Blog Post

Newstead Abbey

MickC • 22 September 2023

Mountain Biking through Newstead Abbey

A lovely flat easy route through the scenic Newstead Abbey. Ideal for a Sunday ride or a family trip to Newstead Abbey. This is part of the 20-mile loop I call ' Pig Hill' due to the climb halfway round. Check out the video capturing the route through Newstead.

Starting near Linby Cricket club the route heads North along an idyllic wide grass track through a tunnel of trees. At the end you reach the gates of Newstead Abbey. On your own there is a trick to lift your bike and get through the swivel gate. More than one and it's easy to lift and collect your bike.

Having passed through the gates it's another half a mile along a flat tarmac track. Enjoy the view of the Abbey to your left. If you fancy a quick snack and refreshments turn left when you reach the road and head down to the Abbeys lovely café. I recommend this if you are riding with a young family as the next section gets trickier.

If you want to carry on, take a right at the road and head up hill on the road. The road passes directly through the whole of the Newstead Abbey grounds. Keep your eyes peeled on the left for a gap in the tree's. When you see it head into the woods and you'll be confronted with more uphill in the form of singletrack.

Keep those pedals turning until the track levels out and a green fence appears from nowhere on the left-hand side. This is the fun section. Move up through the gears and take the momentum of the alleyway like route between the fences. Beware of the steps at the bottom, totally rideable but beware none the less.

The track takes a quick turn up hill after the steps and through some metal gates. If you haven't selected the right gear it could take you by surprise and you won't get over the small rocks rutting out the ground. You then appear out in the open on the side of a field. If the sun is blazing this is a great spot for a photo or a break on the bench.

Follow the edge of the field and dip down to the edge where once again the trail turns up hill. This can be a low gear section if you have just hammered the last mile. Pass through a gate and bear left to the end of the trail where you will hit 'Kirkby Road' (B6020).

You have passed through Newstead Abbey.....

Newstead Abbey is a fascinating place reaped in history. It was formerly an Augustinian priory, converted to a domestic home following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, it is now best known as the ancestral home of Lord Byron.

The priory of St. Mary of Newstead, a house of Augustinian Canons, was founded by King Henry II of England about the year 1170, as one of many penances he paid following the murder of Thomas Becket. Contrary to its current name, Newstead was never an abbey: it was a priory.

In the late 13th century, the priory was rebuilt and extended. It was extended again in the 15th century, when the Dorter, Great Hall and Prior's Lodgings were added. The priory was designed to be home to at least 13 monks, although there appear to have been only 12 (including the Prior) at the time of the dissolution.

The surrender of the house was accomplished on 21 July 1539. Sir John Byron of Colwick in Nottinghamshire was granted Newstead Abbey by Henry VIII of England on 26 May 1540 and started its conversion into a country house. He was succeeded by his son Sir John Byron of Clayton Hall. Many additions were made to the original building. The 13th century ecclesiastical buildings were largely ruined during the dissolution of the monasteries. It then passed to John Byron, an MP and Royalist commander, who was created a baron in 1643. He died childless in France and ownership transferred to his brother Richard Byron. Richard's son William was a minor poet and was succeeded in 1695 by his son William Byron, 4th Baron Byron. Early in the 18th century, the 4th Lord Byron landscaped the gardens extensively, and amassed a hugely admired collection of artistic masterpieces.

During the ownership of William, 5th Baron Byron, the Abbey suffered a downturn in fortunes. As a young man, William lavished money on the estate, building picturesque Gothic follies and staging glamorous mock navy battles on the lake. Continuing to take out loans and pursue his pleasures of horse-racing, gambling, and going to the theatre, he found himself financially reliant on a scheme of marrying off his only surviving son and heir to a wealthy heiress. The plan fell apart when his heir eloped with his cousin Juliana Byron, daughter of William's brother John Byron.

Though late 18th-century gossip attested that he ruined the estate, felled trees, and killed deer while hellbent on revenge, this is not the case – he simply had no money to pay his debts, and stripped the Abbey and estate of its artistic treasures, furniture, and even its trees, to quickly raise cash. Though he made thousands of pounds it was not enough to pay back the loans he had been taking out since his thirties, and there was no hope of restoring the Abbey to its former glory.

As well as outliving all four of his children William also outlived his only grandson, who was killed by cannon fire in 1794 while fighting in Corsica at the age of 22. The 5th Lord died on 21 May 1798, at the age of 75. Later, 19th-century myths attest that on his death, the great numbers of crickets he kept at Newstead left the estate in swarms. The title and Newstead Abbey were then left to his great-nephew, George Gordon Byron, then aged 10, who became the 6th Baron Byron and later the famous and notorious poet.

The young Lord Byron soon arrived at Newstead and was greatly impressed by the estate. The scale of the estate contributed to Byron's extravagant taste and sense of his own importance. However, yearly income had fallen to just £800 and many repairs were needed. He and his mother soon moved to the nearby town of Southwell and neither lived permanently at Newstead for any extended period. His view of the decayed Newstead became one of the romantic ruin, a metaphor for his family's fall.

The estate was leased to the 23-year-old Henry Edward Yelverton, 19th Baron Grey de Ruthyn, from January 1803. The lease was for £50 a year for the Abbey and Park for five years, until Byron came of age. Byron stayed for some time in 1803 with Lord Grey, before they fell out badly.

In 1808, Lord Grey left at the end of his lease and Byron returned to live at Newstead and began extensive and expensive renovations. His works were mainly decorative, however, rather than structural, so that rain and damp obscured his changes within just a few years.

Byron was determined to stay at Newstead—"Newstead and I stand or fall together"—and he hoped to raise a mortgage on the property, but his advisor John Hanson urged a sale. This would be a preoccupation for many years and was certainly not resolved when Byron left for his Mediterranean travels in 1809. Upon his return to England in 1811, Byron stayed in London, not returning to see his mother who had been living in Newstead. She died, leaving him distraught at his own negligence of her. He lived again at the Abbey for a time but was soon drawn to life in London.

For the next few years, Byron made several attempts to sell the Abbey. It was put up at auction in 1812 but failed to reach a satisfactory price. A buyer was found, however, who offered £140,000, which was accepted. By spring 1813, though, the buyer, Thomas Claughton, had only paid £5,000 of the agreed down-payment. Byron was in debt and had continued to spend money on the expectation that the house would be sold. Negotiations began to degenerate, and Byron accused Claughton of robbing the wine cellar. By August 1814, it was clear that the sale had fallen through, and Claughton forfeited what he had paid of the deposit. Byron was now without settled financial means and proposed marriage to the heiress Anne Isabella Milbanke. Claughton did return with new proposals involving a reduced price and further delays. Byron turned him down.

After a number of other owners including Thomas Wildman (1815-1861) and William Fredrick Webb’s family (1861-1931), the Abbey is owned by Nottingham City Council and houses a museum containing Byron memorabilia. It plays host to weddings and other events, including the Tour of Britain passing its grounds a couple of times. I often pass through the grounds on the long road all the way through the estate.

A fascinating history I’m sure you’ll agree. The biking through the grounds excellent and as this is about my ‘Pig Hill’ loop you may be interested in the information page about the loop. It will point you at all the pages dedicated to the ‘Pig Hill’ Loop. Alternatively, if you missed the previous section, take a look at the ‘Blidworth Waye’ section, the penultimate section of the loop.