GHOSTS AROUND UNITED KINGDOM

NEWARK CASTLE, NOTTS

NEWARK CASTLE, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE

The castle was built in 1133 by Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln and it remained a seat of the Bishops until 1547, when King Henry VIII took it for the crown. Originally a timber castle, it was rebuilt in stone towards the end of the century. A charter by King Henry I granted the Bishop of Lincoln permission to build the castle:
Henry, King of England to all the Barons and to the Sheriffs and to his ministers and faithful men of Nottinghamshire, Greeting. Know ye, that I have granted to Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, that he may make a ditch and rampart of his fishpond of Niwerc upon the Fosseway and he may divert the Fosseway through the same town as he shall wish.

Playing as a major Royalist garrison during the civil War (1642–1651), the Castle holds many tales of murder, treason and suicide. King John visited the Castle many times and died there October 1216. A thunderstorm swept over Sherwood the night he died and was later described in its ferocity as "the Devil himself to claim King John's soul". In the early 1900s a Castle Ranger was found swinging by the neck in King John's bedroom, and tour guides have reported witnessing the ghost twitching and jolting. In the Dungeon, hushed voices have been heard and loud chanting has been said to echo from the empty chambers, along with screams and shouting from the curtain wall. I have read that people where left to die in the most appalling conditions down below in the chambers.

The castle was slighted in 1648 and left derelict. Between 1845 and 1848 architect Anthony Salvin restored the castle, and in 1889 the corporation of Newark purchased the building and carried out further restoration work. The castle is a Scheduled Ancient Monument a "nationally important" historic building and archaeological site which has been given protection against unauthorised change. It is also a Grade I listed building and is recognised as an internationally important structure.