Civil War redoubt 580m ENE of sugar refinery

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 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 this and the survival of historical documentation, the redoubt will contribute particularly to understanding the Civil War sieges of Newark.

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.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

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
The Seige of Newark by the English and Scotch Armies, (1646)
RCHME, , Newark on Trent - The Civil War Siegeworks, (1964)
Clampe, R, A Description of the Seidge of Newarke upon Trent, (1646)

Other
Title: Ordnance Survey 25" Series Source Date: 1920 Author: Publisher: Surveyor:
RCHME, NMR Complete Listing: SK 75 NE 18,

End of official list entry

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