NEWARK-upon-TRENT, a parish and borough and market-town, having
exclusive jurisdiction, though locally in the southern division
of the wapentake of Newark, county of NOTTINGHAM, 20 miles (N. E.)
from Nottingham, and 124 (N. N. W.) from London, containing 8084
inhabitants. The origin of this town has been ascribed
to the Ceritani, a tribe of ancient Britons; and it is
supposed to have been subsequently a station of the
Romans; it was the Sidnacester of the Saxons, and the
old town having been destroyed by the Danes, the
name of New mark was given to that erected on its site
Here was a castle, probably erected by Egbert, the first
King of England, which has been emphatically designated
"the Key of the North:" it was repaired by
Leofric, Earl of Mercia, who was governor and lord of this
district in the reign of Edward the Confessor; Leofric
and Godiva his wife gave the town to the monastery of
Stow, near Lincoln. In 1125 the castle was almost entirely
rebuilt and enlarged by Alexander, Bishop of. Lincoln,
who obtained a royal charter for establishing a mint
here. In 1139, that prelate having engaged in an insurrection
against Stephen, was taken prisoner, and sent captive
to his own castle at Newark, and was compelled to
purchase his liberty by the surrender of this and other
fortresses to the crown. During the baronial wars in the
reign of John, it was a royal garrison; and, in order to
put an end to the depredations of the troops, the
Dauphin of France, whose interposition had been
sought by the barons, ordered Gilbert de Gaunt, Earl of
Lincoln, to proceed against the garrison with considerable
force, but on intimation of the approach of John
at the head of a large body of troops, the earl returned
to London; and that sovereign, having in;his march
sustained great loss in men, carriages, and baggage,
owing to a rapid flood-tide in crossing the Washes,
and harrassed by disease of body and distress of mind,
was seized with a fever; and having been carried on a
litter to Sleaford, and thence to Newark castle, he there
expired, on the 19th of October, 1216. The fortress was
then given up to the barons, who retained possession
till it was besieged by the Earl of Pembroke, and after
eight days resistance, having surrendered, it was restored
to the Bishop of Lincoln. In the last year of the reign of
Edward III. it was used as a state prison. In 1530, Cardinal
Wolsey and his splendid retinue were accommodated
here, on their way to Southwell. In April, 1603, on the
arrival of James I. at Newark, in his journey to London
after his accession, he was addressed, by Alderman John
Twentyman, in a Latin speech, and being much pleased
therewith, he conferred upon him the office of purveyor of
wax to the royal household in the counties of York, Nottingham,
Lincoln, and Derby; it was in this town that
James is said to have ordered a cut-purse to be hanged
without legal process. In the reign of Charles I./
Newark was garrisoned for the king, and held in subjection
the whole of this county, excepting the town ot
Nottingham; and a great part of Lincolnshire was laid
under contribution; here that unfortunate sovereign
established a mint, and issued various pieces of money,
consisting of half-crowns, shillings, ninepences, and sixpences,
some of which were of diagonal shape, bearing
the impress of a castle, and others the royal arms and
crown, with the dates 1645 and 1646. During this contest,
the town sustained three sieges: in the first, all
Northgate was burnt by order of the governor, Sir John
Henderson; in the second, when under the government
of Sir John, afterwards Lord Byron, the town was relieved
by the arrival from Chester of Prince Rupert, who,
according to Clarendon, in an action between his forces
and the parliamentarians under Sir John Meldrum, on
Beacon hill, half a mile eastward of the town, took
four thousand prisoners and thirteen pieces of artillery;
in the third siege, after the display of much prowess
and several vigorous sallies, the fortress remained unimpaired;
afterwards Lord Bellasis, then governor, surrendered
the town to the Scottish army, by the king's
order, on the Sth of May, 1646. At the close of this
siege, the works and circumvallations were demolished
by the country people, with the exception of two considerable
earth-works, which are now nearly perfect, and
are called the King's sconce and the Queen's sconce:
about this time the castle also was destroyed.
