Historic Newtown Town Hall.
The National Trust is preparing to mark the 75th anniversary of its acquisition of Newtown Town Hall.
The building marks the site of a lost borough and now stands alone in a nature reserve. Founded as a port called Francheville in 1256, by the Bishop of Winchester, it thrived for over a century. In 1377, Newtown was destroyed in the French invasion and by 1539 there was “no longer any good house standing”. It later became a rotten borough until, in 1830, the Whigs stripped Newtown of its MPs during their reforms. It was eventually handed to the National Trust and restored, thanks to the fundraising efforts of a group of women who called themselves The Ferguson Gang.