Newcastle-under-Lyme

Newcastle-under-Lyme ( RP: , ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. The 2011 census population of the town was 75,082, whilst the wider borough had a population of 128,264 in 2016, up from 123,800 in the 2011 Census.

Toponym

The name "Newcastle" is derived from a mid 12th century motte and bailey that was built after King Stephen granted lands in the area to Ranulf de Gernon, Earl of Chester; the land was for his support during the civil war known as The Anarchy. "Lyme" might refer to the Lyme Brook or the Forest of Lyme (with lime and elm trees) that covered an extensive area across the present day counties of Cheshire, Staffordshire and parts of Derbyshire.

History

12th–19th centuries

Newcastle was not recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book, as it grew up round a 12th-century castle, but it must have gained rapid importance, as a charter, known solely through a reference in another charter to Preston, was given to the town by Henry II in 1173. The new castle superseded an older fortress at Chesterton, about to the north, whose ruins were visible up to the end of the 16th century.

In 1235 Henry III turned the town into a free borough, granting a guild and other privileges. In 1251 he leased it under a fee farm grant to the burgesses. In 1265 Newcastle was granted by the Crown to Simon de Montfort and later to Edmund Crouchback, through whom it passed to Henry IV. In John Leland's time the castle had disappeared "save one great Toure".

Newcastle did not feature much in the English Civil War, except as a victim of Royalist plundering. However, it was the home town of Major General Thomas Harrison, a Cromwellian army officer and leader of the Fifth Monarchy Men.

The governing charter in 1835, which created the Newcastle-under-Lyme Municipal Borough, absorbed the previous borough created by the charters of 1590 and 1664, under which the title of the corporation was the "mayor, bailiffs and burgesses of Newcastle-under-Lyme".

Newcastle sent two members to Parliament from 1355 to 1885, then lost one of its seats.

20th century

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, it was not directly involved in the pottery industry and it strongly opposed attempts to join the merger in 1930, with a postcard poll showing residents opposing the Stoke-on-Trent Extension Bill by a majority of 97.4 per cent. Although passed by the House of Commons, the bill was rejected by the House of Lords.

After the Local Government Act 1972, Newcastle became the principal settlement of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Economy

Like neighbouring Stoke-on-Trent, Newcastle's early economy was based around the hatting trade, silk and cotton mills. Later coal mining, brick manufacture, iron casting and engineering rose to prominence. Fine red earthenware and soft-paste porcelain tableware (the first such production in Staffordshire) was produced in Newcastle at Samuel Bell's factory in Lower Street in 1724–1754, when production ceased. Except for a failed enterprise in 1790–1797, which then switched to brewing, there was no further commercial production of pottery within the town. Production of earthenware tiles, however, continued at several locations in the borough. Manufacture of fine bone china was re-established in the borough in 1963 by Mayfair Pottery at Chesterton.

The manufacture in the borough of clay tobacco-smoking pipes started about 1637 and grew rapidly, until it was second only to hatting as an industry. Nationally, the town ranked with Chester, York and Hull as the four major pipe producers. The industry continued until the mid-19th century, when decline set in rapidly, so that by 1881 it had only one tobacco-pipe maker left.

In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, the town had a flourishing felt hat manufacturing industry, probably at its peak locally in the 1820s, when a third of the town's population were involved in over 20 factories, but by 1892 there was only one still in production.

In 1944, the Rolls-Royce Derwent engine for the Gloster Meteor fighter was made in the borough.

Newcastle's 20th-century industries include: iron-working, construction materials, clothing (especially military, police and transport uniforms), computers, publishing, electric motors and machinery.

Near the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, the town received major redevelopment to incorporate a new street (Castle Walk) into the town centre, providing Newcastle with a new bus station and bringing in more companies. Various business centres in the town provide offices for companies that operate in the service sector.

The town was classed as a BID (Business Improvement District) in 2015, reiterated in 2021.

Politicians

The town has been the birthplace of several notable politicians and activists. Fanny Deakin was a campaigner for better nourishment for babies and young children and better maternity care for mothers. The former chairwoman of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament ( CND), Janet Bloomfield (née Hood) is a peace and disarmament campaigner. Vera Brittain writer, feminist (and mother of Liberal Democrat Shirley Williams) was born in the town.

There have been two particularly notable Members of Parliament (MPs). Josiah Wedgwood IV was a Liberal, Independent and Labour Party MP, who served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in the cabinet of Ramsay MacDonald, in the first ever Labour government. He was an MP from 1909 to 1942. John Golding was elected a Labour MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme at a by-election in 1969. He served in the governments of Harold Wilson and Jim Callaghan, as PPS to Eric Varley as Minister of Technology, a Labour whip in opposition, and Minister for Employment, stepping down in 1986.

The current MP is Aaron Bell.

Transport

The town was once served by the North Staffordshire Railway, its station being on a branch from Stoke-on-Trent via Newcastle, Silverdale and Keele, to Market Drayton in Shropshire. Newcastle-under-Lyme railway station opened in September 1852, after numerous construction difficulties involving the two tunnels of and at Hartshill. There were also two halts to the west of Newcastle railway station, located at Brampton and Liverpool Road.

The section from Silverdale to Market Drayton closed to passengers in May 1956 and the rest of the line in March 1964. Only small sections remained from Madeley to Silverdale, and from Silverdale to Holditch, for coal traffic from the local collieries. The line from Newcastle Junction to Silverdale has been removed, and the site of Newcastle railway station and the Hartshill tunnels filled in.

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

Today the town relies on buses for public transport. FirstGroup

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