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Yard home to hundreds

I have written in the past about some of the old streets and yards of Newark.

In this week's article I present a further selection of stories about some lost corners of Newark from medieval times through to the present day.

First for consideration is an area close to the centre of town known as the Mount (pictured left).

Accessed today via Mount Lane off Appletongate, the Mount marked the approximate northern extent of Newark in medieval times.

A stout defensive wall ran from Appletongate to Bar Gate (roughly along Mount Lane and Slaughterhouse Lane in front of Morrisons supermarket).

The Mount is said to have taken its name from a large earthen platform situated behind the medieval wall which could be used as a look-out position across open country to the north.

A former name for the area was Parson's Mound and William Dickinson, in his History and Antiquities of Newark, notes that at the time he was writing (about 1806), the remains of a mound could still be seen in this area.

Cornelius Brown, in his history of the town, states that all traces of the mound were finally swept away in the 1820s when the Mount School was built.

A little way to the east of the Mount, and somewhat less ancient, was an area known as Cross Guns Yard. Situated off Baldertongate where Victoria Gardens now stands, Cross Guns Yard took its name from the pub (opened in about 1781) which stood at its entrance.

Access to the yard, behind, with housing ranged on three sides, was through a narrow covered alley beside the pub. Writing in 1894 one former resident of Newark, William Hindley, had very clear memories of Cross Guns Yard as it appeared in the early years of the 19th Century.

He wrote: "Before the march of sanitary science, we had Cross Guns Yard... but such a human dust-bin did it become, that, like the other colony over the sea used as a receptacle for the refuse of British humanity, it gained notoriety under its more modern title of Botany Bay.

"The houses were the homes of all the idle loafers and won't-works of that day. "Some of the houses (which were mostly made of wood) were built upon the flat principle, with balconies above; the central block containing 56, and the sides about 10 cottages each.

These were occupied by over 100 families, the total number of human beings often herded together in this confined space being computed at 300 persons.

"Pedlars used to carry their wares to the villages on carts drawn by dogs, and ten or 20 of these could be seen starting out of a morning."

Mr Hindley also recalls how, in the 1820s, Cross Guns Yard (or Botany Bay) was home to one of the town's notorious brothels. He said: "The moral atmosphere and the daily conversations were better to imagine than describe.

A gentleman who lived in the locality said he had seen them carrying gin into the yard in milk buckets.

And on the same authority it is alleged that men and women would indulge in free fights and pitched battles night in and night out for weeks. The authorities were powerless."

The Cross Guns pub closed in 1843, although the houses behind continued to be known as Cross Guns Yard until the 1880s when most were demolished.

By the time the 1891 census was taken the area had been renamed Victoria Gardens, presumably after the Victoria Inn which also stood close by.

An area of Newark which has a somewhat less colourful past, but one whose name has likewise passed into history, is Gas House Lane off Barnbygate. As its name suggests Gas House Lane records the location of the town's former gas works.

The present name for the street - Parker Street -commemorates the man who was a prime mover in bringing gas to the town.

In 1832 William Parker was Mayor of Newark and in July of that year he presided over a meeting at the Clinton Arms Hotel at which it was decided to establish a Gas Light and Coke Company.

The foundation stone for the town gas works (originally at the northern end of Whitfield Street) was laid by William Parker on August 23, 1832, and by the end of the year selected parts of the town were benefiting from supplies of locally manufactured coal gas.

The company also accepted a contract from the town council to provide street lighting, replacing the feeble oil lamps which had hitherto been erected around the town.

As demand for gas grew the original works on Whitfield Street became unable to cope and in 1883 the company acquired a new site on Barnbygate where it built a greatly enlarged facility.

It was at this time that Gas House Lane came into being, retaining that name until 1903 when it was officially renamed Parker Street in honour of Mayor William Parker.

Those who are interested in the old streets and yards of Newark may wish to obtain a copy of a reprint of John Wood's street map of the town, first published in 1829. Copies are available from Newark Library priced 50p.

In compiling this article I am indebted to Mr Michael Gill of Newark for allowing me to draw on his in-depth knowledge of the old streets of the town.

ABOVE: Mount Lane, Newark, bounded by the church yard (left) and by the original buildings of the Mount School (right). The footpath marks the approximate northern extent of Newark in medieval times when a large man-made mound or look-out post first gave the area its name.

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