One of the focal points for a village community in England has always been the Village Green.   The Clifton green illustrates this well with the old rectory, the old school, dovecote and an Almhouse all positioned around the perimeter.  In its simplest terms the green is a gathering or meeting place for entertainment and relaxation.  Previous generations of villagers have used the green for cricket, football, fetes andfire side story telling.  Village greens today tend to act as parks although some still use the green to celebrate the ancient Pagan festival, May Day.   In times of crisis or conflict it made sense to pool together man power to protect livestock and so the green was also used for collective defense. 

For a number of years I used to travel past Clifton and I often used to try to guess the origins of a strange building in the centre of the green.  It's a very solid, doorless, tall red-brick structure that to my ignorant eye looked like a cross between an old school and a church building.  I now know that it is fact one of the largest Dovecotes in England.   Pigeons breed throughout the year and were once housed in dovecote colonies all across the country as a source of winter meat.  This particular dovecote has an incredible 2,300 nesting places all of which go 14 inches into the wall.  There is a war memorial plaque on the centre of the south wall ( visible on the picture as a bright square ) listing the areas casualties from the first world war.  Wilford also has a much smaller dovecote, to read about it click here . 

The Dovecote Interior

The interior is very dark and divided into two sections by a wall half way along the buildings length, just inside the entrance.

The old Clifton School building is today used as a village hall/community centre ( not to be confused with the former Clifton family stately home ).  A plaque on the front of the building reads 'These schools and school-houses were erected by Henry Robert Clifton, Esquire, and the corner stone was laid by Mrs Clifton on the 3rd day of November, 1871.'   The school opened in April, 1872 with 48 children in attendance.  A year later the school started to run a night school, initially attended by 13 men.  The school finally closed in 1956 when the areas modern schools ( Brooksby, Farnborough etc. ) were constructed for children in the new Clifton Housing Estates. 

Almhouses were common in the 18th and 19th centuries across England as shelters for old, sick and poor people.  They were set up by wealthy manor holders, the church and charitable organizations.  The clifton almhouse stands on the South West corner of the green behind a hedge.  It was built in the 18th century from the estate of George Wells based on his will written in 1712.  It was built to provide a roof for 'six poor unmarried or widow women'.  Wells must have been quite wealthy for he donated all his 'lands, tenements and heritaments, in or near the towns of Cropwells Bishop, Wilford and Ruddington'  to maintain the building.