Siege of Bolton Castle

Background

Completed in 1399, Bolton Castle stood as the Scrope family's stronghold. When the English Civil War erupted, the young heir, John Scrope, supported King Charles I, transforming Bolton into a Royalist bastion. Thanks to its position in Wensleydale, North Yorkshire, Parliamentarian forces sought to control the region by targeting the castle.

By December 1644, Lord Fairfax dispatched a Parliamentarian force of 500 foot soldiers to lay siege to Bolton Castle, under the command of Colonel Lascelles and Colonel Wastell.

Battle

During the siege, John Scrope led the castle's garrison as its owner. Between 50 and 100 men made up the defenders.

Parliamentarian cannons appeared at other castle sieges in Yorkshire. At Bolton, however, Lascelles and Wastell opted to surround the castle and cut off its supplies, planning to starve out the defenders.

In March of 1645, during the ongoing siege of Bolton Castle, King Charles marched his army through the Midlands, prompting Parliament to fear he would soon move into Yorkshire. With too few men to gather in southern Yorkshire to oppose Charles' army, those besieging Bolton Castle were ordered to suspend the siege and march to Pontefract Castle.

Nevertheless, the King's advance into Yorkshire never happened. In June, after the Royalists were defeated at the Battle of Naseby by Thomas Fairfax, Colonel Lascelles was ordered to resume the siege at Bolton Castle, which had previously been lifted.

As the siege dragged on, the castle garrison was in dire straits by November of 1645. Food supplies had run out, forcing the defenders to eat their own horses. By November 5th, even that food source had been exhausted; Scrope, left with no alternative, surrendered the castle.

Aftermath

Bolton Castle was under siege, with interruptions, from December 1644 until November 1645, before John Scrope and the garrison finally surrendered on honorable terms. The garrison was allowed to leave the castle with their arms and equipment. John Scrope would be fined instead of executed.

By March of 1646, John Scrope was living in London. Parliament fined him 7,000 pounds, a huge sum for that time period. However, he died of the plague before paying the fine.

In 1647, Parliament ordered Bolton Castle to be slighted. Only the West curtain wall and the Southwest Tower survived and remained inhabitable. It was one of the last Royalist positions in Yorkshire to fall.

In 1675, Bolton Hall was completed, and the family moved out of Bolton Castle.