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Sieges of Taunton 1644

Sieges of Taunton: Walls of Taunton Castle
Image: Ken Grainger, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Marker: recorded battle location (no official boundary).

Key facts

Date (year)1644Wikidata P580 start time
Century17th centuryderived
PeriodCivil Warsderived
CountryEnglandderived
War / conflictFirst English Civil WarWikidata
ParticipantsEdmund Wyndham, George Goring, Lord Goring, James Holborne of Menstrie, John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton, Ralph Hopton, 1st Baron Hopton, Ralph Weldon, Robert Blake, Sir Richard Grenville, 1st Baronet, Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of CameronWikidata

About the battle

The sieges of Taunton were a series of three blockades during the First English Civil War. The town of Taunton, in Somerset, was considered to be of strategic importance because it controlled the main road from Bristol to Devon and Cornwall. Robert Blake commanded the town's Parliamentarian defences during all three sieges, from September 1644 to July 1645.

The first siege was laid by Edmund Wyndham on 23 September, and was primarily composed of Royalist troops from local Somerset garrisons. After initial assaults drove Blake and his troops back into Taunton Castle, the blockade was conducted from 1–2 miles (1.6–3.2 km) away, and concentrated more on starving the garrison than continued attacks. The town was relieved by a force under James Holborne on 14 December.

Over the next three months, Blake was able to establish a network of earthen defences in Taunton, including a basic perimeter and several forts. The Royalists began the second, and bloodiest, siege in late March 1645, initially under Sir Richard Grenville.

Visiting the battlefield

Location

  • Recorded location (Wikidata; may be approximate): 51.0190, -3.1000

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Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Sieges of Taunton (revision 1370746831), 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

Other battles of the First English Civil War

All battles of the First English Civil War →

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

Further reading