the windows have been blocked
up--probably in the days of the window tax. The principal front has been
disfigured with various domestic offshoots; none the less the house
still presents an aspect of austere dignity, and one regrets that to-day
it should not still be used as a residence of note instead of an estate
office. Inside, one of the principal features is a singularly handsome
staircase. The garden is formal and pretty--a pleasant nook for an idle
afternoon.

The Markhams, original owners of this property, were people of
considerable note in our history, many of them holding high offices. One
was dubbed by the Virgin Queen "Markham the Lion", another championed
the cause of Arabella Stuart, and was condemned to death, but reprieved
at the last moment after a ghastly little performance beside the
execution block. A daughter of this house married Sir John Harrington,
and enjoyed through her lifetime the friendship of Elizabeth.

Within easy walking distance, not far from the tantalizing glimpse of
the Rufford Avenue, a road turns eastward, passes a small wayside inn
dignified with the name of Robin Hood, and soon reaches what was known
as the King's House at Clipstone--to-day a lamentable ruin with no
trace of its former magnificence. Here the Plantagenet kings held their
Courts and rested after their days of hunting, and the rising ground
about the house, nowadays devoted to the growing of oats, must once have
blazed with all the colours of pageantry. What remains of the palace
might be naught but the broken wall of an old kiln, or the fragment of
some burned-out factory. The most fatal blow was dealt to this relic by
a Duke of Portland, who, in 1812, had the foundations dug up and used
for the drainage of the surrounding country. Clipstone Park, which Mad
Madge of Newcastle described as a chase in which her lord took great
delight (it being richly wooded, and watered with a stream full of fish
and otters--in short, an ideal place for hunting, hawking, coursing and
fishing), is now a placid pastoral district without distinction, such as
may be found in any gently undulating country.

RUFFORD

Rufford Abbey, which is within easy walking distance of Ollerton