The second siege of Wardour Castle ended with Royalist forces using mines to breach the walls, leaving the medieval castle permanently uninhabitable.
Key Facts
- First siege date
- 2–8 May 1643
- Second siege period
- November 1643 – March 1644
- First siege Parliamentarian force
- approximately 1,300 men
- Royalist garrison defenders (first siege)
- 25 soldiers under Lady Blanche Arundell
- Parliamentarian garrison (after first siege)
- 75 men under Colonel Edmund Ludlow
- Breach method (second siege)
- Royalists exploded mines under the castle walls
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Wardour Castle, home of the Catholic Royalist Thomas Arundell, 2nd Baron Arundell of Wardour, was seized by Parliamentarian forces in May 1643. His son, Henry Arundell, 3rd Baron Arundell of Wardour, sought to reclaim it, establishing a tight blockade around the Parliamentarian garrison by November 1643.
Henry Arundell led a Royalist force in a prolonged siege of Wardour Castle from November 1643 into March 1644. Because the castle was well-provisioned, the garrison held out until the Royalists detonated mines beneath the walls, creating breaches in the defences that forced the Parliamentarian garrison to surrender.
The mine explosions caused structural damage so severe that Wardour Castle was rendered uninhabitable. More than a century later, the Arundell family commissioned the construction of New Wardour Castle nearby to serve as their residence, leaving the old castle as a ruin.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Henry Arundell, 3rd Baron Arundell of Wardour.
Side B
1 belligerent
Colonel Edmund Ludlow.