Measuring 2ft (60cm) across, it carries a raised plaque that is inscribed: Civil War Relics from the siege of Newark 1645-1646 found at the site of the camp of troops of the Earl of Lincoln nr. Clay Lane Newark.
The group for sale at TimeLine (25% buyer’s premium) in Harwich, Essex, on December 5 where it was taken from its guide of £200-300 to £5000. It was part of an old collection of antiquities and relics collected by the Gilstrap family, who were wine merchants in Newark, Nottinghamshire.
The Third Siege of Newark began on November 26, 1645. Charles I’s army had been destroyed at the Battle of Naseby and Newark was one of the last Royalist towns capable of resisting a Roundhead army of 17,000 soldiers.
The siege lasted six months of great hardship before surrender on May 8, 1646.
