Newcastle-under-Lyme is a market town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. It is adjacent to the city of Stoke-on-Trent. At the 2021 census, the population was 75,082.

Newcastle grew up in the twelfth century around the castle which gave the town its name, and received its first charter in 1173. The town's early industries included millinery, silk weaving, and coal mining, but despite its proximity to the Potteries it did not develop a ceramics trade.

Toponymy The name "Newcastle" is derived from a mid-12th century motte and bailey that was built after King Stephen granted lands in the area to Ranulf de Gernon, Earl of Chester; the land was known for his support during the civil war known as The Anarchy.

The element Lyme is found throughout the locality, such as in Lyme Brook and the Forest of Lyme. This ultimately derives from a Brythonic word related to the modern Welsh "llwyf", meaning elm. Elm trees covered an extensive area across the present day counties of Cheshire, Staffordshire and parts of Derbyshire.

History 12th–19th centuries Newcastle was not recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book, as it grew up around a 12th-century castle built during the 1140s, but it must have gained rapid importance, as a charter, known solely through a reference in another charter to Preston, was given to the town by Henry II in 1173. The new castle superseded an older fortress at Chesterton, about to the north, whose ruins were visible up to the end of the 16th century.

In 1235 Henry III turned the town into a free borough, granting a guild merchant and other privileges. In 1251 he leased it under a fee farm grant to the burgesses. In 1265 Newcastle was granted by the Crown to Simon de Montfort and later to Edmund Crouchback, through whom it passed to Henry IV. In John Leland's time the castle had disappeared "save one great Toure".

Newcastle did not feature much in the English Civil War, except as a victim of Royalist plundering. However, it was the home town of Major General Thomas Harrison, a Cromwellian army officer and leader of the Fifth Monarchy Men.

The (56 Geo. 3. c. 33 ) enclosed the common lands of the borough, and removed their common rights. They were thereafter held in trust for the burgesses of the borough. The Newcastle under Lyme Burgess Lands charity continues to exist, with entitlement to benefits going to those who would have been burgesses before the reforms of 1835: either the son of someone entitled to the trust, who was resident or occupying property within the borough's boundaries.

The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 reformed the borough, creating a new governing charter, repealing the previous charters of 1590 and 1664. The unreformed corporation prior to 1835 had been styled the "Mayor, Bailiffs and Burgesses of Newcastle-under-Lyme", but that act changed the style to "Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of Newcastle-under-Lyme".

In 1835, the admission of new burgesses was forbidden by section 13 of the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 under any criteria except that of being a ratepayer. This only affected the creation of borough burgesses, and not the entitlement rules of the Burgess Lands Trust, which continued on the historic burgess criteria.

Newcastle sent two members to Parliament from 1355 to 1885, then lost one of its seats.The History of Parliament Trust, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Borough, from 1386 to 1481 Retrieved 29 May 2019.

20th century When Stoke-on-Trent was formed by the 1910 amalgamation of the "six towns" (Stoke, Hanley, Fenton, Longton, Burslem and Tunstall), Newcastle remained separate.

Despite its close proximity, it was not directly involved in the pottery industry and it strongly opposed attempts to join the merger in 1930, with a postcard poll showing residents opposing the Stoke-on-Trent Extension Bill by a majority of 97.4 per cent. Although passed by the House of Commons, the bill was rejected by the House of Lords.

After the Local Government Act 1972, Newcastle became the principal settlement of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Utilities

Gas

The (59 Geo. 3. c. cvii) established the Newcastle-under-Lyme Gas Light Company, who built a gasworks off Goose Street (). The (18 & 19 Vict. c. lxxvii) extended its area of supply beyond Newcastle-under-Lyme to supply gas to Trentham, Stoke-upon-Trent, Keele, Wolstanton, Silverdale, Knutton, Chatterley, and Chesterton. The company was bought by Newcastle-under-Lyme Corporation under the Newcastle-under-Lyme Corporation Act 1877 (40 & 41 Vict. c. clxxii). The council operated the gasworks until it became part of the West Midlands Gas Board under the Gas Act 1948. The site is now occupied by a Morrisons supermarket.

Electricity Newcastle-under-Lyme Corporation was authorised to supply electricity by the , confirmed by the Electric Lighting Orders Confirmation (No. 12) Act 1899 (62 & 63 Vict. c. cxxxvii). A power station () was built adjacent to the gasworks, and after 1910 supplies were also obtained from Stoke-on-Trent power station. The power station used diesel generators, supplying DC power. In 1921 it had a capacity of 650 kW. The electricity undertaking was acquired by the Midlands Electricity Board under the Electricity Act 1947. After nationalisation, the power station was only used for peak-loads in the winter, and it was decommissioned in the mid-1950s, before finally being demolished in the 1990s.

