Buck Gates, Thoresby Park.

 

 

As can still be seen on Google aerial maps / photos, the original Duke's carriages would ride from the first and second Halls, down a straight landscaped route of trees, past the Woodyard, and along Chestnut Avenue, before arriving at a thatched lodge where the estate's gates opened towards Ollerton. Until c.1940 all roads leading into Thoresby Estate were gated and kept locked so the lodge keeper could check on who was entering. The Duke’s carriage would often have a young servant whose job it was to jump from the carriage, run up to and open the gates, close them behind, then run and jump back on the carriage without it ever having to stop.

Records show that the keeper of this particular lodge, at least between 1832 and 1864, was Mrs Mary Budd, and that as late as the 1930's the thatched roof was still considered important enough to replace every seven years, even though Perlethorpe roofs had been replaced by slate. But at that time there were not as yet any bucks on the gates.

The lodge became known as Buck Gates after the 4th Earl Manvers witnessed a fight between two bucks in this part of the forest during the breeding season. (I remember witnessing such a fight myself, where two bucks lock antlers and refuse to give way, sometimes for hours.) On this particular occasion the duel lasted the better part of a day, covering the distance to Thoresby Lake, whereupon the bucks fell into the water, too tired to get out, and drowned. The Earl commemorated that battle by installing two stone pillars each side of the lodge gates, a lead covered buck sculpture atop each one.

Buck Gates was burnt down by fire in 1956. However, on this occasion the bucks survived, although enough of the lodge's overgrown shell was left standing to provide a temping playground for young schoolboys. Parents always warned us not to venture inside (and we never did), but the haunting atmosphere of the cottage, and the dense, now neglected, surrounding undergrowth, captured our imaginations.

Today no evidence of Buck Gates exists apart from faded postcards. It was situated further back in the woods than the current junction of the A614 and A616 would lead researchers to believe. That area of the forest would be taken over by the military Dukeries Training Centre, formerly known as Proteus Camp. After the military left, the appropriately named “Sherwood Hideaway” became a popular holiday resort 

Thanks to Susie Martin, and the 1911 census, I can add that the Buck gates lodge was where her grandmother Daisy Wesley lived as a young girl in 1911. Daisy’s father was a gamekeeper, whilst her two brothers worked at a local coal mine, and she recalled running out to assist in the opening of the gates whenever Lady Manvers approached because the lady would give her some coins. Daisy would later go on to work in Perlethorpe Post Office before taking up a dressmaking apprenticeship in Leicester.

Above: The two arches from Buck Gates can still be seen today (2024) on a private side road, off the A614, opposite the entrance to Whitewater Lane. The bucks themselves have long since been removed after at one time being stolen. However, I have it on good authority they are now safe and secure, locked away with their rightful owners within the Estate.