Editing Newark-on-Trent (section)

==History==

===Early history===
The origins of the town are possibly [[Roman Britain|Roman]], from its position on an important Roman road, the [[Fosse Way]]. In a document which purports to be a charter of 664 AD, Newark is mentioned as having been granted to the [[Peterborough Cathedral|Abbey of Peterborough]] by King [[Wulfhere of Mercia]]. An [[Anglo-Saxon pagan]] cemetery used from the early fifth to early seventh centuries has been found in Millgate, Newark, close to the Fosse Way and the River Trent. There cremated remains were buried in pottery urns.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Millgate, Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire. Excavations between 1958 and 1978 |last=Kinsley |first=A. G. |year=1989 |publisher=Nottingham Archaeological Monographs |isbn=0-904857-02-6}}</ref>

In the reign of [[Edward the Confessor]], Newark belonged to [[Godiva]] and her husband [[Leofric, Earl of Mercia]], who granted it to [[Stow Minster]] in 1055. After the [[Norman Conquest]], Stow Minster retained the revenues of Newark, but it came under the control of the Norman Bishop [[Remigius de Fécamp]], after whose death control passed to the Bishops of Lincoln from 1092 until the reign of [[Edward VI]]. There were [[Burgess (title)|burgesses]] in Newark at the time of the [[Domesday]] survey. The reign of [[Edward III of England|Edward III]] shows evidence that it had long been a [[borough]] by prescription. The [[Newark wapentake]] (hundred) in the east of Nottinghamshire was established in the period of [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] rule (10th–11th centuries).

===Medieval to Stuart period===
[[Newark Castle, Nottinghamshire|Newark Castle]] was originally a fortified [[manor house]] founded by the Anglo-Saxon King Edward the Elder. In 1073, [[Remigius de Fécamp]], Bishop of Lincoln, put up an [[Earthworks (engineering)|earthwork]] [[motte and bailey|motte-and-bailey]] fortress on the site. The river bridge was built about this time under a charter from [[Henry I of England|Henry I]], as was St Leonard's Hospital. The bishopric also gained from the king a charter to hold a five-day fair at the castle each year, and under King [[Stephen of England|Stephen]] to establish a mint. [[John, King of England|King John]] died of [[dysentery]] in Newark Castle in 1216.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Watson |first1=Greig |title=King John: Dysentery and the death that changed history |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-37641202 |publisher=BBC |access-date=11 November 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171111204955/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-37641202 |archive-date=11 November 2017 |date=19 October 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2011-11-18 |title=Let's move to: Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire |url=http://www.theguardian.com/money/2011/nov/18/lets-move-to-newark-nottinghamshire|access-date=2021-08-06 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |language=en}}</ref><ref>Cornelius Brown, A History of Nottinghamshire, (1896) Retrieved on the 28th April 2023</ref>

[[File:Newark Castle - geograph.org.uk - 6368033.jpg|thumb|[[Newark Castle, Nottinghamshire|Newark Castle]]]]

The town became a local centre for the wool and cloth trade – by the time of [[Henry II of England|Henry II]] a major market was held there. Wednesday and Saturday markets in the town were founded in the period 1156–1329, under a series of charters from the Bishop of Lincoln.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.history.ac.uk/cmh/gaz/notts.html |title=Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs to 1516: Nottinghamshire |first=Samantha Letters (content); Olwen Myhill |last=(web) |date=18 June 2003 |website=history.ac.uk |access-date=5 May 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171027181417/http://www.history.ac.uk/cmh/gaz/notts.html |archive-date=27 October 2017}}</ref> After his death, [[Henry III of England|Henry III]] tried to bring order to the country, but the mercenary Robert de Gaugy refused to yield Newark Castle to the [[Bishop of Lincoln]], its rightful owner. This led to the [[Dauphin of France]] (later King [[Louis VIII of France]]) laying an eight-day siege on behalf of the king, ended by an agreement to pay the mercenary to leave. Around the time of [[Edward III of England|Edward III]]'s death in 1377, "[[Tax per head|Poll tax]] records show an adult population of 1,178, excluding beggars and clergy, making Newark one of the biggest 25 or so towns in England."<ref>[http://www.newarkfuture.net/Exhibition%20Boards%20-%20final.pdf ''Newark Future,'' 2008] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722174154/http://www.newarkfuture.net/Exhibition%20Boards%20-%20final.pdf |date=22 July 2011}}</ref>

