Archway Lodge

Archway Lodge is located in Sherwood Forest, equidistant to Edwinstowe and Kings Clipstone, in Nottinghamshire.

After a fire in 1835 destroyed the Houses of Parliament, the 4th Duke of Portland offered stone from his quarries at Mansfield Woodhouse for its replacement. 50,000 cubic feet were used for the foundations and lower part of the new building, but the stone was not thought durable enough for the whole construction.

The lodge was started in 1842 , to prove the stone was durable, and finished 2 years later at a cost of £16,000. It was intended as the first of 20 identical structures along a 21 mile private drive from Welbeck to Nottingham but the Duke died before lodge was finished, the rest of the scheme was abandoned.

Archway Lodge is a copy of the medieval Worksop Priory Gatehouse, the niches contain statues of the forest’s folklore heroes; on the south side Robin Hood, Little John and Maid Marion; on the north side, King Richard, Friar Tuck and Alan Dale, while four hares, emblems of the Portland family, decorate the North and South side parapets.

After the Duke's death, Archway Lodge was used as accommodation for estate workers, with the large central room over the arch serving as a schoolroom for some 30 children of the Clipstone and Welbeck estates. Educating girls from 5 to 15 years of age and boys aged 5 to 7 years old, all provided with red-cloaked uniforms by the Dukes of Portland.