Mad for the West Leake Hills

The villages of East and West Leake, located near Nottinghamshire's border with Leicestershire, were recorded in the Domesday Book as 'Leche'. The name comes from the Anglo-Saxon word meaning water-meadow, since both lie on Kingston Brook, a tributary of the River Soar. Although the Church of St Helen's in West Leake has medieval origins, it has been extensively modernised, and includes a tiny bellcote (with two bells) rather than the usual spire or squat tower. In the churchyard you will find a 'living willow seat', which, as its name suggests, is a wooden bench with a back made of live willow.

North of the West Leake Hills is the village of Gotham (pronounced 'Goatem'), and in medieval times a group of purported lunatics lived in the woods near by. Today, near New Leake Wood, the names of Cuckoo Bush Farm and Cuckoo Bush Wood record their strange antics, for according to folklore the so-called Gotham Fools tried to hedge-in a cuckoo so it would sing to them all year (it flew off, of course). They also burned down a forge to rid it of a wasps' nest, and tried to drown fish in buckets.

Their bizarre activities were later detailed in a book entitled The Merrie Tales of the Mad Men of Gottam (1630) and developed into something of a folk story, so that 'cuckoo pens' became a joke name given to small hillside crofts or enclosures. The book describes the events at Gotham:

'On a time the men of Gottam would have pinned in the Cuckoo, whereby shee should sing all the yeere, and in the midst of the town they made a hedge round in compasse, and they had got a Cuckoo, and had her put into it, and said, Sing here all the yeere, and thou shalt lacke neither meat nor drinke. The Cuckoo as soon as she perceived her self incompassed within the hedge, flew away. A vengeance on her said they, We made not our hedge high enough.'

However, their apparent madness was not quite what it seemed, for according to local sources it was a deliberate ruse to deter the visiting emissaries of King John, who wanted to build a royal hunting lodge on their village land. They reasoned that the king would want nothing to do with a community of lunatics, but whether this was true or just an attempt at face-saving has been lost to time. Gotham is still remembered for its madmen, and the village pub is even called the Cuckoo Bush. As an old nursery rhyme goes:

'Three wise men of Gotham

Went to sea in a bowl.

If the bowl had been stronger

My story would have been longer.'

Where to eat and drink

West Leake's pub is the Star, on Melton Lane, just to the south west of the village. It's known locally as Leake Pit House, since it once incorporated a pit for cock-fighting. The pub is over 200 years old, with an open fire in winter and colourful hanging baskets outside in the summer. There's a family room and large garden, and meals and snacks are served every lunchtime and evening.

What to look for

As you stand on Court Hill, gazing out over a largely rural South Nottinghamshire, you may be surprised to discover that far below your feet is an important gypsum mine (the large works, near East Leake, are partially glimpsed a little further on). Gypsum, or hydrated calcium sulphate, is used for making cement and plaster, including plaster of Paris. Its many forms include selenite (transparent), satin spar (fibrous) and alabaster (used for ornaments).

While you're there

A couple of miles from West Leake is the village of Kingston-on-Soar, where the Church of St Winifred's contains an elaborate monument dedicated to the local Babington family, involving columns covered with intricate tracery. In 1586 Antony Babington led a failed plot to put Mary, Queen of Scots on the throne (he paid for it with his head).