1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Hucknall Torkard

HUCKNALL TORKARD, a town in the Rushcliffe parliamentary division of Nottinghamshire, England; 132 m. N.N.W. from London by the Great Central railway, served also by the Great Northern and Midland railways. Pop. (1901) 15,250. The church of St Mary Magdalene contains the tomb of Lord Byron. There are extensive collieries in the vicinity, and the town has tobacco and hosiery works. Small traces are found of Beauvale Abbey, a Carthusian foundation of the 14th century, in the hilly, wooded district W. of Hucknall; and 3 m. N. is Newstead Abbey, in a beautiful situation on the border of Sherwood Forest. This Augustinian foundation owed its origin to Henry II. It came into the hands of the Byron family in 1540, and the poet Byron resided in it at various times until 1818. There remain the Early English west front of the church, a Perpendicular cloister and the chapter-house; while in the mansion, wholly restored since Byron’s time, and in the demesne, many relics of the poet are preserved. To the S. of Hucknall are traces of Gresley Castle, of the 14th century.