Sconce and Devon Park is a park in Newark, Nottinghamshire, England. It is the location of Queen's sconce, an earthwork fortification that was built in 1646 during the First English Civil War, to protect the garrison of King Charles I based at Newark Castle. It is a listed ancient monument. The park has a visitor centre, local nature reserve and it is part of a civil war trail through the town.
There are large areas of open grass and woodlands which includes Devon Pastures Local Nature Reserve, a children's play area, a civil war trail, a cafe, a football centre with 2 adult and 4 mini-soccer pitches, a park ranger service, a fitness trail, a wildlife pond, a parkrun takes place every Saturday morning at 9am, and there is a junior parkrun every Sunday at 9am. [1] The River Devon passes the park and contains Perch, bream, pike, chubb and carp. There are woodland walks with English Oak, willow and English Elm. There are two meadows which support grass species and marsh vegetation that are part of the Local Nature Reserve. An orchard has damson, blackthorn, plum and apple trees. [2]
Held by the Royalists, Newark-on-Trent played a major role in the First English Civil War, located on the last crossing point of the River Trent and at the intersection of the Great North Road and Fosse Way it was strategically important. The stronghold was centred on Newark Castle and was besieged three times before it succumbed, at the King's instruction, in May 1646. The sieges resulted in extensive siegeworks built by both sides. [3]
The second siege of Newark had highlighted the weaknesses of the garrison's defences and two new earthwork forts were constructed. The Queen's Sconce was one of these with the other being the King's Sconce. The Queen's Sconce was built upon a knoll positioned to cover approaches to the town from the south. It was named after the wife of Charles I, Henrietta Maria of France. The Sconce is one of the few forts that still survive and was only left untouched because the victorious Parliamentary army fled because of fears of the plague. [4] The sconce measures 120m by 133m with a height of up to 9m, angle bastions project from the south, south west, north and north east. The corners of the ramparts are interpreted as platforms for firing artillery. The ramparts and bastions are enclosed by a ditch up to 21m wide and 3.6m to 4.5m deep. A counterscarp bank about 0.7m in height running along the south eastern and north eastern edge of the ditch shows the location of a palisade which contemporary accounts suggest originally enveloped the sconce. [5] It was built using gravel from the River Devon [2] and it is star-shaped when viewed from above. [6]
Nottinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. A landlocked county, it is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The most-populated settlement is the City of Nottingham, which is administered as a unitary authority area. Nottinghamshire County Council, which administers the rest of the county, is based at West Bridgford in Rushcliffe. In 2017, the population was estimated to be 785,800.
Newark-on-Trent or Newark is a market town and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district in Nottinghamshire, England. It is on the River Trent, and was historically a major inland port. The A1 road bypasses the town on the line of the ancient Great North Road. The town's origins are likely to be Roman, as it lies on a major Roman road, the Fosse Way. It grew up round Newark Castle and as a centre for the wool and cloth trades.
Old Oswestry is a large early Iron Age hill fort in the Welsh Marches near Oswestry in north west Shropshire, England. The earthworks, which remain one of the best preserved hill forts in the UK, have been described as "The Stonehenge of the Iron Age Period". After the hill fort was abandoned, it was incorporated into Wat's Dyke by the Mercians during the Early Medieval period.
Newark and Sherwood is a local government district and is the largest district in Nottinghamshire, England. The district was formed on 1 April 1974, by a merger of the municipal borough of Newark with Newark Rural District and Southwell Rural District.
Newark Castle, in Newark-on-Trent in the English county of Nottinghamshire, was founded in the mid 12th century by Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln. Originally a timber castle, it was rebuilt in stone towards the end of the century.
The Western Heights of Dover are one of the most impressive fortifications in Britain. They comprise a series of forts, strong points and ditches, designed to protect the country from invasion. They were created in the 18th and 19th centuries to augment the existing defences and protect the key port of Dover from both seaward and landward attack; by the start of the 20th century Dover Western Heights was collectively reputed to be the 'strongest and most elaborate' fortification in the country. The Army finally withdrew from the Heights in 1956–61; they are now a local nature reserve.
The River Devon is a tributary of the River Trent, which rises in Leicestershire and joins the Trent at Newark in Nottinghamshire, England. In its upper reaches, it supplies Knipton Reservoir, which was built to supply water to the Grantham Canal, and Belvoir Lakes, designed by Capability Brown. It passes under the Grantham Canal, and then through Bottesford, where it is spanned by five railway bridges, only one of which is still used for its original purpose. On the outskirts of Newark, it passes by two Civil War structures, and just before it joins the Trent it becomes navigable, with a marina located on the west bank. Its name is pronounced "Deevon", not as spelt.
