An archaeological excavation at Newark Castle uncovered a medieval cesspit or soakaway capped by a worn millstone. The feature sat at the outflow of 13th/14th-century garderobes, which discharged waste into a ditch or moat. Investigators were surprised because nineteenth- and twentieth-century alterations were expected to have removed such earlier features. Newark Castle originated as Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln's earth-and-timber fortification begun in 1123 and was rebuilt in stone by the end of the twelfth century. King John died at the castle in 1216 after contracting dysentery, and the site was besieged and slighted in 1648.
The cesspit was found at the outflow of the 13th/14th century garderobes (toilets that were basically niches built into castle walls with open holes over a shaft that disgorged waste into a ditch or moat). Rebecca Nichols, a senior project manager from Pre-Construct Archaeology, which is overseeing the works, said the team were very surprised when they made the discovery. Ms Nichols said the team had found a cesspit or soakaway, capped with a worn millstone but added we're not quite sure which one yet.
He was hosted at Newark Castle and apparently ate so many peaches that when he died that night, the chroniclers blamed his peach binge for his death. The castle was besieged three times by Parliamentarian forces during the English Civil War. The castle held out, but when Cromwell's side won the war, they took their revenge on the castle by having it slighted (deliberately destroyed) in 1648.
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