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A Brief History of theTown of Newent |
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A Brief History of theTown of Newent |
| NEWENT, GLOUCESTER Newent, then "Noent" is first mentioned in the Domesday Book but its history can be traced far earlier. The name may well be of British derivation. The Saxons were relatively late settling the area although the relic of the cross of that period in the Church indicates its importance even before the Norman Conquest Excavations suggest a possible major Roman industrial settlement possibly known as Dolocindo. From the time of the Norman conquest until the dissolution of alien priories in 1411 Newent belonged to the Abbey of Cormeilles in Normandy and it was this Abbey which obtained the right to hold two annual fairs and a weekly market. This ensured Newent's prosperity at the expense of the rival market town of Dymock. Through the middle ages Newent's importance increased mainly due to its location on one of the maina drove routes from Wales. The urban character of the town developed. Street names - Lewall Street and Bury Bar and earth works along Old Maids Walk suggest that at one time the town was defended. The town's prosperity continued to increase through the 17th and 18th Centuries. A glassworks run by French Huguenot refugees was operating nearby in 1600; a cloth mill in 1608 and by 1639 and iron works. Two further fairs were granted one an Onion Fair held in September when growers from the market-gardening areas around Evesham and elsewhere came to sell onions to the Foresters. During the late 17th Century five times as many cattle were killed as Newent as at Gloucester, the town being well known for its butchers. One of the earliest brick houses in the town is the Tan House built in the 1690's and formerly the home of Edward Bower, who was Master of the Tanners Guild in Gloucester. Many of the houses in the town centre are of half timbered construction even though hiddend by later 18th Century brick facades. These would all have been built in this period of prosperity and the town centre contains many typical 17th Century buildings dominated by the Market House built as a Butter Market in 1668. The town then entered a period of decline with markets dwindling and industries closing down. In 1779 Rudder the County historian described Newent as "a small markted town very irregularly built and its approach roads in poor state". Such a situation explains the enthusiasm which greeted the promotion in 1790 of the Hereford and Gloucester Canal with a branch to exploit the Newent Coal Field. By 1795 the canal had reached Newent but it was not until 1845 that it reached the destination in Hereford. The production of the Newent Coal Filed never achieved levels to justify the construction. Large lengths of the canal were used by the Great Western Railway for the Gloucester to Ledbury Line which opened in 1885. Known as the Daffodil Line, this closed in 1964 and a part is now covered by the Newent ByPass. Today the town is the largest in the north west Gloucestershire and an important local shopping centre. Its administrative role diminished with the closing of the Magistrates' Courts in 1975 and the absorption of the town within the Forest of Dean District in 1974 after some six hundred years of self determination.
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