Mansfield  Mansfield is a large market town in Nottinghamshire, England, the main town in the District of Mansfield and Mansfield Urban Area. It lies in the Maun Valley surrounded by hills, north of Nottingham in a largely urban district, most of whose 106,556 population live in the town (including Mansfield Woodhouse), with Market Warsop a secondary centre. It lies next to the urban area of Sutton-in-Ashfield. Mansfield is the only major sub-regional centre in the county, covering an area of 30 square miles (78 sq. km) and is the only local authority in Nottinghamshire directly to elect its mayor. The district has been influenced by a past of coal mining and textiles that lasted into the 1990s; since then Mansfield has 20.2 per cent (12,890) of its working-age population claiming out-of-work benefits.. The population has fallen over the last century, despite some industrial diversification. Settlement in the Mansfield area is known to date back to Roman times, a villa was discovered in 1787 by Major Hayman Rooke between Mansfield Woodhouse and Pleasley; a cache of denarii coins was found near King's Mill in 1849. Early English royalty are said to have stayed there, with Mercian Kings using it as a base for hunting in nearby Sherwood Forest. The Domesday Book (1086) records the settlement as "Mammesfeld". Market-petition documents of 1227 spelt it "Maunnesfeld". By the time King Richard II signed a warrant in November 1377 granting the right for tenants to hold a four-day fair every year, the spelling had changed again to "Mannesfeld". There are remains of the 12th-century King John's Palace, in Clipstone, between Mansfield and Edwinstowe, in an area of retreat for royal families and dignitaries in the 14th and 15th centuries. Access to the town was by a small horse-drawn carriageway from the city of Nottingham, en route to Sheffield. On West Gate in the town centre, a commemorative plaque marks the point thought in 2013 to have been the centre of Sherwood Forest. A tree was planted nearby. Access in the 16th and 17th centuries was through several inns and stable yards. The "Harte", the "Swan" (which has a 1490 dating stone found during alterations), the "Talbot", the "White Bear", the "Ram" (with timber from before 1500) and the "White Lion" were known to date from medieval times.