Bessie Sheppard's Stone

ALSO KNOWN VIA NEARBY LANDMARKS - this same stone gets referenced by locals via several different nearby villages depending on which direction they're coming from (Papplewick, Blidworth, Ravenshead, Thieves Wood all sit within a couple of miles of each other in this stretch of Sherwood Forest) - worth knowing in case it comes up again under a different place-name. PRECISE LOCATION: a 1928 Nottinghamshire history account places it specifically on the Nottingham-Mansfield road (the A60) 'at the foot of the rise leading up to Harlow Wood,' near where the old Orthopaedic Hospital stood - just south of Thieves Wood. LOCAL GHOST LEGEND: per Wikipedia's Ravenshead entry, local folklore holds that Bessie's ghost is said to appear if the stone is ever disturbed. Seventeen-year-old Elizabeth 'Bessie' Sheppard was walking home to Papplewick after a day spent looking for work in Mansfield when she was beaten to death with a hedge stake by Charles Rotherham, a former soldier (18 years in the army, per the Blidworth Historical Society), who then stole her shoes and umbrella and tried to sell them at the pub. Rotherham was hanged within weeks. The stone was raised in 1819, paid for by Mansfield residents, and restored in 1988 after the original lettering wore away - a re-cut slate panel now faces the road. FURTHER LEADS FOUND, NOT YET READ: Our Mansfield & Area (ourmansfieldandarea.org.uk) has at least two more pages on this case beyond what's listed - a 'Mysteries' page on the memorial stone itself, and a separate piece titled 'The Murder of Bessie Sheppard' (which states plainly that Charles Rotherham 'never had any defence put forward in his name' and had allegedly confessed) - both consistent with the account above but not yet read in full here; worth following up (see sources_needing_access).