Image ID: 42520

Aerial view of Newstead Abbey

Newstead Abbey
Newstead Abbey
Nottinghamshire
England

Newstead Abbey's landscape owes much of its beauty to the River Leen, which feeds the lakes, ponds and cascades that ornament Newstead's gardens. Some of these water features are believed to have medieval origins as monastic stew ponds, in which fish were bred for food. The abbey was founded between 1163 and 1173 by Henry II as a priory of Augustinian Canons with the help of a grant from Henry II. Though the monks established a prosperous base in the wood trade, the place never enjoyed much of it's wealth; robberies by outlaws took some of it and King Richard took a slice for the Third Crusade and a further sum contributed to his ransom. A new 'Nottingham castle' was planned in 1194 nearby to deal with the robbers in the Leen Valley but not built until 1205 when, instead of stopping the outlaws, it was attacked by them and eventually abandoned. If Robin Hood ever did meet Richard the Lionheart, it would have been somewhere around here. (The famous painting in Nottingham castle Art Gallery by Daniel Maclise reflects the age in which it was painted in depicting the scene when both men finally met.) The connection with Robin Hood is strong in the immediate local area. There are some caves 1 mile SE of the Abbey known as Robin Hood's stables (no public access) near to the King's Great Way road (originally, they were probably a hermitage that had been dug out over the years), and 1 mile south of Newstead Abbey is Papplewick Church. The location of this is where Alan a' Dale is reputed to have been married. Richard I in late March-April 1194 and King John on several occasions between 1199 and 1215 stayed at Newstead Abbey when out hunting in Sherwood Forest. Robin Hood is reputed to have had his fight with Little John on a felled tree over the River Leen in this area. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1540, Henry VIII sold the abbey to the Byron Family. Newstead had been the Byron family home since 1540 when Sir John Byron acquired it from Henry VIII. George Gordon Byron (the poet),at the age of ten, became the 6th Baron Byron of Rochdale, inheriting his title and the Newstead estate from his great-uncle William, the so-called 'Wicked' Lord, whom he had never met. William, the fifth Lord Byron, was a headstrong man fighting with other landowners in the area. He demanded royalty payments from the Robinsons, who were mill owners in Papplewick, for using the River Leen amounting to a £10,000 down-payment and £6,000 per year thereafter. To force the Robinsons into paying up, he started damming up Lower Lake at Newstead on 4th April 1785, refused to allow the Robinsons to regulate the river's flow, and threatened to release the water causing a 'sudden violent eruption of water...' The Robinsons took Byron to court, but the matter was passed back and forth between courts in Nottingham and London for several years. Only in 1790 did they finally obtain judgement in their favour but were unable to recover damages, with Byron pleading poverty. Between 1803 and 1808 The new Lord Byron (the poet) spent time with his mother Catherine in the Nottinghamshire town of Southwell where she had rented Burgage Manor. He then took his degree in 1808 and moved into Newstead Abbey that autumn. For economy's sake, they re-decorated and furnished only some of the smaller rooms at Newstead and were obliged to leave the rest semi-derelict. Byron lived at Newstead, at various times, until the autumn of 1814, shortly before he married. By this time, financial pressures had forced him to put Newstead up for sale, but it proved difficult to find a buyer. Byron left England in 1816, never to return. In 1818, the estate was purchased for £94,500 by Thomas Wildman, a friend from Byron's school days. Wildman spent a further £100,000, an enormous sum at that time, refurbishing Newstead Abbey and its grounds. Since Byron's death in 1824, the Abbey has attracted thousands of visitors from all world who come to see the poet's former ancestral home. In 1861 William Frederick Webb, African explorer and friend of Dr David Livingstone, purchased the Abbey from Thomas Wildman's widow. In 1931 Sir Julien Cahn, the then owner, presented the abbey to the City of Nottingham for the public to enjoy for leisure and recreation.

Date: 1987

Organisation Reference: NCCC001878

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