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In 1140, a new bridge built by the Bishop of Lincoln in Newark offered an alternative to the bridge over the Trent at Nottingham. It also offered a chance to stay on a better road surface - the old Roman road, with more amenities - and avoid the middle and southern part of Sherwood Forest where outlaws and robbers caused problems.

The new bridge was such a success that traffic forced a new development a few years later between 1173 and 1180, forming the stone walls and remains a visitor sees today.

In October 1216, King John was present at Newark Castle. He had marched north with an army during a war against rebellious English barons and London having been occupied by an invading French army. Already a sick man, King John had lost part of his treasury - including his crown - in The Wash.

At Newark, he rested but feasted: having eaten too much on an already bad stomach, he died during the night and a terrific thunderstorm which swept over Sherwood was later described in it's ferocity as 'the Devil himself coming to claim King John's soul'.

After King John's death there were the usual accusations of poison - a local Robin Hood story has Friar Tuck poisoning King John for the murder of Maid Marian, a story having no real facts to back it up even though Marian's surname is sometimes given as Fitzwalter and her tomb is said to exist in an Essex church.

Blacke Dickon's tour of Robin Hood's county

Robin Hood expert, Richard Rutherford-Moore in the guise of one of the Sherwood Foresters takes us to Newark.

Blacke Dickon: "It was here that in 1216 King John died. One of the traditions within the Robin Hood legend is that the King was poisoned by a cleric... named Friar Tuck."