Newent
| Newent | |
| Gloucestershire | |
|---|---|
 The Old Market Hall, Newent | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SO7225 |
| Location: | 51°55’49"N, 2°24’17"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 5,073 |
| Post town: | Newent |
| Postcode: | GL18 |
| Dialling code: | 01531 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Forest of Dean |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Forest of Dean |
Newent is a small market town of Gloucestershire, found about 8 miles north west of Gloucester, on the northern edge of the Forest of Dean. The town has a half-timbered market house, other houses of historical nature, and the site of the former small Victorian museum, the Shambles, containing a replica of a 19th-century street has been transformed and now real local traders occupy the once replica shops.
There has been a village here since at least Roman times though the town first appears in the written record in the Domesday Book. The town was once called "Noent".
Parish church
Newent's parish church is St Mary's, which dates from the 13th century. Nevertheless, the site has been used since Anglo-Saxon days. St Mary's Church has stained glass windows from the famous company of Clayton and Bell.
Sights about the town
Newent is home to the Devonia, a large house dating back to the Georgian period.
Newent also contains the largest cul-de-sac in Europe, Foley Road.[1]
Near Newent is the National Birds of Prey Centre, found just east of the neighbouring village of Cliffords Mesne, a vineyard The Three Choirs), and is at the centre of the Golden Triangle, so called because of the preponderance of daffodils in the surrounding area.
Onions
The town holds an onion fayre each September, at which there are competitions for growing onions and for eating onions.
History
Educational commissioners during the reign of King Edward VI (1547–53) noted the lack of educational opportunities in Newent. Gloucestershire commissioners reported that Newent was a market town with over 500 inhabitants but "all the youth of a great distance therehence rudely brought up and in no manner of knowledge and learning, where were a place meet to ... erect a school for the better and more godly bringing up of the same youth".[2]
Newent now does have schools.
Sports and recreation
- Cricket: Newent Cricket Club
- Football: Newent Town AFC
- Rugby: Newent RFC
Outside links
- Newent local information
- Newent Onion Fayre photos & video
- Forest Online — Newent Homepage
- Newent Community School Homepage
- Newent Town AFC Football Team pages
- Pictures on Geograph.co.uk
- Official Newent Onion Fayre Site
References
- ↑ http://www.royalforestofdean.info/leadon-vale/newent.shtml
- ↑ Joan Simon, Education and Society in Tudor England, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967, p.229.