Siege of Donnington Castle

Background

Donnington Castle, near Newbury in Berkshire, was a late medieval castle that became one of the most stubborn Royalist strongholds of the English Civil War. It stood on a hill overlooking two important national routes, and its garrison held out for about 20 months, from July 1644 until the spring of 1646, under Sir John Boys.

After the First Battle of Newbury in September 1643, Lieutenant-Colonel John Boys was sent to take the castle from Packer, who had sided with Parliament, and to hold it for King Charles I with 200 foot soldiers, 25 horse, and four cannon. Boys was born in Kent in 1607 and had been a soldier since the 1630s. He saw at once that the castle's old walls would not survive modern artillery, so he surrounded the hilltop with a great earthwork, at a cost of about £1,000. It was built with projecting points, in the style of a star fort, so that the defenders' guns could cover every approach.

Battle

The first blow fell on July 31st, 1644, when Lieutenant-General John Middleton arrived with about 3,000 Parliamentary troops. He offered Boys honorable terms, but Boys replied that he would obey no one but his sovereign. Middleton tried to storm the castle with scaling ladders, but the attack failed with heavy losses, and he marched off to the west, leaving local forces to continue the siege. It was rarely a complete blockade, and in quieter times Boys even held a provisions market at the castle.

The Parliamentarians returned in September 1644 with guns. Colonel Jeremy Horton brought troops from Abingdon and Reading and set up his cannon on the Newbury side of the castle. In 12 days, it is said, his guns brought down three towers and part of the curtain wall, and more than 1,000 shots were fired in 19 days, according to the Royalist historian Clarendon. Horton then moved his guns to the Snelsmore side, but Boys's men raided the siege works at night, killing soldiers and seizing weapons.

The bombardment stopped in October when King Charles I and the Royalist army arrived at Newbury. The king knighted Boys that month for his defense of the castle.

On October 27th, 1644, the outnumbered Royalists fought the Second Battle of Newbury against the Earl of Manchester and Sir William Waller. Parliament divided its army and sent part of it on a long flanking march, but the Royalists slipped away during the night, leaving their wounded, their artillery, the crown, and the Great Seal inside Donnington Castle. The next day, Waller demanded that Boys surrender, threatening that not one stone of the castle would be left standing. Boys replied that, in that case, he would not be bound to repair it. A Parliamentary assault failed, and its commanding officer was killed.

On November 9th, 1644, the king came back with reinforcements to recover the guns that had been left in the castle, and the armies skirmished without a full battle. Charles spent a night in the castle. Parliament's commanders were split over whether to attack, with Oliver Cromwell urging action and the Earl of Manchester favoring caution. The quarrel helped to bring Cromwell to prominence.

Through 1645, the garrison made frequent sallies, and Boys even built a hidden exit from the earthwork to ambush the besiegers. He also led raids on the Parliamentary Kentish Regiment, six to ten miles away. At Burghclere, about 100 foot soldiers rode through the night and seized some 80 horses. At East and West Woodhay, 120 men equipped with axes, hammers, and grenades raided four houses, taking horses, weapons, and prisoners. At Balsdon House, near Inkpen, the regiment took refuge in a moated house, but Boys borrowed cavalry from Wallingford and attacked at dawn, catching the Kentish troops by surprise because they had posted no guards.

The final siege began in November 1645, when Colonel John Dalbier arrived at Newbury after helping to take Basing House. Boys set fire to nearby property so that his attackers could not use it for cover, and a stormy winter brought little progress. In March 1646, Dalbier brought up a heavy mortar, which quickly damaged the castle and its defenses. With no hope of relief, the defenders sent officers to the king at Oxford, who told them to get the best terms they could.

Aftermath

Terms were agreed on March 30th, 1646, in a field north of the castle that is still known as Dalbier's Mead. Boys signed for the garrison, together with Major Bennet and Captains Osborn and Gregory. On April 1st, 1646, the castle surrendered, and the garrison marched out to Wallingford with their baggage, their muskets charged and primed, and their colors flying.

The long siege had left the castle in ruins, and only the gatehouse still stood. It is the main part of the castle that visitors see today, and the earthwork bastions that Boys built can still be seen outside the walls.

Boys later played a leading part in the failed Kent rising of 1648 and was briefly imprisoned. He supported the Restoration and died in October 1664, and he was buried at Goodnestone in Kent.

Donnington Castle is also haunted.