Third siege, March 8 - July 16 1646

 Abstract.  The Royalists had held the Close for almost 3 years. A large, experience army of Parliamentarians besieged the Close in March 1646 and believed they could starve the occupiers into submission. On 6th May, the Parliamentarians bombarded the Close for five days using heavy cannon mounted on earth banks to aim above the walls. This destroyed much of the frame of the cathedral. The Royalists finally surrendered on 16th July.

    A major reason Lichfield became the target for three sieges, apart from being a fortified garrison, was because it was on a vital supply route for the Royalists. With headquarters in Oxford, Charles I had support at Newark, Nottingham and parts of Yorkshire and Lichfield was on this supply line. After the fall of Newark, the only major centres of Royalist sympathy were at Lichfield, Worcester and Oxford. At Newark Charles gave himself up to the Scots army thinking he was safe and some thought the Royalist cause was almost lost and any new battle seemed unnecessary. For Lichfield it led to the worst siege in the war.[1]

Early in March 1646, Sir William Brereton, commander of the Parliamentarian forces in the North Midlands arrived in Lichfield with an army drawn from several Counties. It is unclear how many troops he commanded, one source said 3,000, but he thought there were 1000 Royalists (more like 800) besieged in the Close and he would have commanded more. On entry to the town, a skirmish led to three deaths. Brereton now believed time was on his side and the tactic was to slowly starve the Close into submission. He was clearly unaware of the preparations by the Royalists for a long siege, including gun positions on the central tower. Between 1643 and 46 the Royalists had an effective taxation system running in Staffordshire and the garrisoned soldiers were well kept and ready for battle. Early on, the water supply to the Close was cut off, but this made no difference because of wells in the Close. The next move was to surround the Close with earth fortifications. He built at least four earth mounts and placed cannon on top. The number and location of these mounts has been much queried. There was a mount on the north side, known as the ‘Gloucester Mount’, being guarded by men from Gloucestershire. It could have been on Prince Rupert’s Mound, where archaeology has found a rectangular platform, 17 m x 12 m, and in 1997, a quantity of musket balls and a fragment of iron mortar shell. Almost certainly, a mount was constructed in Dam Street, and another at the southwest corner. Placing them in Beacon Park, where Brereton was camped, has been suggested, but it seems too far away. Added to this, an earth bank was erected connecting Stowe Pool round to Beacon (Bacun) Street and northwards. If this barrier was similar to those done elsewhere it would have sharpened staves pointing to the close and deterring cavalry charges. In a letter, Brereton claimed there were three mounts now built along Beacon Street manned with 700 troops from Cheshire. Strangely, recent examination of the central tower shows cannon and musket damage on the north, south and east sides with little on the west side facing Beacon Street. Perhaps the cannon firing from Beacon Street mounts struck the front of the cathedral and this left the cannon on the other mounts to target the middle tower and spire.

The whole cathedral appears to have been besieged and surrounded by a formidable earth barrier mounted with cannon on top[2] and looking over the 15 m (50 feet) curtain wall of the Close. In defiance, Major-General Thomas Tyldesley led Royalist cavalry in a charge from the west gate and burnt down some houses in Beacon Street, which were providing cover. The problem for Brereton was he was waiting for a supply of ammunition. On the 13th April, Brereton gave an ultimatum to Tyldesley to surrender on the grounds they were hopelessly positioned, but it was declined. It was also answered on the day with a sally out of the Close, resulting in killing 30 and taking 50 prisoners.

  

A reconstruction of the redoubts and bulwarks constructed by Brereton. See the post, ‘Castle wall, 1640’ for the best idea of the layout of the fortification before the earth mounds were built.

On the 28th April, a soldier escaping from the Close was captured and interrogated. He let go food supplies in the Close were still sufficient, but ammunition was low. He also revealed a trench was dug out from the Close so that troops could secretly leave and attack the mounts on the north side. Much of this seems deliberate deception. However, fodder for horses was low, so the gate opened and horses were made to leave.

