Southwell Minster siege work (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Southwell.
In the historic county of Nottinghamshire.
Modern Authority of Nottinghamshire.
1974 county of Nottinghamshire.
Medieval County of Soke of Southwell.

OS Map Grid Reference: SK70165380
Latitude 53.07683° Longitude -0.95412°

Southwell Minster siege work has been described as a certain Siege Work, and also as a Fortified Ecclesiastical site although is doubtful that it was such.

There are no visible remains.

Description

The vallum round this was strong enough to permit a spirited defence in 1142. Nothing seems to be left of it. (King 1983)

The Royalist supporters ejected from Nottingham Castle in 1142 circumvallated Southwell Minster and occupied it as a base against the Angevin supporters of Willliam Paynel. Nottingham castle was subsequently retaken by William Peveril whilst Paynel was absent in search of forces with which to attack Southwell, thus rendering the fortification superfluous. Nothing remains of the temporary vallum (and presumably an associated rampart) dug around the Minster. (Creighton 1998)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 322435.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) M3148.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Castles by Dr Sarah Speight, The Nottinghamshire Heritage Gateway
Books
- Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of the East Midlands (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 96
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 382
  Knowles, David and Hadcock, R Neville, 1953, Medieval religious houses in England and Wales (Longman) p. 439, 483
  Page, Wm (ed), 1910, VCH Nottinghamshire Vol. 2 p. 152-61 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Speight, Sarah, 1995, 'Four More Early Medieval 'Castles' Sites in Nottinghamshire' Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire Vol. 99 p. 68, 70
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Arnold, T. (ed), 1885, 'Historia regum, A. D. 616-1129' Symeonis Monachi Opera Omnia (London: Longman Rolls Series 75) Vol. 2 p. 311-12
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Creighton, O.H., 1998, Castles and Landscapes: An Archaeological Survey of Yorkshire and the East Midlands (PhD Thesis University of Leicester) p. 488 online copy

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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