Sieging and besieged: who were the soldiers who fought to control Pontefract Castle? This weekend Pontefract Castle will once again echo with the sound of cannons and muskets as we take it back to the English Civil War for a fascinating weekend of reenactment – all free for visitors! On 1st and 2nd June, the castle…
Open the Siege of Pontefract Castle app! On Saturday and Sunday 1-2 June we will be bringing the sights and sounds of battle to Pontefract Castle – 375 years since it was first besieged in the English Civil War. If you’re coming to visit our encampment in this once-great fortress, make sure you open up the…
Siege warfare in the English Civil Wars “If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength.” – Sun Tzu Contrary to popular notions of set piece clashes filled with dashing cavalry charges and tens of thousands of soldiers, sieges were “every bit as important as battle in the Civil Wars … holding…
Besieged: The Battle For Pontefract Castle 1644-5 The first great chronicler of the English Civil War, The Earl of Clarendon, described the location of Pontefract Castle in Yorkshire as “very strong, no part whereof was commanded by any other ground” and said “the house was very large, with all offices suitable to a Princely seat,…
‘The Key to the North’: Pontefract Castle’s place in the English Civil War “[Pontefract Castle is] well watered; situated on rock in every part of it; and therefore difficult to mine. The walls are very thick and high, with strong towers; and if battered, very difficult to access, by reason of the depth and…
In 1644, the ancient city of Lincoln was on the front line of the English Civil War. With its lofty castle and commanding views of the surrounding countryside, Lincoln sits the frontier between East Anglia, the North, and the Midlands. And during the first English Civil War, it was a point over which the tide…