Newark's position when one of a pack bridges on a Trent in a area, its location along the Dandy N Road (the A1), and late by using a advance of rail transportation existence at a junction between a East Coast Main Line, and a route from either Nottingham to Lincoln has informed its growth & development. Originally the centre for the wool & fabric trade it industrialized to a select few extent in the period of the Victorian era & late, sustaining an cast-iron works, engineering, brewing, & a sugar refinery. It was a major town standing for the Royalist stimulate in the period of the Civil War, only surrendering eventually after Charles I himself ordered it.

Pre Norman History

Newark (Newerca, Nouwerk) owed its originside, even beginning in Roman days, to its position on a neat road known as the Fosse Way, in the valley of the Trent. Around the document which purports to exist as the charter of 664 Newark is mentioned as getting been granted to the abbey of Peterborough by Wulfhere. a heathen Anglo-Saxon graveyard, utilized from either a early Fifth to a early Seventh centuries, has been observed around Millgate, around Newark, about each the Fosse Way & the Flow of any stream Trent, where cremated remains were buried around pottery urns.

In the reign of Edward the Confessor it belonged to Godiva and her husband Leofric, Earl of Mercia, who granted it to the monastery of Stow in 1055, who retained its incomes possibly fallowing a Norman Conquest as came under a control of the Norman Bishop Remigious. When his dying it changed to, & remained in a paws of, the Bishops of Lincoln from either 1092 until the reign of Edward VI.

There were burgesses in Newark at the instance of the Domesday Survey, and in the reign of Edward III, there is grounds to believe that it experienced hanker been the borough by prescription.

Medieval History

A castle was erected by Bishop Alexander of Lincoln in 1123, and a bridge about the equivalent period under charter from either Henry I, also St. Leonard's Hospital. He likewise gained from either a king the charter to hang on to a 5-day fair at the castle every month. He gained the charter under Stephen to establish a mint in the town.

the town became a local centre for the wool & fabric trade, for sure per instance of Henry II a major market was established.

King John of England died of dysentery in Newark in 1216. Ensuing his dying when Henry II tried to bring order to a united states the soldier of fortune Robert de Gaugy refused to yield Newark Castle to the Bishop of Lincoln, its rightful owner, leading to the Dauphin of France laying an eight day siege in behalf of a king, ended by an agreement to pay the soldier of fortune to leave.

As much as a instance of Edward III's demise (1377) records of a poll tax indicate that at that period a full-grown (terminated Fourteen) people of Newark was 1,178, excluding mendicant & clergy, making it one of the big towns in the united states at that period.

Church of St Mary Magdalene

A church of St Mary Magdalene, one of the big parish churches of England, is notable for a tower and the octagonal spire (223 ft. high) by which these are surmounted. A central piers remain from either either a last church, dating from the [11th century|11th]] or 12th century. The upper parts of the tower and spire were completed about 1350; the nave dates from between 1384 and 1393, and the chancel from 1489.

The sanctuary is bounded on the south and north by two chantry chapels, the former of which has on one of its panels a remarkable painting from the Dance of Death. There are a few old monuments, and an exceedingly fine brass of the 14th century. There is a hole in the spire which was supposedly made by a cannon ball during the civil war, although there is some doubt locally as to the truth of the story. This hole is visible from some parts of the town centre.

History during the Tudor Era

In 1457 a flood swept away the bridge over the Trent, although there was no legal requirement for anyone to replace it, Bishop of Lincoln John Chaworth financed the building of a new bridge built of oak with stone defensive towers at each end.

Following the break with Rome, the subsequent establishment of the independent Church of England, and the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Henry VIII had the Vicar of Newark, Henry Lytherland executed when he refused to acknowledge the king as head of the church. The dissolution affected Newark's political landscape heavily, and 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.

Stuart Era

Charles I, owing to the increasing commercial prosperity of the town, reincorporated it under a mayor and aldermen, and this charter, except for a temporary surrender under James II, has continued the governing charter of the corporation.

History during the Civil War

During the English Civil War, Newark was a mainstay of the royalist cause, the King having raised the standard in nearby Nottingham. 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, and others with mixed success, but enough to cause it to rise to national notice. At the end of 1644 it was besieged by forces from Nottingham, Lincoln and Derby, the siege was only relieved in March by Prince Rupert.

Parliament commenced a new siege towards the end of January 1645 following more raiding, but this was relieved by Sir Marmaduke Langdale after about a month. Newark cavalry fought with the king's forces in the decisive battle of Naseby, near Leicester in June 1645.

The final siege began in November 1645, by which time the town's defences had been greatly strengthened. Two major forts had been constructed 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, together with defensive walls and water filled ditch totalling two and a quarter miles in length, around the town. In May 1646 the town was ordered to surrender by Charles I, which was still only accepted under protest by the towns garrison. After the surrender most of the defenses were destroyed, including the castle which was left in essentially the state it can be seen today.

Georgian Era

Around 1770 the Great North Road around Newark (now the A1) was raised on a long series of arches to ensure it remained clear of the regular floods it experienced. A special Act of Parliament in 1773 allowed the creation of a Town Hall next to the Market Place. The Duke of Newcastle, now Lord of the Manor and major landowner of the area, built a new brick bridge with stone facing replaced the dilapidated one next the castle in 1775, this is still one of the major thoroughfares in the town today.

Victorian Era

The Victorian era saw a lot of new buildings and industry, such as Independent Chapel (1822), Holy Trinity (1836-1837 7), Christ Church (1837), Castle Station (1846), Wesleyan Chapel (1846), Corn Exchange (1848), Methodist New Connexion Chapel (1848), W.N. Nicholson Trent Ironworks (1840s), Northgate Station (1851), North End Wesleyan Chapel (1868), St. Leonard's Anglican Church (1873), Baptist Chapel (1876), Primitive Methodist Chapel (1878), Hospital (1881), Ossington Coffee Palace (1882), Gilstrap Free Library (1883), Market Hall (1884), Unitarian Chapel (1884), Fire station (1889), Waterworks (1898), School of Science and Art (1900). Most of these buildings can still be seen today.

These changes and the other industrial expansion that went with them saw the population of the town grow from under 7,000 in 1800 to over 15,000 by the end of the century.

Recent History

The clothing, bearings, pumps, agricultural machinery, and sugar refining were the main industries in Newark in the last 100 years or so, all have tended to slowly especially in the last 50 years, along with much of Britain's manufacturing. The current population is around 25,000 and the largest single employer is a bearings factory (part of the NSK group) at around 800 employees.

Political History

Newark returned two representatives to parliament from 1673 until 1889. Newark-on-Trent elected two members to the Unreformed House of Commons.

W.E. Gladstone, later Prime Minister, was MP for Newark in 1832, and re-elected in 1835, 1837 and 1841 (twice), but possibly due to his support of the repeal of the Corn Laws and other issues he stood elsewhere after that time.

Transportation Links

The former East Coast Main Line runs through the town, with Newark North Gate railroad terminal providing links to London, Leeds, Newcastle and Edinburgh. Newark Castle railway station lies on the Sheffield - Lincoln line. The A1 and A46 roads have bypasses around Newark.