The stratigraphy within Area 7 suggests that the feature reviled below the castle rampart is late Saxon in date and given the associated dressed stone fragments, of high status. It appears to have been demolished to make way for the construction of the motte. Given the east-west orientation of the wall foundation and the proximity of the extensive graveyard of the same date, this might have been a church, part of a religious foundation, or a manorial building adjacent to a church. (1)
Beneath the levelled motte was dark soil containing Saxo-Norman pottery and the footings of a building associated with scattered ashlar blocks. Barley & Waters also found Saxon-Norman buildings buried beneath the eastern rampart. The presence of a Saxon cemetery, taken in conjunction with the existence of a Saxon stone building beneath the putative motte in Area 7, raises the possibilities of a church, monastic settlement or manorial enclosure beside a church. (2)

<1> Coupland, F., et al, 1994, Newark Castle Studies: Excavations 1994, pp 19,20 (Published document). SNT1905.

<2> Thoroton Society, 1994, TTS, pp 49-57 (Serial). SNT1474.