THE PROVINCIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
LXXXVL—CENTRAL ENGLAND: RUTLAND, LEICESTERSHIRE, AND NOTTINGHAMSHIRE :—(Concluded.) NEWARK, or as it is called by way of distinction, Newarknpon-Trent, is situated twenty miles north-east from Nottingham, on an arm or bend of the Trent, which divides a short distance from the town, and forms an island. The arm has been called the Devon, from a stream of that name which falls into it by the town ; but some antiquaries have denied that it is a branch of the Trent at all, and consider it to be the conjoined streams of the Devon and Smite. Perhaps, however, they have been misled by their desire to identify Newark with that puzzle to topographers, the Saxon Sidnaceaster, whose name they would derive from the river Smite or Suite. Along the south bank of this arm or confluence the modern town of Newark extends for about a mile, consisting of one main street, "on the Nottingham and Lincoln road, which here crosses the Great North Road, a large marketplace, and several narrow minor streets." Its position, "between the East and Midland counties, and commanding the approaches to and from the north," made it once a place of considerable importance, and has induced (as it is on the Fursse Wig') a belief among some antiquaries that it represents the old Roman station of An PONTEM. Though the distances from the other stations in the her scarcely allow us to admit of this identification, it appears, as we have already seen, that it was at no very great distance from that station, and was probably built originally to a great extent from the materials of the ruined Romano-British town. The manor of Newerche or Newark was by Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and his wife, Lady Codes-a, given to the monastery of Stow, near Lincoln, in the reign of Edward the Confessor, who, with his Queen and several nobles, was present at and consenting to the agreement made between them and the Bishop Walwi that there should be priests there, and altogether the same service which was in St. Paul's at London, and that the lands they should give should be for the food and raiment of the brethren or friars there. William the Conqueror confirmed this gift, and at the request Of Remigius, the Bishop of Lincoln. The Survey shows that Lady Godeva then paid the geld for her manor of Newark, as seven carucates and two bovates of land. But its land was returned in Edward the Confessor's time as 26 carucates. The Bishop, at the time of the Survey, had in demesne there 7 carucates, with 56 burgesses, 42 eilloni, 4 border, having 20 carucates and a half. There were 10 churches and 8 priests, having 5 carucates ; and 7 fraud hombres, having 5 carucates and a half. There were also a mill and a fishery. In the Confessor's time the rent was £50, at the time of the Survey only .E34.
A castle is said to have been built here or enlarged by Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, in the early part of the twelfth century ; and this castle, repaired and renewed from time to time, is the building the picturesque ruins of which still stand at the foot of the Trent Bridge. "The walls are all Norman, and the windows perpendicular insertions. The gatehouse is Norman, as are also a crypt under the hall, the remains of the south-west tower, and a postern gate towards the river. The long and lofty wall rising from the water side, though Norman, has a perpeudicular aspect, because pierced with oriel windows in that style. The space in front is now degraded to a coal wharf, and the beast market occupies the courts behind, while the vaults of the crypt are filled with coal and coke." King John died within its walls on October 19, 1216, after his narrow escape from drowning in the Wash. He had been hastening to relieve the castle from the threatened attack of Gilbert de Gaunt, whom the French Prince Lewis had created Earl of Lincoln, and who retreated to London on the King's approach. The governor of the castle was then Robert de Gangi, and when Henry III., on his accession, ordered it to be restored to the Bishop of Lincoln, De Gangi refused at first, on the plea of money due to him. He was at length compelled by force to be content with the payment of £100. In 1530 Cardinal Wolsey lodged here with a great retinue on his way to Southwell, where lie was accustomed to spend part of the summer, and King James I. was received and entertained here on his progress from Scotland to take possession of the English Crown.
The town was incorporated by Edward VI., and the charter was confirmed by Queen Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I., with additional privileges. In the civil war of the last-mentioned reign, Newark, as we have seen, was the head-quarters of the Cavaliers in these parts, and overawed to some extent both Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire, on both of which counties its garrison levied forcible contributions. It sustained during this time more than one siege, and the close of the war left the castle in a shattered condition, from which it has never recovered.
" The Church of St. Mary Magdalene is one of the largest and most beautiful parish churches in the kingdom, consisting of nave, with aisles, transepts, choir, and chantry chapels. It seems to have been built chiefly in the reign of henry VI., in the Perpendicular style ; but its tower, the great feature of the building, is Early English, surmounted with a decorated spire, adorned with statues of the Twelve Apostles. The west front of the south aisle is also decorated ; two Norman piers are standing in the nave, and the base of the tower seems also to be Norman. There is a fine east window, with beautiful tracery. In the chamber over the south porch is a theological library, bequeathed by Bishop White, of Peterborough."
Newark did not become a Parliamentary borough till the reign of Charles IL, when the charter creating it such appointed also a Custos Rotulorum in the person of Henry Duke of Newcastle, but afterwards to be chosen by the major part of the mayor and aldermen. It also granted two fairs or wakes, and the presentation to the church of Winthorp.
"Newark was formerly remarkable for the number of its inns, and of these the Saracen's Head existed in the time of Edward M., and the White Heart in that of Henry IV. There are two manufactories of coarse linen at newton Mills ; smock frocks are also made here. In and around the town are a number of corn mills and malting establishments, and Newark is also famous for its plaster." The population, which in 1851 was 11,330, had in 1861 reached 11,515.
