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Newcastle-under-Lyme

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Newcastle-under-Lyme, known simply as "castle" to many local people, is a busy market town in Staffordshire, England, not to be confused with the larger city of Newcastle upon Tyne. Newcastle-under-Lyme is about 26 miles (42 km) north of the county town of Stafford.

Contents

General

The town sits immediately west of the neighbouring city of Stoke-on-Trent, its suburbs running into those of the city. When Stoke-on-Trent was formed by the 1910 amalgamation of the "six towns" (Stoke, Hanley, Fenton, Longton, Burslem and Tunstall), Newcastle remained separate despite its close proximity. Newcastle town centre is just 2 miles (3 km) from Stoke-on-Trent and less than 4 miles (6 km) from Hanley. Newcastle is often unofficially considered to be an affluent suburb of the city of Stoke-on-Trent, both forming part of an area known as The Potteries.

In the 2001 census the town had a population of 74,427. The larger Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, formed in 1974 and including semi-industrial and rural areas further north and west, and also the town of Kidsgrove, had a 2001 census population of 122,040.

History

The town grew up around a 'new' castle which was built by the Normans in the 12th century. It owes its name to the castle and to the fact that it was situated under the forest of Lyme. It is not mentioned in Domesday, but it must early have become a place of importance, for a charter, known only through a reference in a charter to Preston, was given to the town by Henry II. The 'new' castle was built to supersede an older fortress at Chesterton about 2 miles to the north, of which the ruins were to be seen in the 16th century. In 1235 Henry III constituted it a free borough, granting a gild merchant and other privileges." In 1251 he leased it at fee-farm to the burgesses. In 1265 Newcastle was granted by the crown to Simon de Montfort, and subsequently to Edmund Crouchback, through whom it passed to Henry IV. In Leland's time the castle had disappeared "save one great Toure". The governing charter in 1835 was that of 1590 enlarged by that of 1664, under which the title of the corporation, was the " mayor, bailiffs and burgesses of Newcastle-under-Lyme."

In 1835 Newcastle was one of the boroughs reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. In 1932 it took in what had been the Wolstanton United urban district, covering the parishes of Chesterton, Silverdale and Wolstanton, also taking the parish of Clayton from Newcastle under Lyme Rural District.

Newcastle was on the national canal network, but the canal, running from the Trent and Mersey Canal at Stoke-on-Trent to Sir Nigel Gresley's Canal has been disused since 1935 and the vast majority of it filled in.

Newcastle was once served by the North Staffordshire Railway (later part of the LMS), its station being on a rambling branch line striking out westwards from Stoke-on-Trent via Newcastle, Silverdale and Keele, to Market Drayton in Shropshire. Newcastle station opened in September 1852 after numerous construction difficulties involving the two tunnels of 605 yards and 96 yards respectively at Hartshill. The section from Silverdale to Market Drayton closed to passengers in May 1956 and the rest in March 1964. Newcastle station site and the Hartshill tunnels are now filled in. Newcastle is still served indirectly by Stoke-on-Trent station, but it is believed to be the second largest town in Britain (after Gosport in Hampshire), entirely without a station of its own.

Economy

in the 17th and 18th centuries the town was flourishing and had a manufacture of hats. The market was originally held on Sunday; in the reign of John it was changed to Saturday; by the charter of Elizabeth it was fixed on Monday. Markets are now held on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Grants of fairs were given by Edward I., Edward III. and Henry VI.

Like neighboring Stoke-on-Trent, Newcastle's early economy was based around pottery, and later also coal mining - both of which have declined in recent decades.

Newcastle's industries include: construction materials, apparel, computers, publishing, electric motors, and machinery. In 1944, the Rolls-Royce Derwent jet engine for the Gloster Meteor were made here.

Politics

Up to the time of the passing of the Municipal Reform Act the farce of electing a mock mayor was gone through annually after the election of the real mayor. Newcastle sent two members to parliament from 1355 to 1885, when it lost one representative. In 2001 [Paul Farrelly] was elected as the Member of Parliament for the town.

