⚔ Battlefields of Britain

Siege of Arundel 1643

Siege of Arundel: Arundel Castle - motte and quadrangle, England
Image: The original uploader was 98octane at English Wikipedia., CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Marker: recorded battle location (no official boundary).

Key facts

Date (year)1643Wikidata P580 start time
Century17th centuryderived
PeriodCivil Warsderived
CountryEnglandderived
ParticipantsCavalier, RoundheadWikidata

About the battle

The siege of Arundel took place during the First English Civil War, from 19 December 1643 to 6 January 1644, when a Royalist garrison surrendered to a Parliamentarian army under Sir William Waller.

At the end of 1642, South-East England was largely controlled by Parliament, with pockets of Royalist support in Hampshire and Kent. In an October 1643 offensive led by Sir Ralph Hopton, the Royalists advanced into Sussex, where a small garrison at Arundel Castle surrendered without fighting on 2 December.

Hopton's policy of trying to hold as many towns as possible left individual garrisons isolated, while the Royalists lacked a mobile field army, capable of quickly supporting threatened positions. Arundel was attacked by a large Parliamentarian force on 19 December; although strongly held, severe weather and poor roads meant it could not be relieved, and surrendered on 6 January.

Visiting the battlefield

Location

  • Approximate location: the point for Arundel, the place Wikidata gives as the battle’s location: 50.8547, -0.5547

Battlefields are often on private farmland: please keep to public rights of way and respect landowners.

Directions (Google Maps) OpenStreetMap

Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Siege of Arundel (revision 1370738994), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations removed. No text added.

Battle location from Wikidata (CC0).

Nearby battlefields

Browse more: battles in West Sussex · battles in England · Civil Wars · 17th century battles

Further reading