Editing Newstead Abbey (section)

== Country house ==
[[Image:Newstead Abbey from Morris's Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen (1880).JPG|thumb|300px|Newstead Abbey in 1880.]]
[[File:Newstead Abbey, England.JPG|thumb|300px|Newstead Abbey in 2012]]
[[Image:Newstead abbey.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Newstead Abbey in 2007]]
[[John Byron (died 1567)|Sir John Byron]] of [[Colwick]] in Nottinghamshire was granted Newstead Abbey by Henry VIII of England on 26 May 1540 and started its conversion into a country house. He was succeeded by his son [[John Byron (died 1600)|Sir John Byron]]  of [[Clayton Hall]]. Many additions were made to the original building. The 13th century ecclesiastical buildings were largely ruined during the dissolution of the monasteries. It then passed to [[John Byron, 1st Baron Byron|John Byron]], an MP and Royalist commander, who was created a baron in 1643. He died childless in France and ownership transferred to his brother [[Richard Byron, 2nd Baron Byron|Richard Byron]]. Richard's son [[William Byron, 3rd Baron Byron|William]] was a minor poet and was succeeded in 1695 by his son [[William Byron, 4th Baron Byron]]. Early in the 18th century, the 4th Lord Byron landscaped the gardens extensively, and amassed a hugely admired collection of artistic masterpieces.

During the ownership of [[William Byron, 5th Baron Byron|William, 5th Baron Byron]], the Abbey suffered a downturn in fortunes. As a young man, William lavished money on the estate, building picturesque Gothic follies and staging glamorous mock navy battles on the lake.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brand|first=Emily|title=The Fall of the House of Byron|publisher=John Murray|year=2020|pages=74}}</ref> Continuing to take out loans and pursue his pleasures of horse-racing, gambling, and going to the theatre, he found himself financially reliant on a scheme of marrying off his only surviving son and heir to a wealthy heiress. The plan fell apart when his heir eloped with his cousin Juliana Byron, daughter of William's brother [[John Byron]].

Though late 18th-century gossip attested that he ruined the estate, felled trees, and killed deer while hellbent on revenge, this is not the case – he simply had no money to pay his debts, and stripped the Abbey and estate of its artistic treasures, furniture, and even its trees, to quickly raise cash.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brand|first=Emily|title=The Fall of the House of Byron|publisher=John Murray|year=2020}}</ref> Though he made thousands of pounds it was not enough to pay back the loans he had been taking out since his thirties, and there was no hope of restoring the Abbey to its former glory.

As well as outliving all four of his children William also outlived his only grandson, who was killed by cannon fire in 1794 while fighting in [[Corsica]] at the age of 22. The 5th Lord died on 21 May 1798, at the age of 75.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brand|first=Emily|title=The Fall of the House of Byron|publisher=John Murray|year=2020|pages=268}}</ref> Later, 19th-century myths attest that on his death, the great numbers of crickets he kept at Newstead left the estate in swarms. The title and Newstead Abbey were then left to his great-nephew, George Gordon Byron, then aged 10, who became the 6th [[Baron Byron]] and later the famous and notorious poet.