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.
Details
The monument includes the remains of a Civil War redoubt constructed by the
Parliamentarian forces besieging Newark.
The monument is situated 580m ENE of the sugar refinery on the western bank of
the River Trent and consists of earthwork ditches originally defining a
sub-rectangular enclosure c.85m by 35m internally which is interpreted as
a redoubt. The southern ditch is orientated approximately east-west, up to 75m
in length, c.7m in width and a maximum of 0.7m in depth. It includes a central
causeway up to 3m across which is interpreted as the original entrance. The
eastern ditch defining the redoubt has been mostly infilled, but is visible as
slight depression c.0.1m in depth. The western ditch has both been enlarged
by a modern field boundary and partly buried beneath an embankment. The
northern ditch has also mostly been buried beneath an embankment.
The monument is clearly depicted on two contemporary plans showing the
fieldworks of the Royalist and Parliamentarian forces, the latter attributing
it to the Scottish army under the Earl of Leven who formed a part of the
Parliamentarian forces engaged in the third and final siege between November
1645 and May 1646. The redoubt was also shown in some detail on an early 20th
century map. The location of the monument in close proximity to the west bank
of the River Trent and two other Parliamentarian redoubts suggests that it was
constructed to prevent incursions onto the island between the two courses of
the Trent, whilst being intended to operate in conjunction with other
fieldworks to provide overlapping fields of fire.
The surfaces of all trackways and fences are excluded from the scheduling,
although the ground beneath them is included.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
30217
Legacy System:
RSM
Sources
Books and journals Other
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.
End of official list entry
