Newark

Following a visit to family in East Anglia, we broke our journey home with a short stay in Newark. Up until the last couple of years I regularly visited the Partizan show at Kelham HallI, but the journey there was tedious and seven hours travelling for two or three hours at the show didn't seem a good balance.  However, having seen the reviews of the show in its new home, perhaps next year I may give it another chance.

Any way, back to the plot....  The castle looks impressive, but the wall facing the river is all that remains apart from parts of the main gate.

One place I wanted to visit was the National Civil War Centre, which opened in 2015.  The staff were very welcoming. There is one main gallery of the war which has examples of arms and equipment and displays featuring key elements of the war.  As is customary these days there are also interactive displays showing the course of the various sieges of Newark and a game where you play the part of an artillery crew trying to hit a target in the town. Adjacent to this room is a small cinema which shows two films portraying life in the civil war.  In addition there are two exhibition galleries which at the moment cover the medical services available at the time.  One fascinating exhibit is General Fairfax's wheelchair.

Here are some photos of some of the exhibits.

Examples of helmets

Ubiquitous buff jacket

There are some examples of flags hanging

In one of the cases was a facsimile of a contemporary map of the siege works

The star fort is the Queen's Sconce and that is still extant and c15 minutes walk from the museum.

Even after 350 years it is still impressive.

I found the centre rather smaller than I would have expected and was glad that my Art Fund card had enabled me to have free entry.