Newstead Abbey
THE BIRTHPLACE OF BYRON
=How to get there.=–Train from St. Pancras. Change trains at
Nottingham. Midland Railway.
=Nearest Station.=–Newstead.
=Distance from London.=–134-1/4 miles.
=Average Time.=–Varies between 3-1/4 to 4-1/4 hours.
1st 2nd 3rd
=Fares.=–Single 17s. 6d. ... 10s. 9-1/2d.
Return 35s. 0d. ... 21s. 7d.
=Accommodation Obtainable.=–"Station Hotel,"* Newstead. “Swan
Hotel,"* Mansfield. “Midland,” “White Hart,” and “Green
Dragon,” and others.
Near Sherwood Forest, and not far from the town of Mansfield, is
Newstead Abbey, the ancestral seat of the Byrons. Founded in 1170 by
Henry II. as an expiation for the murder of Thomas à Becket, the abbey,
at the dissolution of the monasteries, was given by Henry VIII. to Sir
John Byron. The latter made it his home, altering it very little, but
allowing the church to fall into ruins. The monks, before leaving their
old home, hid the charters in the lectern, which they threw into the
lake. About 100 years ago the lectern, still containing the charters,
was discovered, and is now being used at Southwell. The “Wicked Lord
Byron,” the grand-uncle of the poet, allowed the abbey to fall into
decay, and to spite his sons cut down a large number of splendid oaks.
Byron succeeded to the estate when a mere boy, and loved it so much
that, even when in great need of money, he refused to part with it. At
last he was obliged to sell the home, which he has so vividly portrayed
in verse, to his old school friend Colonel Wildman. After the loss of
the abbey, Byron left England, and died six years afterwards, in 1824,
at Missolonghi, fighting for the independence of the Greeks.
The Abbey Church, though in ruins, is a very good example of Early
English work. The abbey itself is full of interesting and historic
rooms, one being the bedroom where Charles II. slept, retaining still
the state bed, whose coverlet was embroidered by Mary Queen of Scots.
Edward I. is known to have stayed in the abbey, and the room which he
occupied contains some splendid oak carving. Lord Byron’s bedroom is
just as he left it, with his college pictures on the walls and the
writing-table that he used. Newstead is open to the public on Tuesday
and Friday when the family are not in residence. Tickets may be obtained
at the two hotels mentioned above which are marked with an asterisk.
[Illustration: Photochrom Co., Ltd.
NEWSTEAD ABBEY.
It contains Lord Byron’s bedroom in exactly the condition he left it in
1818.]
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Preface •
Ham House and Petersham •
Walton-On-Thames (scold’s Bridle) •
Harrow •
Holwood House, Keston •
Chigwell, Essex •
Waltham Abbey and Cross •
Downe •
Epsom: Its Races and Its Salts •
Epping Forest •
Hampton Court •
Rye House, Broxbourne •
Hatfield House, Herts •
Runnymead, the Signing of Magna Charta •
The Oldest Brass in England •
St. Albans •
Stoke Poges Church, Bucks •
Windsor •
Jordans and William Penn •
Knole House and Sevenoaks •
Greenstead Church •
Chalfont St. Giles •
Westerham •
Guildford, Surrey •
Gad’s Hill •
Ightham Mote, Kent •
Penshurst •
St. Michael’s Mount and Marazion •
Rochester Cathedral •
Tunbridge Wells •
The Quintain Post At Offham and Malling Abbey •
Eversley •
Farnham, Surrey •
Hindhead, Surrey •
Shottermill •
Penn’s Chapel At Thakeham, Sussex •
Chawton the Home of Jane Austen •
Selborne •
Elstow •
Lewes, Sussex •
Bodiam Castle, Sussex •
Colchester, Essex •
Layer Marney •
Battle Abbey •
Cambridge •
Arundel Castle •
Olney, Bucks •
Wantage and the Country of Alfred the Great •
Canterbury and Its Cathedral •
Reculvers •
Oxford •
Midhurst •
Pevensey Castle •
Savernake Forest •
Ely Cathedral •
St. Ives, Huntingdonshire •
Winchelsea and Rye •
Blenheim Palace •
Peterborough Cathedral and Crowland •
Peterborough •
Southampton •
Helmingham Hall •
Stonehenge, Wiltshire •
Netley Abbey •
Salisbury and Its Cathedral •
Sandwich, Kent •
New Forest, Hampshire •
Osborne House •
Carisbrooke Castle •
Lutterworth •
Compton Wynyates •
Kenilworth Castle •
Belvoir Castle •
Bath •
Boston and the Pilgrim Fathers •
Warwick •
Gloucester and Its Cathedral •
Norfolk Broads •
Norwich Cathedral •
Lichfield •
Sherborne and Its Abbey Church •
Newark •
Wells and Its Cathedral •
Stratford-On-Avon •
Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk •
Lulworth Cove, Dorsetshire •
Corfe Castle •
Lincoln and Its Cathedral •
Somerset, the Birthplace of Tennyson •
Glastonbury Abbey •
Walsingham, Norfolk •
Cheddar Caves, Cheddar, Somerset •
Newstead Abbey •
The Wessex of Thomas Hardy’s Romances •
Tintern Abbey •
Chesterfield, Derbyshire •
Dukeries •
Haddon Hall, Derbyshire •
The Isle of Athelney, and Sedgemoor •
Raglan Castle •
Dovedale •
Wellington and the Wrekin, Shropshire •
Wroxeter and the Roman City of Uriconium, Salop •
Buildwas Abbey, Shropshire •
Ludlow and Its Castle •
Shrewsbury •
Buxton and the Peak District •
Tewkesbury •
Exeter and Its Cathedral •
Market Drayton, Salop •
Chester •
Exmoor •
Knutsford •
Torr Steps On the Barle, Somerset •
Cleeve Abbey, Somerset •
Hawarden •
York Minster •
Coxwold, Yorkshire •
Llangollen and Valle Crucis Abbey •
Knaresborough, Dripping Well •
Fountains Abbey •
Ripon Cathedral •
Dartmoor •
Haworth •
Rievaulx Abbey •
Brixham, Devon •
Conway Castle •
The Doone Valley, Exmoor •
Llandovery, South Wales •
Dartmouth, Devon •
Richmond, Yorkshire •
Tintagel •
Whitby •
Carnarvon Castle •
Plymouth •
Durham and Its Cathedral •
Raby Castle, Durham •
Snowdon •
Harlech Castle •
Grasmere and Rydal Mount •
The Lake District •
St. Davids Cathedral •
Furness Abbey, Lancashire •
Monkwearmouth, Near Jarrow •
The Isle of Man •
Brantwood •
Fowey •
Hexham and Hadrian’s Wall •
The Lake District •
Keswick •
Alnwick Castle •
Lanercost Priory, Cumberland •
Lanercost Priory and Stepping-Stones.] •
St. Ives, Cornwall •
Bamborough Castle, Northumberland
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