Civil War gun battery and covered way immediately south east of Wiverton Hall

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 Civil War gun battery and covered way immediately south east of Wiverton Hall survive particularly well in the form of a series of substantial earthworks. The monument has not been subject to significant disturbance, with the result that the preservation of archaeological deposits is likely to be good. As a result of the survival of historical documentation relating to the site the remains are quite well understood and provide a rare opportunity to understand the role and function of the Royalist satellite garrisons surrounding Newark.

Details

The monument includes the remains of a Civil War gun battery constructed by the Royalist garrison defending Wiverton Hall, and an adjacent covered way comprising the contemporary entrance to the house.

The monument falls into two areas of protection, both of which are situated approximately 80m south east of Wiverton Hall. The first consists of earthworks defining a breastwork which is triangular in plan and up to 1.5m high, 11.5m in width and a maximum of 40m in length. The breastwork conceals a raised internal platform and is interpreted as representing a half-moon battery or gun emplacement. The second area includes the remains of a pair of parallel earthwork banks 4m in width, up to 0.8m in height and aligned on a NNW-SSE axis. These earthworks define a central area approximately 200m in length and 15m in width. This feature is interpreted as representing a covered way which formed the main entrance to the hall, and follows the course of an earlier medieval trackway.

Contemporary documentary sources record that on 9th November 1645 a Parliamentarian force under Colonel-General Sydenham Poyntz surrounded the Royalist garrison holding Wiverton Hall and demanded their surrender. The siege ended after one day with the Royalist governor Sir Robert Therrill marching out the garrison who left behind their arms and provisions. The hall was subsequently destroyed by the Parliamentarians to prevent it being reoccupied. The location and orientation of the half-moon battery suggests that it was constructed to provide a clear field of fire for artillery over the south eastern approaches to the hall. Documentary sources record that it was originally one of a pair flanking the covered way, a similar battery protecting the south western approaches. The second battery no longer survives as an earthwork feature and is not included in the scheduling. The low breastworks defining the covered way were intended to offer protection against enfilading fire.

All trackways 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. 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:

30222

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
RCHME, , Newark on Trent - The Civil War Siegeworks, (1964)
RCHME, , Newark on Trent - The Civil War Siegeworks, (1964)
Warner, T, Newark: Civil War and Siegeworks, (1992)
Chaworth-Musters, L, Transactions of the Thoroton Society in Some Account of the Family Called in English Chaworth, (1903)

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.