The town is neatly built, and consists of several
streets, which are well paved and lighted: the inhabitants
are well supplied with water. The town is
situated in a level tract on the eastern branch of the
Trent, which joins the main river about a mile below
it; a lateral stream, uniting the two rivers above the
town, forms rather an extensive island on the northwest,
which is remarkably fertile; over this the London
road passes, the river being crossed by a handsome
bridge. About three hundred and fifty yards from the
site of the old castle is the ancient bed of the Trent, the
current of which was diverted, partly by a cut formerly
made from it to the brook at Remain, and partly by
obstructions occasioned by the Newark mills. The town
is approached from the north by an excellent turnpikeroad,
constructed about the year 1770, over the Trent
vale, from Newark bridge to Muskham [bridge, and no
longer inconvenienced, as formerly, by inundations of
the river, owing to the erection of fourteen bridges of
different sizes, and ninety-six arches, at irregular distances;
this road is carried on a level over the Trent
vale from Newark bridge to Muskham bridge, a distance
of one mile and a half: the execution of this
useful project was completed by Mr. Smeaton, at an
expense of £12,000. The bridge, which crosses the
river in the vicinity of the castle, was originally of
wood, but, in 1775, it was rebuilt of brick, faced
with stone, by Henry, Duke of Newcastle. Under
the sanction of an act of parliament, obtained in 1793,
great improvement has taken place in the town, the
expense of which has been defrayed from funds.vested
in the corporation for its general benefit. One side
of a narrow and dangerous street, called Dry bridge,
has recently been taken down, and new houses erected,
thereby rendering the approach -to the market-place
wide and commodious. The " Newark Stock Library"
was established in 1825, and a new building has been
recently erected in the market-place by Lord Middleton,
and presented by him, as a library and news-room,
to the shareholders, of whom there are two hundred and
fifty, at £4.4. each; the annual subscription is £1. 1.
Concerts and assemblies are held in the town hall; and
there is a theatre occasionally opened for dramatic performances.
The prominent commercial feature of this
town is its very extensive trade in malt and flour: of the
former fifty thousand -quarters are annually sent to Manchester,
Liverpool, and London, exclusively of supplies
to the midland counties, and upwards of eighty thousand
sacks of the latter commodity are disposed of annually,
by two mercantile houses alone, and the revenue received
from this town is about £92,000; upwards of three
hundred persons are employed in an extensive weaving
and bleaching establishment at the southern extremity of
the town. In consequence of the Trent navigation, there
is a flourishing trade in corn, coal, cattle, wool, and other
commodities, and the corn market here is one of the
largest in this part of the kingdom. An extensive iron
and brass foundry affords employment to several persons,
in the various departments of fancy castings, architectural
ornaments, fac-similes of medallions, coins,
seals, &c., which are so exquisitely finished as to surprise
the most experienced virtuoso. Among the
different branches of business is the preparation of terra
alba, for paper-mills 5 and in the town is a dep6t for
sheet copper, brass, iron, and tin plates. Large quantities
of gypsum and limestone are obtained in the
neighbourhood: the former is calcined and pulverised
for the use of sculptors and plasterers, and sent by sea to
London. During the summer season many persons
are employed in making bricks and tiles; the manufacture
of tambour lace and stockings employs a few
females. The market is on Wednesday; and fairs,
principally for cattle, are held on the Friday after
Mid-Lent Sunday, May 14th, Whit-Tuesday, August 3d,
November 1st, and on the Monday before December 11th.
In the year 1800, an annual cheese market was established,
to be held on the Wednesday before October 2nd.
The market-place, formerly much more spacious than at
present, still forms a handsome square.
The first charter of incorporation was granted by
Edward VI., and it was renewed, with extended privileges,
by Charles II., in consideration of the loyalty of the
inhabitants during the preceding reign. The corporation
consists of a mayor and twelve aldermen, with a recorder,
town clerk, chamberlain, and other officers; the
members of the corporation are self-elected. The mayor
and his predecessor, with the recorder and four senior
aldermen, exercise exclusive magisterial authority within
the borough, which comprises the whole parish of Newark,
together with the castle precincts and water-mills,
which lie in the adjoining parish of East Stoke. A
court of record is held weekly, on Thursday, for the
cognizance of pleas to the amount of £300; its jurisdiction
is co-extensive with the borough: sessions are
held quarterly. The sessions for the hundreds of Newark
and Thurgarton are held quarterly at the county hall in
Cartergate. The county magistrates also hold a petty session
every alternate Wednesday. The town hall, which
stands in the market-place, is an elegant stone building,
erected by the corporation, under the superintendence
of Mr. Carr, out of the produce of testamentary
estates for the improvement of the town, which they
were empowered to sell under an act of parliament
passed in the 13th year of George III.; the total expense
of its erection was £ 179Q: two wings have
since been added, and the building is considered equal
to any in this part of the county: the front is light
and airy; it is three stories high, having seven windows
in each story: the room used for assemblies is
elegantly finished with Corinthian columns and pilasters,,
and a richly-carved ceiling: at one end of this
edifice the sessions are held, and at the other the corporation
transact public business; in the rear are very
extensive shambles. It is uncertain when the borough
was first represented in parliament, but there was a
contested election in 1592, when only one member
appears to have been returned; and two members were
first sent in the 29th of Charles II. The right of election
is vested in the corporation, and all the inhabitants
who have paid scot and lot for at least six months
previously to the election; the mayor is the returning
officer. The Duke of Newcastle, in consequence of the
extensive property which he possesses in the borough,
has very considerable political influence, together with
Lord Middleton and others.
The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Nottingham,
and diocese of York, rated in the "king's books
at £21. 5. 2., and in the patronage of the Crown.
