Town in Staffordshire, England
Newcastle-under-Lyme
The man who gave the world the modern circus ring was born in Newcastle-under-Lyme, a medieval Staffordshire market town beside the Potteries.
Key information
- County
- Staffordshire
- Nation
- England
- Known for
- Staffordshire oatcakes, a Norman "new castle" and the birthplace of Philip Astley, founder of the modern circus
- What locals are called
- Novocastrians
- Famous people
- Philip Astley, Josiah Wedgwood IV
- Football clubs
- Newcastle Town; Stoke City and Port Vale are close neighbours
About Newcastle-under-Lyme
The birthplace of Philip Astley
Philip Astley was born in Newcastle-under-Lyme in 1742, the son of a cabinet-maker. He left for a career as a cavalryman and became a superb trick rider. In 1768 he began giving riding displays in London. He worked out that galloping in a circle let a rider stay balanced and keep the audience in view. That circle became the circus ring, and Astley added clowns, acrobats and musicians to fill the gaps between horse routines. His Astley's Amphitheatre in Lambeth became one of London's best-known shows, and he took the idea to Paris too. Every big top since owes something to a boy from this Staffordshire market town.
A new castle under the forest
The name is plainer than it sounds. After the Normans arrived, a fresh castle was built here beside the great Lyme forest, so the place became the "new castle under Lyme". The hyphenated tail also keeps it apart from the other Newcastle, up on the Tyne. Little of the castle survives today, but the town it created did well. Henry II granted a royal charter in 1173, making Newcastle a borough and giving its market real standing. Stoke-on-Trent only became a city in 1925, by which time Newcastle had been trading and holding its charter for centuries.
Hats, coal and the Potteries next door
Newcastle sits right beside the pottery towns, and its fortunes ran alongside theirs. Local trades included hat-making and cloth, and the nearby coalfield fed the kilns and the factories. Josiah Wedgwood IV, from the famous pottery family, served as the town's MP from 1906 to 1942. He was a radical who ended up in the Labour Party and then the House of Lords, and he spent more than three decades speaking for Newcastle-under-Lyme in Parliament. The local industries have changed, but the market-town feel remains. The market still draws crowds, and the streets around it keep their old pattern.
Landmarks worth a wander
St Giles' Church is the town's main landmark. It has a medieval tower, while the body of the church was rebuilt in the Victorian era by the architect Sir George Gilbert Scott. The Guildhall, dating from 1713, stands in the market place and is a reminder of the town's civic pride. Brampton Park holds the Brampton Museum and Art Gallery, which has local ceramics among its collections, a nod to the neighbouring pottery industry. Just outside town, Keele University was founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, a pioneering post-war institution that shaped how British universities taught their students.
Oatcakes, football and local loyalties
The great local food is the Staffordshire oatcake. It is a thin, soft pancake of oatmeal, flour and yeast, cooked on a griddle and rolled around cheese and bacon. It is breakfast here, and arguments about the best oatcake shop are taken seriously. On the football side, Newcastle Town play in the town, but most local loyalties lie with the two big clubs close by. Stoke City and Port Vale divide opinion in pubs and playgrounds, and which side you back usually tells you something about your family. Newcastle-under-Lyme itself is that mix of market-town confidence and Potteries neighbourliness.