Newstead Abbey

Newstead Abbey, 10 miles NNW. of Nottingham, on the border of Sherwood Forest, was founded for Augustinian Canons by Henry II. in atonement for Becket’s murder (1170), and in 1540, after the dissolution, was given to ‘Sir John Byron the Little, with the great beard.’ Among his descendants were the first Lord Byron (cre. 1643), the ‘wicked Lord Byron’ (1722–98), and the poet Lord Byron (q.v.), who made the half-ruinous old place his home in 1808, but sold it in 1818, since which time about £100,000 has been spent on its restoration. For a full description of Newstead, its lake, ruined church, superstitions, and memories, see Washington Irving’s Abbotsford and Newstead (1835).