Cliptone Shrogges, which was on the site of Sherwood Pines, was the common land for the village. In 1609 it covered an area of 972 acres and was still well forested. Most of the trees had been cleared by 1650 so the land, which was too poor for farming, became open heath land. This remained the situation until it became a training ground for troops based at Clipstone army camp during First World War. Between the Great Pond and the Shrogges were two areas known as the warrens, 70 acres of poor open heath land with few trees over which the rabbits had free range. There are plans to restore some of the area to the original habitat.

The Forestry Commision was created in 1919 to replenish the huge swathes of woodland that had been felled during the First World War.  The 999year leases for the 3000 acre Clipstone Forest were acquired in 1925.  The land had to be cleared, not only of the heath, but also of the 1000’s of rabbits that lived in vast warrens thorough out the site. A twelve acre tree nursery was set up to provide the young trees and smallholdings were set up between the forest and the railway line to act as a firebreak. In the age of steam it was all to easy for track side vegetation to be set alight. In 1995 a small fire near the visitors centre created an opportunity for an outstandingly successful heath land regeneration trial.

During the Second World War a practice bombing range was set up in the forest. Small bombs were dropped aimed at a 20 ft square block of concrete. It didn’t always go according to plan, as Mr Aincliffe, a tenant in the Forestry Commision homes in Deerdale about half a mile from the target, found out when a bomb crashed through the roof and ended up on his bed. The Forest has a resident population of fallow deer thanks to another wartime accident when a tank knocked down an electric fence keeping the deer in Rufford Park.