During summer 2024, a fine new ‘Mayflower Pilgrim’ memorial was unveiled in the Nottinghamshire village of Scrooby through the efforts of local villagers. The village, just north of Retford, was the home until about 1608 of ‘Mayflower Pilgrim’ leader William Brewster, who lived only a few yards from the memorial at Scrooby Manor.
The memorial is a reproduction of the famous Plymouth Rock in America, which makes the place where the Pilgrims landed in 1620. However for the Pilgrims rock would also have had a deeper spiritual meaning as they placed their trust upon ‘the Rock’ of God’s Word.
You can visit Scrooby with Pilgrims & Prophets and hear much more about the village’s history including more about the Mayflower Pilgrims. Our visits include a visit to the Manor but and also the church, where William Brewster employed a succession of puritan curates who often got into trouble with the Church authorities. Brewster himself also got into trouble here – for ‘repeating’ sermons he had heard elsewhere.
You can also see the old parsonage house where it is possible Brewster met with his curates and even with Richard Clifton, the ejected minister of Babworth. We can also explain to you the mysteries of the village ‘pinfold’ and tell a tale of a terrible murder!
We also provide visits to Scrooby as part of our half day or whole day Mayflower Pilgrim tours or the more extended American Christian Heritage tours.
Read more about the area’s links to the Mayflower and other separatists:
Restless Souls, Pilgrim Roots by Adrian Gray (bookwormretford.co.uk)