Epperstone is an English village and civil parish in mid-Nottinghamshire, located near Lowdham and Calverton. It had a population (including Gonalston) of 589 at the time of the 2011 Census. Many inhabitants commute to work or school in Nottingham 9 miles (16 km) to the south-west. Location and governance Epperstone lies in the valley of the Dover Beck south-west of Southwell. The Dover Beck is joined by the Order Beck in the village. The parish has an area of , of which are wooded. It is adjacent to Gonalston, Lowdham, Woodborough, Calverton and Oxton. Epperstone lies in the Newark and Sherwood district of Nottinghamshire. The district council has had a Conservative majority since 2007. It belongs to Newark constituency, whose member since 2014 has been Robert Jenrick (Conservative). The village has a parish council. It was in Thurgarton Wapentake (i. e. Hundred) up to 1894. Toponymy Epperstone seems to contain the Old English personal name, Eorphere + tun (Old English), an enclosure; a farmstead; a village; an estate.., so "Eorphere's farm/settlement". History In the 1086 Domesday Survey Epperstone was recorded as having had a church and a priest. Evidence has been found of a church even in the Anglo-Saxon period. The only relics left of any date earlier than that of the existing church are pieces of the font, a finial in the churchyard, and the lower part of the wall of the nave. The common was enclosed in 1768, when were allotted in lieu of tithes. Litchfield library, founded in 1839 by John Litchfield Esq., contained 2,250 volumes on philosophical and miscellaneous subjects, available to all subscribers of sixpence per quarter, paid in advance. The books were kept in the schoolroom until 1843, when the donor erected a building and vested it, together with the library, in trustees for the use of the Epperstone's parishioners. It is thought that the undulating field behind Church Cottages, off Church Lane, inspired the Barrow-Downs in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring. According to surveys, the population of Epperstone fluctuated after 1801, when the first accessible records were made. In that year it was 422. In 1851, this rose to 511, but in 1901, fell to 262. In 1853, Thomas Holdsworth was the principal landowner and Lord of the manor. Thomas Moore, John Towle, John Litchfield, John Thomas, William Barnard, and Henry Sherbrooke also held estates. Notable people In birth