News - Town trails for curious people (Newark)

Two new Heritage Trails have been launched by Newark Civic Trust, completing a series of eight.

The Victorian Trail and the Curiosities Trail are the latest in a series of trust leaflets that chart the heritage and historical significance of some of Newark’s best-known landmarks, buildings and people. The popular Historic Riverside Trail has also been revised.

The latest trails have been paid for by Nottinghamshire County Council’s Local Improvement Scheme, Newark Town Partnership and the Trent Vale Landscape Partnership.

The Victorian trail looks at how Newark gained from the arrival of the railways and how the dependence on agriculture diminished. It also looks at the impact of increased manufacturing and the rapid increase in population.

Buildings earmarked along the trail include the Gilstrap Centre, built as a library, and the Buttermarket Shopping Centre, which opened as the New Market Hall in 1884.

The trail also includes the former Warwicks and Richardsons Brewery offices on Northgate and the Ossington Coffee Palace on Beastmarket Hill, which has a sundial on the south wall with the motto Delay Not, Time Flies.

The Curiosities Trail features more unusual facts about the town such as Newark’s thinnest house, the double row of brass studs in the Market Place marking the Alderman’s Walk, and the controversial Jubilee Arch commissioned by the town council to mark the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2002.

The trail also takes walkers to Cuckstool Wharf by the riverside and the site of the town’s cuckstool or ducking stool, a Medieval punishment usually reserved for women, who were strapped into a chair, swung over the river and ducked. It was last used in 1801.

Newark county councillor Mr Keith Girling, who supported the application for funding, said: “These trails are a wonderful asset both for local people and visitors. Every time I read one I pick up new facts.”

The trails were written by the trust’s acting chairman, Mr George Wilkinson, secretary Mr Rupert Vinnicombe and committee member Mr Mick Gill.

Mr Wilkinson said: “These trails are a wonderful promotion of Newark’s history and heritage.

“The trust is very grateful to the organisations who have helped with the funding.”

Copies of the leaflets are available from the Tourist Information Centre in the Gilstrap Centre, Newark Library, Ann et Vin, Millgate Museum and Newark Town Hall.

Mr Vinnicombe said the trust was always looking for new members to help with its work to safeguard Newark’s heritage.

From: http://www.newarkadvertiser.co.uk/articles/news/Town-trails-for-curious-people