Wednesday 16 November 2011

16th November 1811: Reprisals and arson at Mansfield

On Saturday night the 16th November 1811, John Stirrup, the proprietor of the Swan Inn, Mansfield and a local landowner, found a hay rick belonging to him ablaze. The fire had apparently been started deliberately, with the Derby Mercury reporting the motive as a form of reprisal, owing to his assisting the Mansfield Yeomanry by providing them with horses in their response to the frame-breaking at Sutton-in-Ashfield 3 nights before. The fire completely destroyed the hay rick, which amounted to 20 tons of hay.

The attack was reported in the Derby Mercury of 28th November 1811 (using extracts from the Nottingham Journal of 23rd November). More details about Stirrup can be found here. The Swan is still a pub to this day.

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