NEWCASTL £. 803 
NEWCASTLE BA'Y, a large open bay of the Pacific 
Ocean, on the north-eaft coaft of New Holland, in which 
are fome fmall lowiflands and flioals, fouth of York Cape. 
NEWCASTLE-in-EM'LYN, a fmall market-town of 
South Wales, fituated partly in the county of Caermar- 
then, and partly in Cardiganfhire. It is pleafantly fta- 
tioned on the banks of the river Tivy, which meanders 
along the vale here in a very bold and Terpentine courfe, 
and adds greatly, by its majeftic fweeps, to the charms of 
the furrounding fcenery. The approach to the town lies 
through an arched gateway, about fourteen feet high, and 
fupported by two oftagon pillars, which contributes alfo 
to enhance the romantic and pidlurefque view beyond it. 
Here are the ruins of a caftle originally founded at a very 
remote period, and fubfequently rebuilt by fir Rhys ap 
Thomas, who made it one of his principal feats. Some 
coins and other veftiges of a Roman Ration are faid to 
have been difcovered in this vicinity ; and the country 
around exhibits feveral encampments of different forms 
and fizes, fome of which were doubtlefs either conftrudled 
or altered by the Romans. The market-day in this town 
is Saturday; (Wilkes’s Britifh Directory fays Friday;) and 
it is faid to have fix fairs in the year, of which Wilkes 
enumerates only three, which are—June 22, July 18, and 
Nov. 22, for cattle, horfes, and fheep. It is feventeen 
miles north of Carmarthen, and 216 weft-north-weft of 
London. 
NEWCAS'TLE-under-LI'NE, a borough and mar¬ 
ket-town in the hundred of Pyrehill, and county of 
Stafford, England, is fituated on a branch of the river 
Trent; and owes its name and origin to a caftle built 
here by Edmund earl of Lancafter, in the reign of 
Henry III. This edifice flood in the centre of a confider- 
able lake, being on the fouth-weft fide of the town ; but 
fcarcelyany veftiges of it now remain. Leland fays the 
whole was deftroyed in his time, with the exception of one 
tower; and that it was originally eredled to fupply the 
place of the more ancient fortrefs at Chefterton-under- 
Line. Hence the appellation New Caftle. This town was 
incorporated, by royal charter, foon after its foundation ; 
and queen Elizabeth and Charles II. feverally confirmed 
its privileges. It is now governed by a mayor, two juf- 
tices, two bailiffs, and twenty-four common-councilmen, 
w'ho have the right of holding courts for the recovery of 
debts under forty pounds. Ne wcaftle fends two members 
to parliament, and has done fo fince the twenty-feventh 
year of the reign of Edward III. 
The right of eledlion in this borough has been three 
times the fubjedl of parliamentary inveftigation ; viz. in 
1624, 1705, and in 1792. The firft determination was in 
favour of ancient cuftom, which was that of the freemen 
refidents, who did not forfeit their claim till a year and a 
day after they had left the town ; the fecond and laft have 
been confined to the queftion of refidence for the year and 
day that they had actually ceafed to refide, which in both 
cales was decided againft this claim. In the trial of the 
petition of Thomas Fletcher and Clement Kynnerfley, 
efqrs. againft fir Archibald Macdonald and the Hon. John 
Levefon Gower, the fitting members, in 1792, it appeared 
in evidence, that a great part of this borough was the pro¬ 
perty of the marquis of Stafford, whofe influence directs 
the choice of the eleftors; and that it is very cuftomary 
for the burgeffes, who are the eledlors, to live ten, fifteen, 
and twenty, years, in their refpedlive houfes, without pay¬ 
ing any rent; and that the then members were the brother 
and fon-in-law of that nobleman. Upon the trial of the 
above petition, the counfel for the petitioners ftated the 
right of election to be in the mayor, bailiffs, and burgefles 
or freemen, whofe place of refidence, at the time of their 
giving.their votes, was in the faid borough; or who, at 
fuch time, have no place of refidence elfewhere, and who 
have never been abfent from the-borough for the fpace of 
a year and a day without interruption fince they were ad¬ 
mitted to the freedom thereof, or whofe families (if they 
were mafters of families) have hot been abfent for the 
Vol. XVI. No. 1x56. 
fpace of time aforefaid without interruption, after the 
time of the admiflionof fuch burgefles or freemen, having 
families, to the freedom of the faid borough. The counfel 
for the fitting members ftated the right of eledlion to be 
in the freemen refiding in the borough of Newcaftle, and 
not receiving alms or church-bread ; and that perlons liv¬ 
ing a year and a day out of the borough loft their freedom. 
