Siege of Basing House

1643 CE.

Shown on the map at 51.269°, -1.052°.

The siege of Basing House near Basingstoke in Hampshire, was a Parliamentarian victory late in the First English Civil War. Whereas the title of the event may suggest a single siege, there were in fact three major engagements. John Paulet, 5th Marquess of Winchester owned the House and as a committed Royalist garrisoned it in support of King Charles I, as it commanded the road from London to the west through Salisbury. The first engagement was in November 1643, when Sir William Waller at the head of an army of about 7,000 attempted to take Basing House by direct assault. After three failed attempts it became obvious to him that his troops lacked the necessary resolve, and with winter fast approaching Waller retreated to a more friendly location. Early in 1644 the Parliamentarians attempted to arrange the secret surrender of Basing House with Lord Edward Paulet, the Marquess of Winchester's younger brother, but the plot was discovered. Parliamentary forces continued the siege by garrisons on the static approaches to Basing House to stop the Royalists from foraging and relief convoys from getting through.

Text from the Wikipedia article Siege of Basing House, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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