East Retford,—with which place we must conclude our notice of the towns of this Province,—is a "cheerful, busy, and thriving town," 33 miles north north-east from Nottingham, on what was formerly the Great North Road, on the right bank of the river Idle, a feeder of the Trent, and surrounded on three sides by the Chesterfield Canal, which crosses the river on an aqueduct. In Domesday Book it is called Redeford and Redefrutte. "On the west a handsome stone bridge of five arches connects it with the smaller and more modern town of [Vest Retfiod. An extension of the town has of late years taken place on the south side, and is called South Retford." The appearance of the town is rather more stately than is usual in country places, the market-place,—an irregular quadrangle,—being spacious, and the buildings regular. It is, however, chiefly famous in history as having been one of the most rotten of the old rotten boroughs. "In the elections of 1818 and 1820, 94 out of the 124 voters were proved before Parliament to have sold their votes." To check this corruption its limits were extended so as to inciude the whole hundred of Bassitlaw. "There are hop gardens in the neighbourhood, and some paper mills on the Idle, and also at Ordsall, a village one mile distant." The population in 1851 was 2,943, and in 1861, 2,982. It has sent representatives to Parliament since 1571, and on one occasion in 1406.
Rutland appears to be singularly barren of distinguished men among its natives. The Harringtons of Exton, indeed, produced some men of mark, —the most distinguished being James Harrington, the author of Oceana ; Sir James Harrington also, who represented the county during the Long Parliament, was a man of some force of character. But old Fuller, in his Worthies, finds himself almost reduced in this county to a biography of Jeffrey Hudson, the dwarf, who was born in the parish of Oakhatn, and whom he describes as "the least man of the least county of England."
Leicestershire has been more fruitful. Queen Jane Grey was born at Bradgates, near Leicester. The celebrated Bishop Hugh Latimer was a native of Thurcaston,—the son of a Leicestershire yeoman, and an admirable representative of the stout 01t1 yeoman spirit. Walter de Langton, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, and High Treasurer of England in the reign of Edward I., was borne at West Langton, in Leicestershire, Thorpe Langton, in the same county, being his patrimonial inheritance. As a high officer of the Crown he incurred the displeasure of Prince Edward for venturing to rebuke him for his debauchery, and the Prince's wild companions took revenge on him by breaking into his park and killing his deer ; and the prelate himself suffered much more severely when the Prince succeeded to the Crown. Joseph Hall, Bishop of Norwich, one of the leading controversialists on the Episcopalian side in the reign of Charles I., was born at Ashby de la Zouch. George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham of that family, and the favourite of James 1. and Charles I., was born at his father's seat of Brokesby, in this county. Chief Justice Sir Robert Catelin (in the reign of Elizabeth) was born at Beby. Henry de Knighton, the chronicler, was of Knighton, in Leicestershire. Robert Burton, the author of the Anatomy of Melancholy, was the son of Ralph Burton, of Lindley, in this county, where he was born, as was also his elder brother, William Burton, the antiquary and historian of Leicestershire. John Cleveland, the satirical poet of the reign of Charles I., was born at Hinckley. Dr. William Beveridge, Bishop of St. Asaph, the author of the popular treatise On the Use and Excellency of the Common Prayer, was a native of Barrow-upon-Soar. Francis Beaumont, the dramatic poet (" Beaumont and Fletcher "), was born at Gracedieu. Bosworth is the birthplace of Thomas Simpson, the mathematician. Sir Geoffrey Palmer, the first Attorney-General after the Restoration, and the friend of Clarendon, who took an active part during the Long Parliament on the Cavalier side, was one of the family of Palmer, of Carleton-Curlieu Hall. William Lilly, the astrologer, was born at Diseworth. John Henley, better known as Orator Benley (1692-1756), the father of popular lecturing, was a native of Melton-Mowbray. Noseley Hall was the old residence of the Hesilrige or Hazelrigge family, known historically by the Long Parliament statesman Sir Arthur Hesilrige, who with his two wives is buried in Noseley church, with monuments and memorial inscriptions. The Rev. William Cave, author of several standard theological books, was born at Pickwell, a village on the eastern side of the county, in 1637. At Rothley-Temple, in this county, Thomas Babington (Lord) Macaulay, the historian and statesman, was born in 1800. William de Wyvile, Bishop of Salisbury in the reign of Edward III., was born at StantonWyvile or Stanton-Brudenell, three miles north of Harborough. Fuller remarks of him that "it is hard to say whether he were more dunce or dwarf, more unlearned or unhandsome, insomuch that T. Walsingham tells us that had the Pope ever seen him (as no doubt he felt him in his large fees), he would never have conferred the place upon him."
Among its worthies Nottinghamshire may boast of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, born at Aslacton, a family manor. Sir John Markham, who was made Chief Justice of the King's Bench by Edward IV , in the place of the celebrated Sir John Fortescue, was born at Markham, in this county. Fuller says, "These I may call the two Chief Justices of the Chief Justices, for their signal integrity ; for though the one of them favoured the House of Lancaster, the other of York, in the titles to the Crown, both of them favoured the House of Justice in matters betwixt party and party." For an act of justice of this kind Sir John Markham lost his Chief Justiceship. Henry Ireton, the statesman and soldier of the reign of Charles I., was born at Atteuborough, a small village nearly on the banks of the Trent. Holme Pierpoint has long been the home of the Pierpoint or Pierrepont family, of whom the most celebrated was the William Pierrepont, the "Wise William" of family tradition, of the reign of Charles I. The Hutchinson family also, one of whom, Colonel John Hutchinson, his wife's memoir has made famous in modern times, were of Owthorpe, in Nottinghamshire ; and the Holies family, of whom Denzil Holies, the celebrated member of the Long Parliament, is the most distinguished, were of Houghton, in the same county. Gilbert Wakefield, the classical scholar of the last century, and Henry Kirke White, the poet, were natives of the town of Nottingham.
Previous page
