On the 11th March 1644, the Parliamentary forces were besieging the Royalist-held Newark-on-Trent. Newark was on the River Trent and also on the junction of the Great North Road (A1 from London to the North) and the Fosse Way (from Exeter, via the Cotswolds to Leicester). It was vital for the King as the roads linked Chester and York to Oxford, which was the King’s HQ. It withheld three sieges and only ‘fell’ when King Charles I surrendered.
During the second siege, in 1644, Hercules Clay dreamt that his house was on fire. He ignored the dreams but after the third dream he took his family out of the house (next door to the Town Hall). Shortly after, the house was hit by a ‘bombshell’. In his will he left money for a distribution of ‘penny loaves’ for the poor of Newark and for a commemorative sermon to be read on the anniversary of the incident. This year was held on Sunday 10th March 2024,, the closest Sunday to the 11th.
At the time Churches had poor or bread boxes into which the women of the Parish would place small loaves for the poor.
