Details

The monument includes the site of a house known as the Red or Stoke Lodge and
its surrounding moat.

The site lies in the north west corner of a field adjacent to the Newark-
Kelham road 750m north west of Dairy Farm. It consists of earthworks defining
a sub-rectangular platform approximately 40m by 31m and up to 0.6m in height,
the southern and western edges of which are defined by an L-shaped linear
depression approximately 4.5m in width. The sub-rectangular platform is
interpreted as the site of a house and the L-shaped linear depression abutting
it represents the infilled remains of the moat which originally enclosed the
site. On the northern side of the site the moat has been disturbed and partly
destroyed by a modern field drain, while on the eastern side it has been
obscured by an old field boundary and adjacent trackway.

The monument is the site of the Red or Stoke Lodge. A house named the Red
Lodge is clearly depicted and named on a contemporary plan recording the
fieldworks of the Parliamentarian forces besieging Newark during the Civil
War. A second contemporary document of Royalist origins also records the
existence of a house, referring to it as Stoke Lodge. Despite the differing
names, both sources mention the house in reference to an adjacent
Parliamentarian redoubt. Identical map locations and the survival of such a
redoubt 50m south east of the monument suggests that the Stoke and Red Lodges
were therefore one and the same. Archaeological field survey in the 1960s
confirmed the exact location and dimensions of the house, the foundations of
which were then clearly visible in the north west corner of the platform. The
surrounding moat was also clearly defined. Field survey and aerial photography
also revealed the existence of a field track running parallel with and
immediately beyond the western side of the moat from the Kelham Road to the
Old Trent Dyke. This trackway was also clearly depicted on the contemporary
Parliamentarian plan, leading eventually to a large fort described as `a worke
of the Scots pallisadoed about'.

References to the monument and its depiction in Civil War plans indicate that
it was a prominent landmark in the contemporary landscape, almost certainly
extant before the war and possibly of medieval origins. The location of the
monument in close proximity to the Kelham road and a fording point across the
Old Trent Dyke, in addition to the construction of a Parliamentarian redoubt
adjacent to it, is indicative of the tactical importance of the site during
the Civil War.

All fences 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 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 comtemporary 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 moated site survive reasonably well despite plough
degradation will retain significant archaeological potential in the form of
buried deposits. They offer a useful insight into a smaller, perhaps less
prestigious, but nonetheless functional moated site. As a result of the
survival of historical documentation, subsequent archaeological survey and the
apparent strategic importance of the house and moat in relation to the Kelham
road, a fording point across the Old Trent Dyke and the construction of nearby
Civil War forts, the remains will also contribute particularly to
understanding of the Civil War sieges of Newark.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
The Seige of Newark by the English and Scotch Armies, (1646)
Clampe, R, A Description of the Seidge of Newarke upon Trent, (1646)
RCHME, , Newark on Trent - The Civil War Siegeworks, (1964)
Other
RCHM, NMR Printout - SK 75 SE 32, (1996)

Source: Historic England