In 1457 a flood swept away the bridge over the Trent. Although there was no legal requirement to do so, the Bishop of Lincoln, [[John Chadworth]], funded a new bridge of oak with stone defensive towers at either end. In January 1571 or 1572, the composer [[Robert Parsons (composer)|Robert Parsons]] fell into the swollen River Trent at Newark and drowned.<ref name=Humphreys>{{Cite book |last1=Humphreys |first1=Maggie |last2=Evans |first2=Robert |title=Dictionary of composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland |date=1997 |publisher=Mansell |location=London |isbn=9780720123302 |edition=1. publ.}}</ref>

[[File:Newark - Newark Castle - 20240224171244.jpg|
thumb|[[Newark Castle, Nottinghamshire|Newark Castle – interior]]]]
After the [[English Reformation|break with Rome]] in the 16th century, the establishment of the [[Church of England]], and the [[dissolution of the monasteries]], [[Henry VIII]] had the Vicar of Newark, Henry Lytherland, executed for refusing to acknowledge the king as head of the Church. The dissolution affected Newark's political landscape. Even more radical changes came in 1547, when the [[Bishop of Lincoln]] exchanged ownership of the town with the Crown. Newark was incorporated under an [[alderman]] and twelve assistants in 1549, and the charter was confirmed and extended by [[Elizabeth I]].

[[Charles I of England|Charles I]] reincorporated the town under a [[mayor]] and aldermen, owing to its increasing commercial prosperity. This charter, except for a temporary surrender under [[James II of England|James II]], continued to govern the corporation until the [[Municipal Corporations Act 1835]].

===The Civil War===
[[File:Siege piece shilling from Newark-on-Trent.JPG|thumb|A makeshift royalist [[Shilling (English coin)|shilling]] (siege piece) made from silver plate in the siege]]
{{See also|Siege money (Newark)}}
In the English Civil War, Newark was a Royalist stronghold, Charles I having raised his standard in nearby Nottingham. "Newark was besieged on three occasions and finally surrendered only when ordered to do so by the King after his own surrender."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk/ppimageupload/Image36882.PDF|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613195933/http://www.newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk/ppimageupload/Image36882.PDF|url-status=dead|title=Newark Civil War Trail|archivedate=13 June 2011}}</ref> It was attacked in February 1643 by two troops of horsemen, but beat them back. The town fielded at times as many as 600 soldiers, and raided Nottingham, [[Grantham]], [[Northampton]], [[Gainsborough, Lincolnshire|Gainsborough]] and other places with mixed success, but enough to cause it to rise to national notice. In 1644 Newark was besieged by forces from Nottingham, Lincoln and [[Derby]], until [[Relief of Newark|relieved]] in March by [[Prince Rupert]].

Parliament commenced a new siege towards the end of January 1645 after more raiding, but this was relieved about a month later by Sir [[Marmaduke Langdale]]. Newark cavalry fought with the king's forces, which were decisively defeated in the [[Battle of Naseby]], near [[Leicester]] in June 1645.

The final siege began in November 1645, by which time the town's defences had been much strengthened. Two major forts had been built just outside the town, one called the [[Queen's Sconce]] to the south-west, and another, the King's Sconce, to the north-east, both close to the river, with defensive walls and a water-filled ditch of 2¼ miles around the town. The King's May 1646 order to surrender was only accepted under protest by the town's garrison. After that, much of the defences was destroyed, including the Castle, which was left in essentially the state it can be seen today. The Queen's Sconce was left largely untouched; its remains are in [[Sconce and Devon Park]].