     On 6th May, Brereton finally received a ‘tunne’ of powder, equal to 60 barrels,[3] and began an intense 5-day bombardment of the Close and Cathedral from his raised cannon platforms. The 30lb cannon balls were fired from demi-cannons.

 

30lb demi-cannon

 The particular target was the central tower where it was mistakenly thought the leaders and their families were sheltering, where the gunpowder was said to be stored and from where deadly sniper shots were made. It was also provocatively adorned with many royalist flags and red sashes. On the 5th day (11am on12th May), the central spire came down bringing two floors of the tower, the roof of a side chapel on the south side and some part of the choir.[4] Floor pavement in the cathedral was fragmented. It is unknown how many were killed, but it must have included soldiers and their families.

 Lichfield and cathedral, 1643, from a drawing by W. Dugdale, Ashmole MS 1521, and reprinted J. Hewitt, 1874.[5] The drawing shows damage to the central spire but is dated 1643 not 1646. Consequently, it does not show the loss of roof in the nave and omits the curtain wall around the Close.

Drawing from W. Gresley, 1840.

     Rodwell after examination of damaged parapets and buttresses above the south choir aisle said it was clear the spire fell south-eastwards.[6] About 2 m of the bottom of the central spire on the three western faces has original masonry which again suggests a south-eastern collapse. It supports the idea of the cannon ball being fired from the Dam Street direction and undermining the southeast arch (squinch) of the spire. This might have led to the nave roof to collapse, or more likely this roof was brought down in a separate bombardment.

     The Parliamentarians believed this would be the end of the siege, but to Brereton’s disappointment, it did not lead to surrender. Another captured soldier revealed the Close was not about to capitulate. Indeed, grenadoes continued to be lobbed into the Close with a mortar. When the Royalists were given terms of surrender, they replied excoriating the Parliamentarians for defacing the cathedral and making the besiegers into would-be martyrs. In fact, the siege lasted another two months, continuing even after Bridgnorth, Ludlow, Tutbury, Ashby, Worcester, Dudley and Oxford had fallen. It was only after a letter came from Charles I ordering surrender that 85 officers and 700 soldiers marched into Beacon Street and handed over their small arms (800 muskets and 100 cases of pistols) on 16th July. Also surrendering were 21 gentlemen, 4 clerks of which two were canons and 5 city magistrates. There would also have been wives and children. Altogether, it has been estimated 2-3000 cannon balls and 1500 grenadoes were used in the three sieges. On 21st July, the war in England ended and Parliament turned it into a National Day. In October, the new Parliament abolished the office of a bishop.[7]

Musket ball, minion, demi-culverin and fragment of a mortar grenado.

 [1] Added to this was the return of plague (in 1593-94 it had killed 1,100); in 1646, 821 died out of a population of 3000. In contrast the soldiers garrisoned in the Close were financially prepared and ready for another siege, see I. Atherton, 'Royalist finances in the English Civil War: The case of Lichfield Garrison, 1643-5. Midland History, (2008), 33, 1, 43-67.

[2] A plaque in Lichfield suggests the heavy cannon were hauled to the top of the mount by a train of horses.

[3] The wall in the north-west corner was blown apart in the second siege with a tunnel containing five barrels of gunpowder. A bombardment for five days with 60 barrels of gunpowder available might give some indication of the intensity of battle and extent of damage caused to the cathedral.

[4] Strangely, there are accounts with the spire falling in the first siege. See W. Gresley, The siege of Lichfield: A tale illustrative of the Great Rebellion. (London: 1840) and A. B. Clifton, The cathedral church of Lichfield. (London: 1900), George Bell and Sons. This is odd with Brereton describing the event in a letter detailing the third siege.

[5] J. Hewitt, ‘Lichfield Cathedral Close and its sieges’. Archaeological J. (1874), 31, 1, 327–336.

[6] W. Rodwell private letter dated 10 October 1987 titled ‘The high vaults of Lichfield Cathedral’ and deposited in the cathedral archive.

[7] Much of this post has been guided by H. Clayton, ‘Loyal and Ancient City. The Civil War in Lichfield’. (Lichfield, self-published: 1987).