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Summary

Parliamentarian earthworks, marked as 'Redoubt' on early 20th century OS maps

Other Statuses and Cross-References

• Berkshire SMR No. (pre 2000): 03473.00.000
  
• National Monuments Record No.: SU 46 NE 50
  SU 4642 6903

Monument Type(s):

• SIEGEWORK (17th century - 1646 AD to 1646 AD)

Full Description

REDOUBT RAISED 1646 BY COLONEL DALBIER, IN CHARGE OF PARLIAMENTARY FORCES BESIEGING DONNINGTON CASTLE. SURVEYED AT 1/2500 AT SU46426903 IN 1963 <4>; WAS THEN VISIBLE ONLY AS A FAINT DITCH OF TRIANGULAR PLAN, CUT INTO ON E SIDE BY LATER ARTIFICIAL SCARP. SCARP PROBABLY DENOTES OLD FIELDWAY, OR DRIVEWAY TO CASTLE HOUSE.

This feature is marked on several Ordnance Survey maps (Epochs 2-6), but had disappeared by 1982 mapping. It is shown as a roughly circular feature with a surrounding ditch, sited to the south-east of Castle House, and associated with a linear earthwork (perhaps a trench?) running north-south <1>. Money relates that the Parliamentarian Colonel Dalbier when laying siege to Donnington Castle during the Civil War, raised 'a redoubt and temporary works on the east side of the park, commanding a clear range to the south side of the gateway' <2>. This was in March 1646, following a delay the previous autumn.

Harrington's description of offensive fortifications <3> includes a documentary reference that the Parliamentarian Colonel Browne made a mount "'200 paces of (Donnington) Castell"; it is not clear whether this is the same raised battery in Money's account.

The Department of the Environment Handbook for Donnington Castle <5> describes Dalbier's trenches 'under the maye poole' within 15 score paces of the castle, where he was subject to a surprise attack by Sir John Boys using a secret sally port. The scene of the attack is 'a semi-circular excavation in a line of earthwork hollowed out from the slope of the hill just beyond the present lodge about 100 yards to the north, and adjoining it at that time was a square redoubt' <5>.

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

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