User:John Stephenson/sandbox

The entire west wall, roof and interior floors of Scarborough Castle's keep, as viewed from the barbican gateway, were destroyed in 1645 by artillery bombardment during the English Civil War.

The Great Siege of Scarborough Castle was a major conflict for control of one of England's most important stone fortresses during the English Civil War (1642-1651), fought between the Oliver Cromwell's parliamentary Roundheads and the Royalists loyal to King Charles I (reigned 1625-1649). In 1645, Parliamentary forces laid siege to the castle for five months of bombardment and bloody fighting before its garrison finally surrendered - a significant though short-lived victory in Oliver Cromwell's bid to replace the monarchy with his own republican regime.

Background

The English Civil War saw Scarborough, its castle and strategic supply port on the side of Charles I, with 700 Royalist soldiers led by Sir Hugh Cholmley - who originally occupied the castle as a Parliamentarian loyal to Cromwell in September 1642, but swapped sides in March 1643. The castle was the property of the Thompson family, so Cholmley tried to purchase it while at the same time upgrading its defences. He claimed to have spent £200 on the castle while the Thompsons, who initially offered to sell it for £600, raised the price to £800 - which Cholmley was unprepared to pay. In letters to his masters he branded them "malignant", but did not have enough local support to oust the family altogether.

Cholmley actually lost the castle in a bloodless takeover by his own cousin, Captain Browne Bushell, in March 1643 while away at York, but persuaded him to give it back. (Bushell would be tried and executed by the Roundheads in 1651 for the offence of surrendering the castle, despite his capture as a pirate in 1648.) The castle changed hands seven times between 1642 and 1648, and was refortified on Cholmley's orders, including establishment of the the South Steel Battery for artillery and the procurement of lead, timber and iron from the wider region.

Royalist stronghold

Cholmley's forces made several attacks on Parliamentary targets over the next several months, moving extensively throughout the region and in July 1643 even capturing the marketplace at Beverley, some 30 miles from the castle. Though Royalist pillage and kidnap was a nuisance to the Parliamentarians, these victories were never decisive, and they considered the King's south-western strongholds far more important targets. However, piracy would ensure that Scarborough became a priority: as a Royalist port, it was a safe haven for its captains to plunder coal ships, and it was also a place where arms were brought ashore. The supplies gained by the Royalists were the work of "pyrates" according to the London press, and "Devine power and providence" according to Sir Hugh Cholmley; but regardless of the propaganda war, it remained that the supply of winter coal to London was being seriously impeded by the forces based at Scarborough Castle.

Inland, Parliament was more successful. Following the Royalist defeat at the Battle of Marston Moor and York's surrender to Parliament in July 1644, many of Cholmley's garrison deserted and the castle fell into disrepair. When Lord Fairfax's Parliamentary forces reached the edge of the town that August, Cholmley bought time to upgrade the castle defences by opening surrender negotiations, an act that would allow him to hold out for a year.

The Great Siege

On 18th February 1645, Sir John Meldrum took the town with 1700 men and almost no casualties, cutting off any escape routes by land or sea, taking the South Steel Battery and delivering the last Royalist port for Parliament. The same day, Cholmley retreated into the castle and refused to give in, so the Parliamentarians prepared for what would be a five-month siege - one of the most bloody of the Civil War, with almost continuous fighting.

Scarborough Castle is not so effectively besieged as were necessary for the carrying of a place of so great concernment to the public... if this could also be taken there would be no place left along all the coast for the enemy to retire unto... We consider the taking in of that Castle to be of greater consequence than any inland fort whatsoever can be... Send thither what foot forces you can spare, as they could nowhere be employed to greater advantage. Order from the Committee of Both Kingdoms, 1st May 1645

Meldrum had taken the town and secured the port, but that was as far as his luck held. Parliament was less interested in the castle now that the port was theirs, and he was now forced to appeal for extra funds from other ports by raising the spectre of Royalist pirates such as Browne Bushell making devastating raids on Parliamentary supply lines. Over several weeks, as the funds began to trickle through to Scarborough, allowing Meldrum the forces he needed to attempt an all-out siege, Parliament came round to the idea that besieging the castle should be prioritised. The siege was delayed for six weeks, however, while Meldrum recovered from an astonishing fall over the cliff edge on 24th March; according to Cholmley, he had been trying to retrieve his hat from the wind, though the more likely explanation is that a sudden gust blew him off the cliff. Meanwhile, the garrison initially had access to drinking water from local springs and the 'Well of Our Lady' near the cliff edge (the other well being dry), along with stockpiled food, which allowed them to effectively defend the castle for months. The sudden absence of Meldrum and his leadership was quickly noticed by Cholmley, who sent his men to make a successful surprise attack on the South Steel Battery, claiming 100 casualties and 20 prisoners, from whom he learnt of Meldrum's misfortune.

