2-324-057 - www.picturethepast.org.uk/A W Bourne /Heritage Images

Stables and fort, Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire, c1950s. The abbey was founded between 1163 and 1173 by Henry II as a priory of Augustinian Canons with the help of a grant from Henry II. Though the monks established a prosperous base in the wood trade, the place never enjoyed much of its wealth; robberies by outlaws took some of it, King Richard I took a slice for the Third Crusade and a further sum contributed to his ransom. A new 'Nottingham castle' was planned in 1194 nearby to deal with the robbers in the Leen Valley but not built until 1205 when, instead of stopping the outlaws, it was attacked by them and eventually abandoned. If Robin Hood ever did meet Richard the Lionheart, it would have been somewhere around here (the famous painting in Nottingham Castle Art Gallery by Daniel Maclise reflects the age in which it was painted in depicting the scene when both men finally met). Richard I in late March-April 1194 and King John on several occasions between 1199 and 1215 stayed at Newstead Abbey when out hunting in Sherwood Forest. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1540, Henry VIII sold the abbey to the Byron Family, and it is now best known for being the ancestral home of Lord Byron.