Newcastle-under-Lyme is a busy market town in Staffordshire, England, not to be confused with the larger city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. In 1991 it had a population of 73,208. The surrounding borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme has a population of 122,000.
The town sits around 5 miles (8 km) west of neighbouring city Stoke-on-Trent with which it is adjoined, and about 26 miles (42 km) north of Stafford. Newcastle is often considered to be an affluent suburb of the city of Stoke-on-Trent.
The town grew up around a 'new' castle which was built by the Normans in the 12th century, ruins of which still survive, and was named "under-Lyme" due to its proximity to the former Lyme forest.
Like neighboring Stoke-on-Trent, Newcastle's economy was based around pottery, and also coal mining, both of which have declined in recent decades. Newcastle's industries today include: construction materials, apparel, computers, publishing, electric motors, and machinery. It is the nearest town to Keele University and the University Hospital of North Staffordshire .
Newcastle is on the national canal network, but the canal, running from the Trent and Mersey Canal at Stoke-on-Trent to Sir Nigel Gresley's Canal has been disused since 1935.
Newcastle's most famous son is Joseph Cook who became Prime Minister of Australia.
Culture
A carnival is held every year in Newcastle on the bank holiday Monday ending in May, at Brampton Park and through Newcastle Market Sqaure. It has a reputation for large crowds basking in sunny weather, enjoying mini-like pop concerts . Newcastle has over the years increased dramatically the number of beer houses, wine bars and trendy night clubs, requiring a larger police force presence at such events. Newcastle now rivals Hanley, Stoke on Trent for its loudness and choice of beer. There is also a small but vibrant live music scene with folk music, jazz, blues and heavy metal all catered for.
Newcastle has many places of worship including Newcastle's Faith which is an old non-conformist place of worship aka Old Meeting house, connected to the church of St Giles'. For many years it has been used by the Unitarians, amongst whom were Josiah Wedgwood and his family. It is believed Monks had a secret passage in St Giles, but this is more folk-lore than fact. Newcastle is a Methodists stronghold, especially Kidsgrove area and Mow Cop , where an open air service once hosted on Mount Pleasant lasted nearly a complete day, thousands gathered.
Catholic churches are many in Newcastle, most notably the 'Holy Trinity', whose style is Gothic in blue engineering bricks, described as 'the finest modern specimen of ornamental brickwork in the kingdom' at the time. Holy Trinity shares partisanship between Catholics and Protestants.
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