During the winter of 1642 the Royalists constructed a new defensive circuit beyond the medieval walls. They were strengthened after an assault in 1643, and nearby houses on Northgate, including the Spittle, were burned to remove cover. A description of the defences at the start of the final siege in 1643 refers to "strong bastions, earthworks, half-moons, counterscarps, redoubts, pitfalls and an impregnable line of earth and turf, palisaded and stockaded and every part so furnished with great guns and cannon, that this bulky bulwark of Newark represented to the besiegers one entire sconce". Nothing survivies of all the works on the main circuit except for the slight remains at the Friary. (1)
London Road … linear feature 0038 may represent a secondary ditch to the rear of the rampart, and there was perhaps a raised platform to the rear of the defences. (2)
Millgate House Hotel … a very broad ditch running N - S, with a possible bank to the E. The clay pipes and pottery from the ditch were all C17. The size and date of the ditch suggest that it may have been part of the Civil War defences which are thought to have run parallel to Millgate. (3)
Albert Street ... a ditch, largely backfilled with clean gravel. A 12m length of the back walls of the buildings had heavily subsidised in the past, and suggested the overall width of the feature. No subsidence was visible on the street frontage and may indicate that Albert Street crossed the line of the ditch on a causeway. (4)
Cow Lane / Northgate … The Civil War hornwork has been located in three places and its complete extent within the site can now be reasonably accurately projected. The main filling is likely to have been formed from the rampart (formed mainly of Mudstone) thrown into the ditch after the close of the war. A layer of clean yellow gravel over a dark grey deposit may have been the base of the rampart associated with the Civil War ditch. (5)
The Friary … two turf lines may be taken to represent a two phase rampart. (6)
Grid ref for corner at Newark Friary site.
See M3044 for Queen's Sconce and M3644 for King's Sconce, which were part of the defences.

<1> RCHM, 1964, Newark on Trent - The Civil War Siegeworks, pp 29-31 (Published document). SNT1176.

<2> TPAT, Apr 1990, Results of a Watching Brief and Trial Excavation at the Newark Castle Brewery Site (Phase 1), November 1989 to April 1990, p 7 (Unpublished document). SNT2140.

<3> Samuels, J, Sept 1990, An Archaeological Evaluation of Land to the Rear Millgate House Hotel, Millgate, Newark, Nottinghamshire, pp 4-5 (Unpublished document). SNT2106.

<4> TPAT, 28/01/1993, An Archaeological Watching Brief on the Construction of Extensions to Nos. 7-11 Albert Street, Newark-on-Trent, Notts., pp 1-2 (Unpublished document). SNT2065.

<5> TPAT, 23/06/1993, Interim Summary Report on Archaeological Evaluation at Cow Lane, Northgate, Newark 4-18th June 1993 (Unpublished document). SNT2062.

<6> TPAT, Apr 1996, Archaeological Evaluation at the Friary, Newark, Notts: Summary Report, p 3 (Unpublished document). SNT2238.