The local council has traditionally been dominated by the Labour Party. However, in the 2006 local elections a coalition of Liberal Democrat and Conservative councillors gained a majority.

Education

The town was selected for the campus of University College of North Staffordshire in 1949, which was granted full university status as Keele University in 1962. Keele University is situated close to the village of Keele, just west of Newcastle-under-Lyme town centre. A significant number of students attending Keele University live in Newcastle-under-Lyme. Keele University Medical School is based in the University Hospital of North Staffordshire grounds in Hartshill, bordering Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Culture

Dating back to 1173, Newcastle’s market is the heart of the town. Open six-day a week, there are over 80 stalls on this open-air market. Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays see an attractive general market, Tuesdays see a very popular antiques market and Thursdays are dedicated to bric-a-brac.

The was Europe’s first purpose-built ‘theatre in the round’. It is just outside the town centre and offers a full programme of entertainment, whether modern or classic plays or impressive concert performances.

Set in eight acres of parkland, the Museum houses a wonderful collection of items. It has superb displays depicting the civic history of the Borough of Newcastle under Lyme and an authentic, life size Victorian street-scene.

The Art Gallery hosts work by local and national artists as well as ‘travelling’ exhibitions.

Newcastle excels in the national “Britain in Bloom” competition, and has several beautiful parks in and around the town centre.

Sport

The town is home to Newcastle Town F.C., an association football club, who currently play in the North West Counties Football League Division One. The Lyme Valley area is also home to Newcastle-under-Lyme Cricket Club, Newcastle, Staffs Rugby Union club and the Newcastle Track Cycling Association. Newcastle Athletic Club is based at the Ashfield Road Track.

Religion

Newcastle is the home of primitive methodism. This is reflected in the large number of methodist churches. There are also many other places of worship including 'Newcastle's Faith' which is an old non-conformist place of worship and the 'Old Meeting house', connected to the church of St Giles'. For many years it has been used by the Unitarians, amongst whom were Josiah Wedgwood and his family. It is said monks had a secret passage in the church of St. Giles, but this is more folk-lore than fact. The largest Baptist church in North Staffordshire is on the A34 in Newcastle, and has a lively, growing congregation.

The town centre hosts three Anglican churches, St George's [link], St Paul's [link] and St Giles' [link] full details of Anglican Churches in the wider Newcastle area can be found by visiting Lichfield Diocese's parish website directory [link]

There are several Catholic churches in Newcastle, most notably Holy Trinity, whose style is Gothic in blue engineering bricks, described as... "the finest modern specimen of ornamental brickwork in the kingdom" at the time.

There is also a small Jewish community, a small Muslim community and other small religious groups.

Famous people

This section provides a historic look at some of the famous people from or who have close links with the Newcastle-under-Lyme area.

Bibliography

Jenkins, JG (1983). 'A History of Newcastle-under-Lyme'. Staffordshire County Library, Stafford.

Briggs, J. (1973). 'Newcastle-under-Lyme, 1173-1973'. Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council.

Morris, D. (1987). 'The Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme. A Portrait in Old Picture Postcards'. Brampton, Loggerheads.

Adams, D. (1988). 'Wartime Newcastle-under-Lyme'. Hendon Publishing, Nelson.

Adams, D. (1986). 'Newcastle-under-Lyme as it was'. Hendon Publishing, Nelson.

External links


Districts of the West Midlands

Birmingham | Bridgnorth | Bromsgrove | Cannock Chase | Coventry | Dudley | East Staffordshire | Herefordshire | Lichfield | Malvern Hills | Newcastle-under-Lyme | North Shropshire | North Warwickshire | Nuneaton and Bedworth | Oswestry | Redditch | Rugby | Sandwell | Shrewsbury and Atcham | Solihull | South Shropshire | South Staffordshire | Stafford | Staffordshire Moorlands | Stoke-on-Trent | Stratford-on-Avon | Tamworth | Telford and Wrekin | Walsall | Warwick | Wolverhampton | Worcester | Wychavon | Wyre Forest

Counties with multiple districts: Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands, Worcestershire

 

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