===Georgian era and early 19th century===
[[File:Newark Castle and bridge London Published by J Deeley, 95 Bewick St Soho, 1812 Coloured aquatint.jpg|thumb|[[Newark Castle, Nottinghamshire|Newark Castle]] {{circa|1812}}]]
[[File:Town Hall, Newark-on-Trent (geograph 3654724).jpg|thumb|[[Newark Town Hall]], completed in 1776]]
About 1770 the [[Great North Road (Great Britain)|Great North Road]] around Newark (now the A616) was raised on a long series of arches to ensure it remained clear of the regular floods. A special [[Act of Parliament]] in 1773 allowed the creation of a town hall next to the Market Place. Designed by [[John Carr (architect)|John Carr of York]] and completed in 1776, [[Newark Town Hall]] is now a Grade I listed building, housing a museum and art gallery. In 1775 the [[Duke of Newcastle]], at the time the Lord of the Manor and a major landowner in the area, built a new brick bridge with stone facing to replace a dilapidated one next to the Castle. This is still one of the town's major thoroughfares today.

A noted 18th-century advocate of reform in Newark was the printer and newspaper owner Daniel Holt (1766–1799). He was imprisoned for printing a leaflet advocating parliamentary reform and for selling a pamphlet by [[Thomas Paine]].<ref>An account of Holt's life by Alan Dorling appears in the ''Nottinghamshire Historian'' journal, spring/summer 2000, pp. 9–15, with further detail in autumn/winter 2003, pp. 8–12.</ref>

In a milieu of parliamentary reform, the Duke of Newcastle evicted over a hundred Newark tenants whom he believed to support directly or indirectly at the 1829 elections the Liberal/Radical candidate (Wilde), rather than his candidate, (Michael Sadler, a progressive Conservative).<ref>See the report in Cornelius Brown 1907, ii, 243 ff.; and the report in ''The Times'' for 7 October 1829. A report in ''The Times'' of 10 September 1832 lists ten of the evicted by name and address.</ref>

J. S. Baxter, a schoolboy in Newark in 1830–1840, contributed to ''The Hungry Forties: Life under the Bread Tax'' (London, 1904), a book about the [[Corn Laws]]: "Chartists and rioters came from Nottingham into Newark, parading the streets with penny loaves dripped in blood carried on pikes, crying 'Bread or blood'."

===19th–21st centuries===
Many buildings and much industry appeared in the [[Victorian era]]. The buildings included the Independent Chapel (1822), Holy Trinity (1836–1837), [[Christ Church, Newark|Christ Church]] (1837), [[Newark Castle railway station|Castle Railway Station]] (1846), the Wesleyan Chapel (1846), the [[Corn Exchange, Newark-on-Trent|Corn Exchange]] (1848), the Methodist New Connexion Chapel (1848), W. N. Nicholson Trent Ironworks (1840s), [[Newark Northgate railway station|Northgate Railway Station]] (1851), North End Wesleyan Chapel (1868), St Leonard's Anglican Church (1873), the Baptist Chapel (1876), the Primitive Methodist Chapel (1878), [[Newark Hospital]] (1881), Ossington Coffee Palace (1882), Gilstrap Free Library (1883), the Market Hall (1884), the Unitarian Chapel (1884), the Fire Station (1889), the Waterworks (1898), and the School of Science and Art (1900).

