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.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

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.

Source: Historic England

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)

Source: Historic England