Newark's Defences - a town under siege

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The ECWtravelogue has visited Newark many times. The King, Queen Henrietta Maria, Prince Rupert all visited; it is home to the National Civil War Centre; and is the location of possibly the best preserved Civil War earthwork - The Queen's Sconce. So why does it deserve another blog entry?

In a word: Clampe's Plan (but that's two!). Clampe drew a plan of the Royalist defences of Newark and the Parliamentarian, and Scots siege lines. There's also another, slightly different, later version of the map: Buck's Map, which is held in the Royal Collection and can be viewed online here.

The Queen's Sconce survived, did anything else?

Clampe's Plan 

I've seen photographs of other earthworks in Newark, but no locations for them. A little sleuthery comparing Nottingham's register of ancient monuments, and Historic England's records has resulted in an extensive list of sites.

Unfortunately, the locations are so complex that they don't fit my normal way of presenting an ECWtravelogue entry. 

I've had to create a map. Each entry has a description of what existed on the site, and what may or may not still be there. OS grid references are utilised throughout. 



I've also utilised coded icons:
  • A simple tagged location indicates that this was 'the site of...' and that there isn't anything left to see. 
  • A star marker indicates that at least some of the earthwork remains. Please note that a number of the locations have difficult, or no public access. In a few instances, discretion is very much to employed: even if there is public access, it might be best avoided. Plus, as is often the case, satellite imagery is often the best way to see the site.

I've also added other sites of Civil War interest onto the map, as I realised that I hadn't created a Newark map. 

Select bibliography
The Town Well Fortified, David Flintham, Helion (2023)
Newark In The Civil Wars, Kevin Winter, in Batter Their Walls, Gates and Forts Ed Stephen Ede Borret & David Flintham, Helion (2023)
Royalist Newark 1642-1646, Stuart B Jennings, Helion (2024)



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