[[File:Stodman Street - geograph.org.uk - 3118090.jpg|thumb|Stodman Street, Newark]]

The [[Ossington Coffee Tavern, Newark on Trent|Ossington Coffee Palace]] was built by Lady Charlotte Ossington, daughter of the [[William Bentinck, 4th Duke of Portland|4th Duke of Portland]] and widow of a former Speaker of the House of Commons, [[Evelyn Denison, 1st Viscount Ossington|Viscount Ossington]]. It was designed to be a [[Temperance movement|Temperance]] alternative to pubs and coaching inns.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ossington Coffee Palace |url= http://www.visitoruk.com/Newark-on-Trent/ossington-coffee-palace-C567-AT4997.html |website=Welcome to Newark-on-Trent}}</ref>

[[image:UK NewarkonTrent.jpg|thumb|upright 0.7|Signpost in Newark-on-Trent]]

These changes and industrial growth raised the population from under 7,000 in 1800 to over 15,000 by the end of the century. The Sherwood Avenue Drill Hall opened in 1914 as the [[World War I|First World War]] began.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.drillhalls.org/Counties/Nottinghamshire/TownNewark.htm |title=Newark on Trent |publisher=The Drill Halls Project |access-date=9 September 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170910172810/http://www.drillhalls.org/Counties/Nottinghamshire/TownNewark.htm |archive-date=10 September 2017}}</ref>

[[File:UK Newark on Trent cemetery polish Presidents.jpg|thumb|Polish war memorial in Newark Cemetery, with the graves of three Polish [[Polish government-in-exile#Presidents|Presidents-in-Exile]] in front of it]]
In the [[World War II|Second World War]] there were several RAF stations within a few miles of Newark, many holding squadrons of the [[Polish Air Force]]. A plot was set aside in Newark Cemetery for RAF burials. This is now the war graves plot, where all but ten of the 90 Commonwealth and all of the 397 Polish burials were made. The cemetery also has 49 scattered burials from the [[World War I|First World War]]. A memorial cross to the Polish airmen buried there was unveiled in 1941 by [[Władysław Raczkiewicz|President Raczkiewicz]], ex-President of the Polish Republic and head of the wartime Polish government in London, supported by [[Władysław Sikorski]], head of the [[Polish Armed Forces in the West]] and [[Polish government-in-exile#Prime ministers|Prime Minister of the Polish Government in Exile]] in 1939–1943. When the two died – Sikorski in 1943 and Raczkiewicz in 1947 – they were buried at the foot of the monument. Sikorski's remains were returned to Poland in 1993, but his former grave in Newark remains as a monument.<ref>{{cite web |title=Newark upon Trent Cemetery |url= http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/2069700/NEWARK-UPON-TRENT%20CEMETERY |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |access-date=23 June 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121015153508/http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/2069700/NEWARK-UPON-TRENT%20CEMETERY |archive-date=15 October 2012}}</ref> [[RAF Winthorpe]] was opened in 1940 and declared inactive in 1959. The site is now the location of the [[Newark Air Museum]].

[[File:English ElectricLightning T.5, XS417, Newark Air Museum, Nottinghamshire. - 49728230091.jpg|thumb|A T5 XS417 Aircraft [[Newark Air Museum]]]]

The main industries in Newark in the last hundred years have been clothing, bearings, pumps, agricultural machinery and pine furniture, and the refining of sugar. [[British Sugar]] still has one of its [[sugar beet|sugar-beet]] processing factories to the north of the town near the [[A616 road|A616]] (Great North Road). There have been several factory closures<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-61165235.amp | title=Goodlife Foods: More than 100 jobs to go in Newark factory closure | date=20 April 2022 }}</ref> especially since the 1950s. The [[Brewery|breweries]] that closed in the 20th century included James Hole<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://breweryhistory.com/wiki/index.php?title=Hole_%26_Co._Ltd|title=Hole & Co. Ltd - Brewery History Society Wiki}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/James_Hole_and_Co |title=James Hole and Co – Graces Guide |website=gracesguide.co.uk}}</ref> and Warwicks-and-Richardsons.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://breweryhistory.com/wiki/index.php?title=Warwicks_%26_Richardsons_Ltd|title=Warwicks & Richardsons Ltd - Brewery History Society Wiki}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Warwick_and_Richardson |title=Warwick and Richardson – Graces Guide |website=gracesguide.co.uk}}</ref>