The committee determined, that neither of the ftatements 
delivered in by the petitioners, or fitting members, was 
the fpecific right of voting for this borough ; but that the 
right was, “ In the freemen refiding in the borough of 
Newcaftle-under-Line.” 
At the general eledlion in 1812, fir John Fletcher Fen¬ 
ton Boughey, bart. was eledled for this borough in oppo- 
fition to the patron, the marquis of Stafford; and in 
1815, fir John Chetwode, bart. of Oakley, in this county, 
was chofen in oppofition to Mr. Wilmot, fon of fir Robert 
Wilmot of Derbyftiire, who was nominated and fupported 
by the patron. The prefent members are W. T. Kin- 
nerfley and B. J. Wilmot, efqrs. 
The fituation of the town is extremely pleafant, and the 
houfes difplay a fuperior neatnefs in their architecture, as 
well as a more than ordinary degree of uniformity in their 
arrangement. The principal ftreet, in particular, is fpa- 
cious and well paved ; but its appearance is fomewhat in¬ 
jured by the market-place occupying its centre. It is faid 
there were anciently four churches in this town, though 
one only now exifts, and this is denominated a chapelry 
to Stoke. Diffenting meeting-houfes, however, are nu¬ 
merous. The alms-houfes, twenty in number, owe their 
ereftion to the marquis of Stafford and lord Grenville, 
and are appropriated for the accommodation of twenty 
poor women, inhabitants of the borough. A manufac¬ 
tory of hats, the coal and clothing trade, and the potteries 
in the vicinity, form the chief fupport both of the higher 
and lower orders of the inhabitants. The market-day is 
on Monday, weekly, for provifions; and every alternate 
week a great cattle-market is held ; befides cattle-fairs on 
Eafter-Monday, Whit-Monday, July 6, the firft Monday 
in September, and on the 6th of November. According 
to the parliamentary-returns of 1811, this town contained 
1344 houfes, and 6175 inhabitants ; fhowing an increafe, 
fince 1801, of 286 houfes, and 1571 perfons. 
Chefterton-under-Line, the fite of the ancient fortrefs, 
the decay of which, gave occafion to the ereCtion of that 
at Newcaftle, is now a trifling village, but there can be 
no doubt of its having been a place of importance pre¬ 
vious to the event we have juft mentioned. Scarcely any 
traces either of the caftle or town can now be difcovered ; 
but Camden tells us hefaw their ruins and Ihattered walls; 
and Erdefwick fays, he could perceive the walls had been 
of wonderful thicknefs and ftrength. In the reign of 
king John, the property of the manor here, and confe- 
quently the cuftody of the caftle, were veiled by that mo¬ 
narch in Randal, one of the earls of Chefter, from whom 
it moll probably took its prefent name, for we conceive it 
very likely that it had a different appellation at a more 
remote period. 
At Trentharn, three miles and a half from Newcaftle, 
on the fouth bank of the river, is a magnificent feat, be¬ 
longing to the marquis of Stafford. The houfe is a modern 
eredtion, buiit after the model of Buckingham-houfe, in 
St. James’s Park; and is furrounded by extenfive inclo- 
fures, finely variegated with umbrageous foliage, fwelling 
lawns, and expanfive fheets of water, formed by the 
Trent, which flows through the park. The noble owner 
of Trentham is juftly eminent in the annals of the fine 
arts For his large colledlion of pictures, which is partly 
preferved in this manfion, and partly in the town-houfe 
at St. James’s, London. At an extremity of Trentham 
Park, bordering on the public road, is a family-maufo- 
leum, lately eredted from the claftica! defign of J. H. Tat- 
ham, efq. architedl. In the village of Trentham flood an 
ancient nunnery, where St. Werburgh, the filler of king 
Ethelred, was abbefs at the time of her death, A. D. 683 
9 S This 
