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Concept
Retford
Summary
Retford (ˈrɛtfʊd), also known as East Retford, is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England, and one of the oldest English market towns having been granted its first charter in 1105. It lies on the River Idle and the Chesterfield Canal passes through its centre. Retford is east of Sheffield, west of Lincoln and north-east of Nottingham. The population at the 2021 census was 23,740.
In 1878 an Act of Parliament extended the borough of East Retford to include the village of Ordsall, West Retford and part of the parish of Clarborough. The town is represented on Bassetlaw District Council by ten district councillors, and on Nottinghamshire County Council by two county councillors.
In addition to being an ancient market town and infamous Rotten Borough, Retford is known as being at the centre of Nonconformism, with the origins of the Pilgrims, Baptists and Wesleys being in this area.
The origins of the town's name are unknown and have been subject to much debate, but consensus seems to conclude that it gets its name from an ancient ford crossing the River Idle. There is considerable variation in how its name has been spelt historically, although in early usage it is usually styled as Redeforde or Redforde. A common explanation of the name is that the river water was tinged red due to the frequent crossing of people and livestock disturbing the clay river bed. Other traditions include that it refers to the reeds that are plentiful in the river, or that the name references the Battle of the River Idle which was said to tinge the Idle red with blood.
Wilmshurst proposes another theory as to the origin of the name:
"In the days of the Roman occupation of Britain, a great Roman Road, or "Strada"— Street— ran from Southampton to Derby, Little Chester, Chesterfield, Castleford, Pontefract, to Eboracum, or York: and from it, at Chesterfield, branched out a "Street" to the Roman Station of Lindum, or Lincoln, which crossed the River Trent at Agelocum, now Littleborough, and the River Idle by a Ford, still used as a watering place for horses, near West Retford Bridge; hence the place would be known as the Street-Ford, or Streteford.
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