Newark Castle

History

Newark Castle resides on the east bank of the River Trent in Nottinghamshire, England. The first stone castle at Newark was built by Alexander the Magnificent, Bishop of Lincoln, around 1130 as a fortified palace. It occupies the site of an earlier Norman castle made of earth and timber, and archaeologists have also found evidence of prehistoric, Roman, and Saxon settlements.

A Charter from King Henry I, around 1135, granted permission to the Bishop to build a castle which read:

"Henry, King of England, to all the Barons and to the Sheriffs and to his ministers and faithful men of Nottinghamshire, Greeting. Know ye, that I have granted to Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, that he may make a ditch and rampart of his fishpond of Niwerc upon the Fosseway, and he may divert the Fosseway through the same town as he shall wish".

King John visited Newark Castle several times from 1205 onwards. And in 1206, he took control of the Bishop's Castle during a power struggle with the pope. Ten years later, Newark Castle was entrusted to Robert de Gaughy as Civil War between John and the northern barons ensued. John would march north in 1216 to drive back the king of Scotland, who had invaded England as far south as Cambridge. On this campaign, King John would die of dysentery at Newark Castle on October 19th, 1216, traditionally from eating a "surfeit of peaches," shortly after losing much of his baggage train, including the English Crown Jewels, in the Wash.

His son, Henry III, succeeded John and encountered resistance from one of his father's mercenaries, Robert de Gaughy, the same man entrusted to protect the castle by John. When de Gaughy refused to surrender Newark Castle back to the throne, the nine-year-old Henry III unsuccessfully besieged the castle. In 1218, following a week-long siege, de Gaughy agreed to leave, and Henry paid him 100 pounds in silver to abandon his position in the castle and as compensation for the supplies he left behind. The castle was returned to the Bishop of Lincoln.

In 1322, during the baronial rebellion against Edward II, Bishop Henry Burghersh of Lincoln, who held Newark Castle, was suspected of leaning toward the rebels. Edward therefore seized the castle and placed it in the custody of Donald, Earl of Mar, a nephew of Robert the Bruce who had stayed in England and served the king. Edward II visited Newark Castle in 1323, seeking refuge from barons threatening his rule, and Donald made improvements to the castle, including adding towers along the west wall facing the River Trent that remain today.

The castle from the River Trent.

The castle remained under the ownership of the bishops until 1547, when King Henry VIII took it for the Crown. It was then leased to a succession of noblemen, including the Earl of Rutland and Lord Burghley, until the English Civil War. In 1603, the new king, James I, stayed at the castle on his way from Scotland to London.

From the start of the Civil War, Newark was on the side of the King, and the castle became an important Royalist garrison, holding out against three long and bitter sieges in 1643, 1644, and 1646. Little was recorded about the castle at this time, although it would have had a significant role. It was garrisoned, and several men were killed on the ramparts by Parliamentary fire. The only known measure to refortify it was the cutting of the north castle ditch, which was found in an excavation in 1992. On May 5th, 1646, King Charles I gave himself up to the Scots army at nearby Southwell and ordered Newark to surrender to the Parliamentarians. The castle's popularity with the king may have contributed to its destruction. After the surrender, the townsfolk and local villagers were ordered to demolish all of the siege works, including the castle. Although most of the walls were probably left standing, they became a target for stone robbers, and the castle was gradually reduced to its present state. Townsfolk from Newark used stonework from the castle to help rebuild what was damaged in town during the previous several years.

In the mid-19th century, architect Anthony Salvin took on restoring the castle, and by 1889 it had been turned over to the Corporation of Newark. The castle gardens were designed by the Victorian landscape architect H. E. Milner and opened in 1889, and a major refurbishment of the gardens, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, took place between 1998 and 2000. The castle has been open to the public to enjoy ever since.

Castle Highlights

The gatehouse, photographed in 2007.

The view of Newark Castle from the River Trent is still impressive and is one of the longest in England, yet less than twenty percent of the castle remains. The most notable feature of the castle today is the gatehouse, one of the finest examples of a 12th-century gatehouse to survive in England. It was part of Bishop Alexander's original castle and was built as a grand entrance to impress visitors. It contained the bishop's private apartment, with a chapel, bedroom, reception room, and private toilet, and important visitors would have been received in this suite on the first floor. A bridge over a moat and the outer rampart preceded the gatehouse, but it was unlikely to be a drawbridge as no evidence of bridge lifting gear can be found. The original three large arched windows overlooking the approach were replaced with two Tudor windows around 1580, but you can still see the outline of the originals. In the late 13th century, the castle was enlarged and modernized, and the contrast between the 12th-century stonework and the newer, smoother masonry can be seen on the walls to the right of the gatehouse.

The riverside wall of the Halls Range.

The North-West and South-West Towers facing the river also remain ruined, and the castle walls along the river adjoin the towers. About 1300, the riverside curtain wall was rebuilt, and a timber-framed Halls Range was built against it, with two large halls, the Great Hall and the Bishop's Hall. The large windows overlooking the river could safely be as large as they are because the river protected the castle on that side. The Great Hall was for general use and included a large area for communal meals, kitchens, store rooms, and bedrooms, with fires made in open hearths and the smoke escaping through a hole in the roof. The bishop also used it to hold courts, with the accused brought straight from two prison cells in the central tower, while the Bishop's Hall was used to entertain special guests and to accommodate the bishop's large personal staff. The north curtain wall was three meters thick and had small rooms and passages built into it.

The castle has five known dungeons and prisons, including two in the tower in the center of the west curtain wall. The dungeon tour includes the castle's torture chamber and the cells where some English Knights Templar are said to have been held in the 14th century, after Pope Clement V declared the order heretical. One cell has carved symbols that are often called Templar graffiti, and another has prayer niches carved by prisoners, although similar marks are common in medieval castles and churches and may simply be devotional. A chapel and kitchen would have been freestanding buildings in the castle courtyard.

Newark Castle can be explored in an hour or two. Other castles within reach to explore the same day are Belvoir Castle to the south or Nottingham Castle to the west.

Newark Castle is also haunted.