Newstead Abbey

Newstead Abbey stands in a picturesque situation, 5 miles south of Mansfield, and with an estate of 3,226a 3r 33p and 155 inhabitants, which forms an extra parochial district. The estate has about 200 acres of woods and plantations, and several spacious lakes which cover upwards of 70 acres, and give rise to the River Leen. The noted inn called the Hutt is situated on the Nottingham and Mansfield Road, on the margin of an open tract of Sherwood Forest, 1 mile east of the Abbey. The present owner and occupier purchased the estate for £95,000 in 1818, of the late Lord Byron.

Newstead Abbey was founded as a priory of black canons, in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in 1170, by Henry II. At the dissolution its revenues were valued at £219 18s 8d, and it was granted to Sir John Byron, at that time Lieutenant of Sherwood Forest. After its religious occupiers had been forced from this holy sanctuary, where for centuries the poor, the sick and the weary traveller at all times found asylum, it was converted into a splendid residence by its noble owner; but the church was suffered to decay. The west end is still a majestic ruin, and an excellent specimen of the early English style of architecture. The house is quite in the antique style, with towers and battlements, and underwent a thorough reparation about 23 years ago, having suffered much by the neglect of the two last Lords Byron. It has numerous apartments, and two spacious galleries, one of which passes over the ancient cloisters, which resemble those of Westminster Abbey. An extensive crypt under the ruined conventual church has been long used as cellars, and the singing room is fitted up as a bath. The ancient chapel, of which the Rev. Luke Jackson is pastor, has been used as a cemetery, and its light clustered pillars, and ancient carved windows, add much to the melancholy expression of the scene. An ancient gothic greenhouse opens into the garden, which was once the Abbey burial ground, and in which the late Lord Byron erected a handsome pedestal of white marble, with an inscription to the memory of a Newfoundland dog, to whom his lordship once owed his life. The garden also inclides the dilapidated part of the church, and is altogether interesting; here we are taught that the whole of man's architectural labours, from the moment of their elevation, make slow but sure approaches to dissolution. The extensive park, which once contained 2,700 head of deer, and was richly ornamented with fine spreading oaks, is now divided into farms, except in the vicinity of the house, where the landscape is extremely beautiful and picturesque. This delightful mansion is now surrounded with pleasure grounds, tastefully laid out with embowering walks, and beautified with two spacious lakes, and several ornamental buildings, all of which harmonize with the monastic ruins and the gothic mansion.

The Byron family is very ancient, and had large possessions near Rochdale, in Lancashire, where they had their principal seat till after the reformation, when they obtained a grant of Newstead. Being active partisans in the cause of Charles I, several of their estates were sequestered by Parliament, but afterwards were restored to them by Charles II, whose father had raised Sir John Byron to the peerage in 1643. William, the fifth Lord Byron, killed William Chaworth Esq., in a duel in 1765, under circumstances which led to his empeachment on a charge of murder, before the House of Peers, who found him guilty of manslaughter, upon which he claimed the benefit of the statute of Edward VI, and was discharged. He died without issue in 1786, and was succeeded by his grand-nephew, George Bordon, the late Lord Bryon, the illustrious poet, who died of a fever at ........., on the 19th of April 1824, lamented by the whole Greek nation UNFINISHED - CANNOT READ FICHE !!

White's Directory of Nottinghamshire 1853

[Last updated: Tuesday, 3rd June 1997 23:59 BST - Clive Henly]