Keep Your Powder Dry

The ECWtravelogue has visited Newark many times. The King, Queen Henrietta Maria, Prince Rupert all visited; it is home to the National Civil War Centre ; and is the location of possibly the best preserved Civil War earthwork - The Queen's Sconce . So why does it deserve another blog entry? In a word: Clampe's Plan ( but that's two! ). Clampe drew a plan of the Royalist defences of Newark and the Parliamentarian, and Scots siege lines. There's also another, slightly different, later version of the map: Buck's Map, which is held in the Royal Collection and can be viewed online here . The Queen's Sconce survived, did anything else? Clampe's Plan  I've seen photographs of other earthworks in Newark, but no locations for them. A little sleuthery comparing Nottingham's register of ancient monuments, and Historic England's records has resulted in an extensive list of sites. Unfortunately, the locations are so complex that they don't fit my normal ...

The ECWtravelogue has finally plucked up the courage to cross the border into neighbouring Nottinghamshire.  Nottingham and Nottinghamshire were an integral part of King Charles's corridor of power that stretched from Oxford to York. Having such a strategic position, it is fair to say that the County of Nottinghamshire had a significant part to play in the First Civil War. First let's look at Nottingham : the Royal Standard was raised in August 1642 near Nottingham Castle symbolically signalling the start of the War (even though the fighting had started over a month earlier). Plaque commemorating the raising of the Royal Standard,  corner of Standard Hill/King Charles Street There is another marker, set into the road at the junction of Standard Hill and King Charles Street. This used to be located on the exact site of the raising of the Royal Standard. Please don't get run over when trying to find it. (If you have found the plaque, look in the road at the junction....

What can I say about the Portland Collection at the Harley Gallery, on the Welbeck Abbey estate, near Worksop? Firstly, I must point out that photography is not allowed. At all.  Not even sneaky ones without flash, so you'll just have to take my word for what's there. The Harley Gallery is located in what has to be one of the nicest gallery buildings I have been to. A large airy gallery space houses portraits of Charles II as a boy, and William Cavendish first Duke of Newcastle by van Dyck.  Other Civil War era portraits include Sir William Farmor by  William Dobson; 'Mad Madge' the Duchess of Newcastle, and Sir Edward Harley both by Sir Peter Lely. Elsewhere there is a Newark siege coin, a number of Charles I medallions and Charles's toothpick and case. Highlight of the entire gallery has to be a drop pearl earring  worn by Charles in pretty much every one of his portraits (from the age of sixteen). A close second is the chalice that he drank from on the...

I'm a bit of a fan of the National Civil War Centre and Newark in general; the centre and Newark having graced the pages of this blog a number of times. Well the Centre has had a revamp. So much of a revamp that rather than trying to re-write the previous entry it made more sense to write a fresh entry. On entering the museum the ground floor has stayed pretty much the same - a history of Newark gallery, and then the main gallery. The main gallery boasts an impressive display of arms and armour (mostly on loan from the Royal Armouries), interactive displays, Civil War era 'civilian' artefacts (including Newark siege tokens, and a deserters' hand branding iron). The multimedia theatre presents three short films, three in the morning and a different three in the afternoon. Not forgetting the dressing up for small and no-so-small people. The World Turned Upside Down is the new exhibition which replaces the excellent arms and armour display, and the medica...

The fact that I am planning a  sconce has got me thinking, and ultimately revisiting the Queen's Sconce in Newark. I've already written about having a grand day out in Newark  but a more in depth look at The Queen's Sconce is required. Newark had considerable defences built to protect the town and the strategic route North, some of these defences dating back to Henry VIII's time when he fortified the town during the rebellion against his religious reforms called the Pilgrimage of Grace. The strategic value of Newark explains the building of castles on the site since the eleventh century. Today Newark castle remains albeit in a slighted state, as do twelve scheduled ancient monuments, all of which relate to the defensive earthworks of the Civil Wars. The King's Sconce existed until the 1880s, the site is now a housing development. The larger Edinburgh Sconce (an offensive earthwork) has been lost also. Newark's fortifications: the Queen's Sconce is...

Newark played an important role in the Civil War and has a number of places of interest for the Civil War enthusiast. First off is the  National Civil War Centre , housed in the old Newark museum the buildings have been tastefully renovated. The main gallery is devoted to the Civil Wars, mostly interpretative panels and interactive stuff (and dressing up) for the kids. They have recently acquired 25 pieces of armour which they hope to display in the coming years. This should pad out the collection nicely. The museum has a slowly revolving exhibition upstairs, the current exhibition is '‌The World Turned Upside Down'; previous exhibitions have looked at C17th battlefield medicine, and (at the time when I first wrote this entry) ' Cutting Edge' - which had a number of Sir Thomas Fairfax's military items (complimenting his wheelchair which takes pride of place in the entrance). There are also a number of other military items on display. The followin...