Bombardment of the castle

Fierce hand-to-hand fighting erupted around the barbican entrance to Scarborough Castle during the Great Siege of 1645.

Once Meldrum resumed command in May, the Parliamentary forces set up what was then the largest cannon in the country, the Cannon Royal, in the twelfth-century St. Mary's Church below the castle, and proceeded to fire 56-65lb (27kg) cannonballs that pounded the castle's defences; the Royalists replied with their own forward battery under Browne Bushell. The church was extensively damaged over the three days of fighting, and is partly ruined to this day; records report that Cholmley "did great mischief to St. Mary's", though it is more likely that the Parliamentary gun blasts did more damage to a building that was already decaying. The bombardment partially destroyed the castle keep by collapsing the west wall, its roof, the floors and its interior staircase, to the amazement of both sides, who briefly ceased fighting. Without the outer walls breached, however, the Parliamentary forces were unable to take the castle immediately afterwards, and indeed had inadvertently supplied the defenders with a large pile of rubble that could be used for cover and ammunition. Meldrum failed to realise until it was too late that the Royalists were cut off from the barbican by the sheer amount of rubble blocking the way, and therefore did not attempt to take the castle entranceway until the Royalists had already broken through and retaken control. Preferring to make a further surrender demand that was refused, Meldrum was only able to take Bushell's battery, where he set up 34-pound cannons to target the castle yard. On the night of 10th May, the Royalists moved against the artillery battery, destroying it, and the Parliamentary forces retreated in some disarray, taking heavy casualties. There followed a period of particularly bloody hand-to-hand fighting around the barbican gateway the next day, where neither side took prisoners; ultimately, Sir John Meldrum was mortally wounded by a musket ball "in att the bellie and out of the backe" (Cholmley). The London press blamed the defeat on the desperation and drunken boldness of the Royalists, but acknowledged that victory by force rather than slow siege was now unlikely.

Surrender

By July 1645, the tide was turning in the Parliamentarians' favour: Sir Matthew Boynton had replaced Meldrum, favouring cannon fire from land and sea over infantry assault. Bombardment, scurvy, lack of water, perhaps a shortage of gunpowder and the threat of starvation meant that the castle's surrender came at noon on 25th July, with only 25 men fit to fight. Fewer than half the original 500 defenders emerged alive, receiving a less-than-warm welcome from the townsfolk, who had endured great hardship during the siege. Perhaps to bring a quick end to hostilities, Cholmley had received unprecedently good surrender terms: three days to leave the castle, free passage to Holland, and protection from threat or intimidation. Additionally, Lady Cholmley was allowed to return to the family home at Whitby, though she found the house ransacked. His family would be ultimately reunited abroad, but in 1645 the Cholmleys were almost penniless, especially once Sir Hugh had distributed a £200 loan from his brother to his men. Nevertheless, Cholmley avoided capture and execution, as had befallen earlier opponents of Cromwell, and left for exile in Holland. His memoirs of 1647 comprise a detailed historical record of the event, though inevitably embellished with Sir High's own slant on the Great Siege.

Aftermath

Initially repaired and rearmed for Parliament with a company of 160 to hold the castle and man the gun batteries, the castle returned to Royalist hands when the soldiers went unpaid; Matthew Boynton, its new governor and son of the elder Boynton, declared for the King on 27th July 1648. This led to a second siege which brought the castle back under Parliamentary control on 19th December, with the garrison defeated as much by the oncoming winter as by the Parliamentary forces. Following this, the castle was to have been demolished by an order of July 1649, to prevent it being used as a Royalist stronghold, but a local outcry saved it, along with new fears that resurgent Royalist forces, aided by Frenchmen, were plotting to retake Scarborough, and the actual appearance of Dutch vessels in the harbour. Instead, it was used as a prison for those deemed enemies of the Commonwealth of England, the country's brief period of republicanism; the shell of the keep survives, minus the west wall. The castle was returned to the Crown following the restoration of the monarchy.