Pendennis Castle is an artillery fort constructed by Henry VIII near Falmouth, Cornwall, England between 1540 and 1542. It formed part of the King's Device programme to protect against invasion from France and the Holy Roman Empire, and defended the Carrick Roads waterway at the mouth of the River Fal. The original, circular keep and gun platform was expanded at the end of the century to cope with the increasing Spanish threat, with a ring of extensive stone ramparts and bastions built around the older castle. Pendennis saw service during the English Civil War, when it was held by the Royalists, and was only taken by Parliament after a long siege in 1646. It survived the interregnum and Charles II renovated the fortress after his restoration to the throne in 1660.
Liddington Castle, locally called Liddington Camp, is a late Bronze Age and early Iron Age univallate hillfort in the English county of Wiltshire, and a scheduled monument.
Farndon is a small village and civil parish on the Fosse road, 2.5 miles (4 km) south-west of Newark-on-Trent, on the banks of the River Trent. The population of the civil parish as of the 2011 census is 2,405. The A46 previously ran through the village until the development of a new dual carriageway bypass.
Hawton is an English village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire, about two miles (3.2 km) south of town of Newark-on-Trent, near the River Devon, a tributary of the River Trent. Its population was recorded as 147 in the 2011 Census.
Laughton en le Morthen is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham lying to the south of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, and its main attraction is the All Saints Church with its tower and spire of 185 feet. The village had a population of 1,241 at the 2011 Census. The parish also includes the hamlets of Carr, Slade Hooton and Brookhouse.
Farnsfield is a large village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire in Sherwood Forest. It is in the local government district of Newark and Sherwood. The population of the civil parish as at the 2011 Census was 2,731, an increase from 2,681 in the United Kingdom Census 2001.
While there are many castles in South Yorkshire, the majority are manor houses and motte-and-bailey which were commonly found in England after the Norman Conquest.
The fortifications of Copenhagen is the broad name for the rings of fortifications surrounding the city of Copenhagen. They can be classified historically as follows:
Southleigh is a village and civil parish in the East Devon district of Devon, England. Its nearest town is Colyton, which lies approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) east from the village. Southleigh parish encompasses Wiscombe Park with its hill climb course.
Worcester's city walls are a sequence of defensive structures built around the city of Worcester in England between the 1st and 17th centuries. The first walls to be built around Worcester were constructed by the Romans. These early walls lasted beyond the fall of the Empire, and the defences encouraged several early Christian foundations to establish themselves in Worcester during the troubled 6th and 7th centuries. The Anglo-Saxons expanded Worcester in the 890s, forming a new walled, planned city, called a burh. The burh utilised the southern stretches of the old Roman walls, but pushed further north to enclose a much larger area. The Anglo-Saxon city walls were maintained by a share of taxes on a local market and streets, in an agreement reinforced by a royal charter.
Cornish promontory forts, commonly known in Cornwall as cliff castles, are coastal equivalents of the hill forts and Cornish "rounds" found on Cornish hilltops and slopes. Similar coastal forts are found on the north–west European seaboard, in Normandy, Brittany and around the coastlines of the British Isles, especially in Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Many are known in southwest England, particularly in Cornwall and its neighbouring county, Devon. Two have been identified immediately west of Cornwall, in the Isles of Scilly.
The fortifications of Plymouth in Devon are extensive due to its natural harbour, its commanding position on the Western Approaches and its role as the United Kingdom's largest naval base. The first medieval defences were built to defend Sutton Harbour on the eastern side of Plymouth Sound at the mouth of the River Plym, but by the 18th century, naval activity had begun to shift westward to Devonport at the mouth of the River Tamar. During the Victorian era, advances in military technology led to a huge programme of fortification encompassing the whole of Plymouth Sound together with the overland approaches. Many of these works remained in military use well into the 20th century.
The Storming of Shelford House was a confrontation of the English Civil War that took place from 1 to 3 November 1645. The Parliamentarian force of Colonel-General Sydnam Poyntz attacked the Royalist outpost of Shelford House, which was one of a group of strongholds defending the strategically important town of Newark-on-Trent. The house, owned by Philip Stanhope, 1st Earl of Chesterfield and controlled by his son Sir Philip Stanhope, and made up of mostly Catholic soldiers, was overwhelmed by the Parliamentarian force after calls for submission were turned down by Stanhope. The majority of the defenders were killed in the resulting sack by the Parliamentarians, commanded by Colonel John Hutchinson, and the house was then burned to the ground. Stanhope died soon afterwards from injuries he sustained in the attack.
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