Friends of Newark Castle and Victorian Gardens submit application for £50,000 towards the Gatehouse project from Newark and Sherwood District Council’s Gilstrap Charity

A group is looking to land funding to help bring Newark Castle and its gardens to life with artefacts and period furnishings to support the site’s ongoing multi-million pound restoration.

Full work to restore Newark Castle’s gatehouse, complete with an accessible ramp and galleries, began at the start of June.

The Romanesque gatehouse is considered by Historic England to be one of the finest examples in the country, and the authority says the project is “essential” to conserve the landmark.

Friends of Newark Castle and Victorian Gardens, which has been working with the council on the castle restoration, has further planned a £580,000 interpretation project to help “bring the site to life”.

The project will use artefacts, period furnishings, audio-visual techniques and replica features to help visitors better interpret what the castle would have been like hundreds of years ago.

An application has been submitted by Sharon Morley, the group’s chairman, requesting £50,000 towards the project from the council’s Gilstrap Charity.

The charity, for which the council is the sole trustee, has already supported similar schemes in the town and on the castle grounds – including a King John exhibition.

The Trustee Board of the Gilstrap and William Edward Knight Charities will consider the application at a meeting tomorrow (June 24).

Ms Morley said: “The interpretation in the galleries will focus on the castle’s Medieval heyday, exploring how local people would have been involved with the castle.

“The project is a unique opportunity to invest in Newark Castle’s future, preserving the historic fabric of the building for future generations, and improving the gardens.

“The new interpretation scheme will make a huge difference to both local people and visitors to the local economy, highlighting the rich history of the site and its communities, and enabling a new sense of pride in the town.”

Newark Castle was originally built in the mid-12th century by Bishop Alexander of Lincoln – known as ‘Alexander the Magnificent’.

Originally an Anglo-Saxon settlement, it was replaced by an earth and timber fortification shortly after the Norman Conquest.

Bishop Alexander, desiring a more impressive castle in Newark, had it rebuilt in stone.

One of the most notable events in the site’s history is the death of King John at the castle in 1216.

According to council documents the £50,000 could be spent on a replica cope – the bishop’s cape – which will tell the story of his life.

The money could also be spent on bespoke embroidered hangings, a model castle, replica furnishings – including the bishop’s throne or King John’s bed – as well as a replica rose window that would have featured in the audience chamber.

Remaining funding for the entire project is coming from the National Lottery Heritage Fund

For the wider project, St Mary’s Church Choir is recording medieval choral music that will be played around the castle as a soundscape, while the gardens – landscaped in the 1880s – will benefit from new lighting and native species of plant life.

A free-to-access ground floor exhibition in the Northwest Tower will help explain the castle’s timeline.

Documents say the interpretation project is expected to start in the summer this year, before finishing in the autumn 2026.

It is expected visitor numbers will level out at around 25,000 in the first year after an opening peak – with numbers visiting the gardens increasing to 135,000 per year.