The River Maun is a river in Nottinghamshire, England. Its source lies in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, and from there it flows north east through Mansfield (which takes its name from the river), Edwinstowe and Ollerton, these being the heart of the Sherwood Forest area. It becomes known as Whitewater near the village of Walesby and connects to the River Meden temporarily where the Robin Hood Way crosses them. They diverge, and near Markham Moor it merges again with the River Meden this time becoming the River Idle. Its main tributaries are Rainworth Water, Vicar Water and Cauldwell Water.
The river has been an important source of power, from at least 1086, when there was a watermill in Mansfield. A big increase in the number of mills began in the 1780s, when the frame knitting industry was decimated by the advent of Richard Arkwright's water-powered spinning frame. William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, encouraged the building of textile mills to relieve unemployment and poverty. Most were converted to do "cotton doubling", and several later became hosiery mills. The conversion of watermills which had formerly ground corn to textile mills led to the building of windmills to carry on milling corn. Although water power has largely ceased, there is still an operational water-mill at Ollerton.
Course
The river rises on the north side of Kirkby-in-Ashfield, just to the south of Sutton Parkway railway station. It is a little above the contour at this point. It crosses under the railway line, and there are two short culverted sections as it crosses under the B6022 road, to emerge in the Maun Valley Industrial Park. Passing under the B6139 and the A617 roads, it feeds King's Mill Reservoir. The reservoir was once a medieval mill pond, but in 1837, William Bentinck, the fourth Duke of Portland agreed with the millers who leased mills further down the river that a large head of water was required to maintain the water supply throughout the year. He built a dam, and of farmland were flooded, some of which he bought from the Unwin family. The work was completed by 1839, when rates to be paid by the millers were agreed, which were to be reduced after 20 years. A walk has been created around the lake, from where some of the waterfowl which live on it can be seen. It is also used for sailing. At the exit from the reservoir, the river is crossed by Kings Mill viaduct, built around 1819 for the Mansfield and Pinxton Railway. The engineer for the project was Josias Jessop, and the bridge was the location for the opening ceremony of the railway. A local newspaper described it as "the beautiful five-arched bridge, constructed under the direction of Mr. Jessop, the engineer", when reporting the opening. The central arch carries the date 1817. It was adapted for locomotive traffic in 1847, was restored in 1990, and is a grade II listed structure. It is now used as a footpath, as the railway line was historically diverted around it.
The diverted railway line forms part of the Robin Hood Line, which crosses another millpond just below the reservoir. This supplied the late eighteenth century Hermitage Mill, originally a textile mill, which was then used as a building-materials depot, but has been disused for many years. After crossing under some minor roads and Sheepbridge Lane, where there was another eighteenth-century textile mill, repurposed as a joinery works, and then an internet gaming centre the river is spanned by the disused Drury Dam railway viaduct, this one built in 1875, and consisting of ten round arches, constructed of brick and rock-faced stone. At its west end, a cast-iron arch carries it over Quarry Lane. It is grade II listed, was restored in 1989, and is used as a footpath. Part of it spans the Quarry Lane local nature reserve, on the south bank of the river, where a sculpture created by Lewis Morgan was installed in December 2009. The river continues to weave through the east of Mansfield, where it has been culverted in places. At Bridge Street, the former Town Mill public house was originally the mill owner's house adjacent to the watermill, built around 1775, and restored in the late twentieth century. To the north of the B6033 Bath Lane, there is a disused textile mill, built between 1822 and 1831, which used water power. W. Goldie and Co. extended it in 1880, and altered it to work as a hosiery mill, which it continued to be until 1984. Part of it has been re-used as apartments. Next, the river passes through Carr Bank, with woodland to the east, and a large sewage treatment works to the west. The outflow from the works contributes a significant portion of the flow below this point.