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An 1885 Saunter along Newark Rd

Newark road is lined with large horse chestnut trees probably planted in the late 19^th century. The 1885 OS map allows you to follow a walk along Newark Rd towards the town.

At this time (in Census records and addresses) Newark Rd continued to the top of Brownlow's Hill.

Aerial photo of Newark Rd - A1 area, taken around 1999 from getmapping.com (insert link}

The map shows the fishpond with its woodland which continues up the gentle hill on the right-hand side of the road until the Hall driveway and the Lodge. Opposite there are no features until you reach the bend, where a patch of woodland conceals the "Parsonage", with its drive, circular garden feature and orchard. A small cluster of buildings (presumably newly-built Almond Cottage, home of butler Charles Gomer) nestles next to it. Beyond is a clear stretch (with views of the Windmill on Balderton Lane) until you pass the gamekeeper's cottage (later to become Black's Farm). Just beyond the Lodge on the left side sits a complex of buildings which form the Hall's laundry (now known as "Enfin") and cottages. Across the fields behind the laundry, sitting on a back lane are some buildings which will survive the building of the A1, with four limekilns and a quarry to the south. Beyond the laundry, down a track to a back lane is another survivor of the A1.

Ahead are the two buildings of Catch-em Inn and Homestead, one either side of the corner as the turnpike road bends left. (We don't know when the Catch-em Inn stopped serving - possibly in the 1880s under John Black - but in the 1918 Sale Catalogue it was described as "formerly the Blue Bell Inn" and the tenant was Fred Black, cowkeeper. Across the road woodland lines the field beyond and the road soon turns right towards Beacon Hill, where the back lane leads back towards the village.

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