Festival celebrates Mansfield's heritage at Old Meeting House

History enthusiasts and anyone interested in their local history are encouraged to take part in Heritage Open Days , England’s largest festival of history and culture.

Venues in and around Mansfield will throw open their doors – for free – to celebrate their heritage, community and history.

The Old Meeting House at the Unitarian Chapel is the oldest nonconformist place of worship in Nottinghamshire and contains a commemorative stone for William Hollins of Pleasley Mills.

The chapel, on Stockwell Gate, will host displays and talks based on great women who have changed our world – and the festival will be opened by Kate Allsop, Mansfield mayor, who will also host a talk about her role.

Viv Brown, organiser, said: “We really want to promote the area with this festival.

“The Old Meeting House is a beautiful building inside. We want people to come in and realise it’s there.”

Alongside Mrs Allsop’s talk, there will be six other women delivering short interesting talks and displays about women firsts and the Suffragette movements.

There will also be a photograhy exhibition, with all pictures having been taken within a mile of the building

Meryl Chambers, an award-winning Mansfield music teacher will conduct a girls’ choir on Sunday afternoon.

Other open days around Mansfield include St John the Baptist’s Church in Ault Hucknall, which will be opening its doors to the public.

Thoresby Park will open its doors to the new house on the Thoresby Estate, where the The Matheson Family take visitors on a tour of their home, giving detailed accounts of the family history, land and its developments through the generations.

There will also be an opportunity to learn more about the mining history associated with Bolsover Colliery at the new Bolsover model village.

For dates and times, visit heritageopendays.org.uk