Rectangular plan stone castle on a cliff above the River Trent. The N gatehouse is the most elaborate of its kind in England with massive port and buttresses, chambers incorporating details of 1170-1180s AD, fine cushion capitals and early windows in upper chambers. Early masonry is visible in the W curtain wall which has a SW tower of some note. Traces of wall passages and Norman windows filled or cut by later works include a fine oriel window with views to the W. The Hall near the NW corner angle has a crypt with round headed arches. Much remodelling of the castle is evident with C15/C16 windows and castings over earlier features. (2)
The E walls have been completely levelled with internal structures but the ground drops away to the E and S indicating early ? Saxon/Norman defensive rampart. Below ground remains of the castle courtyard, the S walls, the NE walls, the E ramparts and ditches can be traced by the visitor (scheduled area extended --/07/1986 to cover these). The building lines to the S of the castle, along with hair cracks and lines of subsidence indicate substantial filled features including ditches. (2)
The whole of the castle grounds are now landscaped and open as public gardens. Restoration work underway. An excavation in 1984 outside the scheduled area to the S of the SW tower located another tower which may be part of a gateway. The base of that tower lines up with projecting masonry from the SW tower. Destruction of the new tower (Jenny's Tower) probably took place in the C14 with evidence of pottery, but how it fits in with the circuit of castle walls is not clear. (3)
Raised from c.1133 by … Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln. A later bishop, perhaps Henry de Burghersh (1320-40), rebuilt the curtain wall, including the NW and central turrets. Archbishop … Thomas Rotherham (1471-80) [added] a two-storey oriel. Slight[ed] at the end of the Civil War. Salvin['s] restoration [was in] 1845-8. (16)
Modern buildings excluded. See publications for excavation details. (1) quoted on SAM form.
A programme of work in 2018 including a Level 4 building survey, laser survey and excavation of 4 trenches allowed for a refinement of previous theories on the form and function of the west tower of the gatehouse, which has been demonstrated not to have had access from within the courtyard, the position of an external stair associated with the large western range of the early C14, and possibly of greatest significance, the position of the original west curtain wall, which the excavation clearly demonstrated that it lay further to the west than previously thought. (18)
The castle itself, or what remains of it, owes much of its appe arance to the Bishops of Lincoln, and the 12th century gatehouse and riverfront curtain wall (late 13th to early 14th century) define the entrance into the medieval town across the Trent Bridge. Excavation has shown that the site was originally developed as a motte and bailey castle immediately after the Norman Conquest in 1066. In the early 12th century the earthworks of this castle were heavily modified, and the Fosse Way partially rerouted, in order to provide for the redevelopment of the site by Alexander Bishop of Lincoln. The gatehouse is the principal element of the castle surviving from this phase. In the 13th and 14th centuries the castle underwent phases of reconstruction and alteration, resulting in the surviving curtain wall. Extensive below-ground remains, including an undercroft, were partially excavated in the 1990s. The castle was slighted following the Civil War and then later reimagined as the backdrop to a landscaped public garden in the late 1880s. (19)
See L9866 for Neolithic finds, L9867 for Bronze Age finds, L9864 for Roman finds and features, L9865 for Saxon burials, L9868 for Saxon features, L10852, L10856, L10858-61, L10865-69, and L10871-77 for Medieval features, L10878 for post medieval features and L10879-80 for geophysical anomalies.

Data Held: Aerial Photograph (Aerial photograph). SNT2645.

6 BW prints, CUCAP BR 57 - 60, 77, 78, SMR

Data Held: Ground Photograph (Ground photograph). SNT2646.

2 BW print, SMR

Listed buildings slides, 41 slides (Photograph). SNT2648.

M.W. Barley and P. Dixon, 1977, The Castle Newark on Trent (History and photographic record) (Unpublished document). SNT5859.

Gordon Stubbs NDC, Feb 1984, Newark Castle SW Tower (Plan). SNT4422.

<1> MOW, 819 (Published document). SNT929.

<2> Hart CR, 1984, AM107 (Unpublished document). SNT754.

<3> Samuels JR, 1985, AM107 (Unpublished document). SNT1230.

<4> Lawson Lowe AE, 1876, Black's Guide to Nottinghamshire (Published document). SNT875.

<5> Brown C, 1904, History of Newark (Published document). SNT526.

<6> Barley WM and Dixon PW, 1974, Council Rept (Published document). SNT452.

<7> Thoroton Society, 1935, TTS, pp 53-91 (Published document). SNT353.

<8> Thoroton Society, 1939, TTS, pp 22-56 (Published document). SNT356.

<9> Thoroton Society, 1955, TTS, pp 98-9 (Published document). SNT369.

<10> Thoroton Society, 1956, TTS, pp 20-33 (Published document). SNT370.

<11> Thoroton Society, 1973, TTS, pp 34-40 (Published document). SNT386.

<12> Thoroton Society, 1978, TTS, pp 72-3 (Published document). SNT391.

<13> Kinsley G, 1989, Newark's Archaeological Resource, App 1, pp 3-5 (Unpublished document). SNT40.

<14> CUCAP, Air photos (Aerial photograph). SNT594.

Other Refs: BR 57-60,77,78, Em D14, Spec Coll A ,

<15> NCC Archaeology Team, Site Book 4 (Unpublished document). SNT310.

<16> Pevsner N, 1997, The Buildings of England: Nottinghamshire (with corrections), p 189-190 (Monograph). SNT1734.

<17> Hill P R, 14/11/1992, Report on Stone from Newark Castle (Unpublished document). SNT2052.

<18> Applied Archaeology, 2019, Historic Building Recording and Archaeological Evaluation Report: Gatehouse Transformation Project, Newark Castle 2018 (Unpublished document). SNT5844.

<19> Historic England, 2024, Newark on Trent, Historic Area Assessment by Historic England (Unpublished document). SNT6029.