Economy Like neighbouring Stoke-on-Trent, Newcastle's early economy was based around the hatting trade, silk and cotton mills. Later coal mining, brick manufacture, iron casting and engineering rose to prominence. Fine red earthenware and soft-paste porcelain tableware (the first such production in Staffordshire) was produced in Newcastle at Samuel Bell's factory in Lower Street in 1724–1754, when production ceased. Except for a failed enterprise in 1790–1797, which then switched to brewing, there was no further commercial production of pottery within the town. Production of earthenware tiles, however, continued at several locations in the borough. Manufacture of fine bone china was re-established in the borough in 1963 by Mayfair Pottery at Chesterton.

The manufacture in the borough of clay tobacco-smoking pipes started about 1637 and grew rapidly, until it was second only to hatting as an industry. Nationally, the town ranked with Chester, York and Hull as the four major pipe producers. The industry continued until the mid-19th century, when decline set in rapidly, so that by 1881 it had only one tobacco-pipe maker left.

In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, the town had a flourishing felt hat manufacturing industry, probably at its peak locally in the 1820s, when a third of the town's population were involved in over 20 factories, but by 1892 there was only one still in production.

In 1944, the Rolls-Royce Derwent engine for the Gloster Meteor fighter was made in the borough.

Newcastle's 20th-century industries include: iron-working, construction materials, clothing (especially military, police and transport uniforms), computers, publishing, electric motors and machinery.

Near the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, the town received major redevelopment to incorporate a new street (Castle Walk) into the town centre, providing Newcastle with a new bus station and bringing in more companies. Various business centres in the town provide offices for companies that operate in the service sector.

The town was classed as a BID (business improvement district) in 2015, reiterated in 2021.

York Place Shopping Centre closed in February 2024, after its remaining in tenants moved out. Strip-out and partial demolition work began later that year as part of the site’s redevelopment.

Politicians

The town has been the birthplace of several notable politicians and activists. Fanny Deakin was a campaigner for better nourishment for babies and young children and better maternity care for mothers. The former chairwoman of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), Janet Bloomfield (née Hood) is a peace and disarmament campaigner. Vera Brittain. writer, feminist (and mother of Labour Party Minister and later Liberal Democrat Shirley Williams) was born in the town.

There have been two particularly notable Members of Parliament (MPs). Josiah Wedgwood IV was a Liberal, Independent and Labour Party MP, who served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in the cabinet of Ramsay MacDonald, in the first ever Labour government. He was an MP from 1909 to 1942. John Golding was elected a Labour MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme at a by-election in 1969. He served in the governments of Harold Wilson and Jim Callaghan, as PPS to Eric Varley as Minister of Technology, a Labour whip in opposition, and Minister for Employment, stepping down in 1986.

The current MP is Adam Jogee.

Geography Situated in a valley alongside the Lyme Brook, the town is just west of the city of Stoke-on-Trent, its suburbs running together. Newcastle town centre is less than from Stoke-on-Trent City Centre, about north of Stafford and south of the Cheshire county border and from the Shropshire county border.

Green belt

Newcastle and Stoke form the main urban area at the centre of the Stoke-on-Trent Green Belt, which is an environmental and planning area that regulates the rural space in Staffordshire, to prevent urban sprawl and minimise convergence with outlying settlements. First defined in 1967, most of the area extends into the wider borough, but some landscape features and places of interest within that are covered or surrounded. They include the Michelin Sports Facility, Newcastle golf course, Keele University, Apedale Winding Wheel, Watermills Chimney and Bignall Hill. The West Coast Main Line forms the western boundary of the green belt.

Environment Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council undertakes a range of environmental, sustainability and regeneration projects. As part of its Sustainable Environment Strategy, it processes household and business waste through a 'waste to energy' plant and partnered with Advantage West Midlands in the development of Blue Planet Chatterley Valley, a sustainable logistics facility on the site of a former colliery completed in 2008. The Council also works with the Environment Agency, Walleys Quarry Ltd. and other relevant bodies to regulate Walleys Quarry landfill site in Silverdale.

Demography

+Comparative census information2001 UK CensusNewcastle-under-LymeBoroughEnglandTotal population73,944122,03049,138,831White97.8%98%91%Asian0.6%0.6%4.6%Black0.2%0.2%2.3%Christian78.2%78.5%72%Muslim0.7%0.5%3.1%Hindu0.2%0.2%1.1%No religion14%13.1%15%Unemployed2.3%2%3.3% Of the 73,944 residents recorded in the 2001 census, 51.7 per cent (38,210) were female and 48.3 per cent (35,734) male. Of these, 78.2 per cent (57,819) stated that their religion was Christian, and 12.9 per cent (9,570) said they had no religion. Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and Sikhism each covered less than 1 per cent of the population. Racially, 97.8 per cent of the population defined themselves as white, with the balance being mixed race – 0.6 per cent), Indian – 0.4 per cent, Pakistani – 0.2 per cent, black – 0.2 per cent, Chinese – 0.2 per cent, and other ethnic groups – 0.4 per cent.

In employment, 62.2 per cent (21,586) of the population work full-time and 19.4 per cent (6,746) part time. The largest employment types are manufacturing with 7,058 (21.5 per cent), wholesale and retail 6,157 (18.7 per cent), health and social work 4,097 (12.5 per cent) and finance, real estate and business activity 3,823 (11.6 per cent).