The church, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, is one of
the largest and most elegant parochial churches in the
kingdom; it exhibits portions in all the styles of English
architecture, and is a cruciform structure, consisting of
a nave, aisles, transepts, choir, and sepulchral chapels, with
a lofty western tower, surmounted by a fine octagonal
spire; the base of the tower is Norman, and in the nave
are two Norman piers; the choir is of exquisite workmanship,
with ancient stone and oak stalls elaborately
carved: it is separated from the nave by a richly-carved
oak screen, some parts of which becoming decayed, have
been successfully imitated by iron castings, the work of a
resident artist; in this part of the edifice is one of the
largest engraved brasses in the kingdom, elaborately ornamented,
to the memory of Allan Flemyng, who died
in 1361; a portion of this has also been restored by the
same artist. The large east window is in the later style
of English architecture, and the corresponding piers and
arches of the nave and choir are unusually rich; there
are some excellent specimens of stained glass in the
windows. The altar-piece, an admirable painting of the
" Resurrection of Lazarus," by Hilton, was presented by
the artist, whose father was a native of the town. There
are places of worship for General and Particular Baptists,
Independents, Calvinistic, Primitive, and Wesleyan
Methodists, and Roman Catholics. The free
grammar school was founded, in 1530, by Dr. Thomas
Magnus, Archdeacon of the East riding of Yorkshire,
and a native of Newark, who, by will in 1550, bequeathed
certain lands in the counties of Lincoln, Nottingham,
and York, for the support of a "school of
grammar and a school of song." The vicar, mayor,
senior alderman, and three churchwardens are the
trustees of the charity, and the present annual income,
amounting to nearly £2,400, is thus appropriated:
namely, to the master of the grammar school £220
per annum; to the usher, £50; to the master of the
song school, £105; to ten singing boys, £37.16; to
the National schools for boys and girls, £150; to the
dispensary, £150; to the commissioners for lighting,
paving, and improving the town, £ 290; to the churchwardens
for the repair of the church, clerk's and sexton's
salaries, &c., £750 5 besides incidental disbursements.
The school is open to all boys of the town and neighbourhood;
the present number of scholars on the
foundation is sixty-five; the master, who is allowed
to receive a limited number of boarders, resides on the
premises, which are admirably adapted to the purpose t
the house was erected by the master, at an expense of
£2500, inconsequence of which the corporation agreed
to pay him £30 per annum towards the insurance of
his life for fifteen years: there are at present no exhibitions
connected with this school, but the trustees
contemplate this desirable addition to the institution.
The National school was erected in 1829,
which affords instruction to about one hundred and
ten boys and eighty girls. Henry Stone, in 1688,
bequeathed to the corporation £700, directing the produce
to be appropriated to the foundation and support of
a Jersey, or working school, the master of which has a
salary of £28 per annum. Almshouses, for fourteen
decayed tradesmen and ten widows, were respectively
founded and endowed under the wills of William Philli-
pott, merchant, dated March ISth, 1556, and George
Lawrence, dated December 1st, 1797; the present
amount of income is £789. 13. St. Leonard's hospital
was founded by Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, about
1125, and endowed with lands now producing a rental
of more than £ 1000; the present building contains three1
small rooms, occupied by as many poor men, who receive
five shillings each per week; the master, who is appointed
by the Bishop of Lincoln, receives the surplus
income: various other charitable benefactions, amounting
to about £500 per annum, are applied under the
direction and management of the corporation. The
ruins of the ancient castle consist of the outer walls,
which enclose a spacious area, now used as a bowlinggreen;
and the elegant crypt, with its light groined
arches nearly perfect, is used as a coal wharf and stables:
at the north-east angle of the western front is a square
tower, and another in the centre of the elevation; the
remains of an ancient portal are visible in the north front.
Of the conventual buildings there are no vestiges, except
the walls of the Augustine friary, which has been converted
into a dwelling-house; the site of the house of
the chantry priests is now occupied by a small but elegant
mansion, finished throughout in the most splendid style;
principally in imitation of the antique, and containing
many rare and valuable cabinets, vases, busts, armour,
fossils, and coins. Amongst other curious Roman relics
are six entire urns of baked earth, found in digging for
the foundation of a house in 1826, filled with calcined
bones and ashes. The great Roman road from London
to Lincoln passed through Newark; in a straight line
near the church are the remains of ancient military
works. Amongst the eminent natives of this town
maybe enumerated, in addition to Dr.Magnus, its munificent
benefactor, John Ardern, a learned writer on
medicine and surgery in the fifteenth century; Dr;
Thomas White, Bishop of Peterborough; Dr. Lightfoot.
the celebrated Hebraist; and Dr. William Warburton,
Bishop of Gloucester, born in 1698. Newark confers
the inferior title of viscount upon Earl Manvers.