Civil War redoubt on Crankley Point

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1016050
Date first listed:: 01-Jan-1949

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1016050
Date first listed:: 01-Jan-1949
Date of most recent amendment:: 08-May-1997

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:: Nottinghamshire
District:: Newark and Sherwood (District Authority)
Parish:: South Muskham
National Grid Reference:: SK 80035 56047

Reasons for Designation

The battles and sieges of the English Civil War (1642-52) between King and Parliament were the last major active military campaigns to be undertaken on English soil and have left their mark on the English landscape in a variety of ways. Fieldworks are earthworks which were raised during the military campaigns to provide temporary protection for infantry or to act as gun emplacements. The earthworks, which may have been reinforced with revetting and palisades, consisted of banks and ditches and varied in complexity from simple breastworks to complex systems of banks and interconnecting trenches. They can be recognised today as surviving earthworks or as crop or soil marks on aerial photographs. They are recorded widely throughout England, with concentrations in the main areas of campaigning, and have been recognised to be unique in representing the only evidence on the ground of military campaigns fought in England since the introduction of guns. Newark was a key garrison held by the Royalists from the outbreak of the Civil War in 1642 until it surrendered on the orders of the King in 1646. The town was surrounded by a series of offensive and defensive fieldworks, many of which survive to the present day. They are the most impressive surviving collection of such works in England; not only do extensive remains survive, but the whole system is recorded on two nearly contemporary plans, one by a Royalist engineer, the other by a Parliamentarian. They thus provide a unique opportunity for the study of the field engineering of the Civil War. All surviving examples of the Newark siegeworks are identified to be nationally important.

The remains of the redoubt on Crankley Point survive particularly well as a series of substantial earthworks and will retain significant archaeological potential in the form of buried deposits. As a result of both the survival of historical documentation and subsequent archaeological survey, the remains will contribute particularly to understanding of the final siege of Newark.

Details

The monument includes the remains of a Civil War redoubt constructed by the Parliamentarian forces besieging Newark in 1645-1646.

The remains include earthworks defining a square enclosure c.20m across which is comprised of ramparts up to 0.5m high. An external ditch approximately 0.35m in depth surrounds the ramparts. A slight break in the northern ramparts and ditch approximately 1.5m in width may represent the original entrance.

The monument is one of several redoubts constructed by the Scots who comprised part of the besieging Parliamentarian forces during the third and final siege of Newark between November 1645 and May 1646. A contemporary plan recording the fieldworks of the Parliamentarians clearly depicts the monument and attributes it to the Scots. Another contemporary plan of Royalist origins describes the redoubt as `works to secure the bridge'. Contemporary maps show a bridge which was constructed by the Parliamentarians from the Winthorpe side of the Trent to Crankley Point in order to enable reinforcements to reach the island. This is further corroborated by an account of the final siege which also dates the completion of the bridge and therefore possibly the redoubt to March 1646.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 5 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 30206
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
The Seige of Newark by the English and Scotch Armies, (1646)
Clampe, R, A Description of the Seidge of Newarke upon Trent, (1646)
RCHME, , Newark on Trent - The Civil War Siegeworks, (1964)
'Journal of the House of Lords' in Journal of the House of Lords, (1646)
Other
Staniforth, J. (landowner), (1997)

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.