⚔ Battlefields of Britain

Siege of Wardour Castle 1643

Siege of Wardour Castle: Old Wardour Castle
Image: Simon Burchell, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Marker: recorded battle location (no official boundary).

Key facts

Date (year)1643Wikidata P585 point in time
Century17th centuryderived
PeriodCivil Warsderived
CountryEnglandderived

About the battle

Wardour Castle in Wiltshire, England, was besieged twice during the First English Civil War; once in May 1643, and then again between November 1643 and March 1644.

During the first siege, a Parliamentarian force of around 1,300 men led by Sir Edward Hungerford attacked the castle, which was the home of Thomas Arundell, 2nd Baron Arundell of Wardour, a prominent Catholic and Royalist. Arundell was absent, fighting for King Charles at the time of the attack, and the defence was led by his wife, Lady Blanche Arundell, in command of 25 soldiers. The siege began on 2 May, and lasted for a week before the Parliamentarians forced Lady Arundell to surrender on 8 May. The Parliamentarians garrisoned the castle with 75 men, led by Colonel Edmund Ludlow.

Henry Arundell, 3rd Baron Arundell of Wardour, the son of Thomas and Blanche, brought a Royalist force to reclaim the castle, and by November 1643 a tight blockade had been established. The castle was well-provisioned, and it was only when the Royalists exploded mines under the walls, creating large holes in the defences, that they forced the castle's surrender.

Visiting the battlefield

Location

  • Recorded location (Wikidata; may be approximate): 51.0364, -2.0889

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Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Siege of Wardour Castle (revision 1370746407), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations removed. No text added.

Battle location from Wikidata (CC0).

Nearby battlefields

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

Further reading