Battlefields›Basing House 1645 Breach Assault and Fall
English Civil War

Basing House 1645 Breach Assault and Fall

1645
England
Era
English Civil War
Battle Type
Siege
Location
England
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Royalists
VS
Victor
Parliamentarians
Forces involved

Royalists: approximately 400 in the garrison under John Paulet, 5th Marquess of Winchester; Parliamentarians: 7,000+ under Oliver Cromwell, including a siege train of five demi-cannons and a 63-pounder, plus Colonel John Dalbier's existing besieging force

Outcome
Parliamentarian forces under Oliver Cromwell breached the walls with siege artillery and stormed Basing House on the morning of 14 October 1645; the garrison was overwhelmed, the house was sacked and burned, and Parliament ordered its fortifications 'totally slighted and demolished'.
The Battle

History & Significance

Basing House 1645 Breach Assault and Fall was a Civil War siege, the investment of a fortified position, fought in England in 1645. Parliamentarians prevailed over Royalists. Parliamentarian forces under Oliver Cromwell breached the walls with siege artillery and stormed Basing House on the morning of 14 October 1645; the garrison was overwhelmed, the house was sacked and burned, and Parliament ordered its fortifications 'totally slighted and demolished'.

Confirmed battlefield location
The ground

The ground they fought on

The site of Basing House 1645 Breach Assault and Fall lies on White Chalk Subgroup, bedrock that formed in the Maastrichtian. The rock here is chalk.

Casualties & Losses
  • Royalists: estimates vary, roughly 100 to 200 killed in the storming (sources cite figures from about 74 confirmed dead plus fire deaths, to Gardiner's estimate of around 100 killed and c.300 taken prisoner), including six priests killed in the assault and four more later executed; Parliamentarians: upwards of 2,000 said to have been slain across the full two-year course of the siege (not solely the final assault)
Questions & Answers

Frequently Asked Questions

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Everything a full report reveals about Basing House 1645 Breach Assault and Fall

This page covers Basing House 1645 Breach Assault and Fall. A full Aubrey report for the area pulls together this battle alongside scheduled monuments and everything else the record holds within a few miles:

Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Domesday
The settlement's entry in the 1086 Domesday Book: who held it, what it was worth, and the people who worked the land.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
LiDAR
Laser-scanned terrain that reveals earthworks hidden under fields and woodland, with likely features flagged.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
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Protected heritage nearby

Scheduled Monuments near Basing House 1645 Breach Assault and Fall

Basing House and the Grange Field
Basing House and the Grange Field
Scheduled monument · ~0.1 mi

Basing House is a scheduled ancient monument comprising the ruins of a substantial fortified residence located near Basingstoke in Hampshire. The site represents the remains of a medieval and early modern aristocratic dwelling that achieved particular prominence during the sixteenth century under…

Sandy B / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Winklebury camp
Winklebury camp
Scheduled monument · ~3 mi

Winklebury camp is a hillfort of Iron Age date located in Hampshire. The site comprises a univallate enclosure, defended by a single bank and ditch, situated on rising ground. Scheduled as an ancient monument, it represents the type of fortified settlement that characterised Iron Age settlement p…

Sebastian Ballard / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Odiham Castle
Odiham Castle
Scheduled monument · ~4 mi

Odiham Castle is a Norman fortress constructed in the early 13th century, with its distinctive octagonal keep built by King John between 1207 and 1214. The castle features a striking eight-sided tower keep surrounded by the remains of defensive walls and a substantial moat, representing a sophist…

BabelStone / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Flex Ditch
Flex Ditch
Scheduled monument · ~6.1 mi

Flex Ditch is a linear earthwork located in Hampshire, England. The monument comprises a ditch with associated bank that represents a boundary feature of archaeological significance. Dating evidence and scholarly interpretation place it within the Iron Age period, when such linear earthworks serv…

ian freeman / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons
The Late Iron Age oppidum and Roman town of Calleva Atrebatum and associated features
The Late Iron Age oppidum and Roman town of Calleva Atrebatum and associated features
Scheduled monument · ~6.3 mi

Calleva Atrebatum is a Late Iron Age oppidum and Romano-British town located near Silchester in Hampshire, representing one of the most extensively excavated urban centres of Roman Britain. The site, which originated as a major settlement of the Atrebates tribe during the Iron Age, was substantia…

Simon Burchell / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Hillfort south west of Pond Farm, near Silchester
Hillfort south west of Pond Farm, near Silchester
Scheduled monument · ~6.9 mi

Hillfort south west of Pond Farm, near Silchester, is a prehistoric fortified enclosure located in Hampshire. The site comprises a substantial univallate or multivallate earthwork of Iron Age date, characteristic of the defensive settlements constructed during the later prehistoric period in sout…

Simon Burchell / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Oliver's Battery: a motte and bailey castle at Old Basing
Scheduled monument · ~0.7 miles
Pyotts Hill entrenchment
Scheduled monument · ~1.1 miles
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In the same landscape

Battles near Basing House 1645 Breach Assault and Fall

Siege of Basing House
1643
~0.1 miles away
Siege of Basing House (Royalist relief 1644)
1644
~0.8 miles away
Battle of Basing 871
871
~0.9 miles away
Basing House Pitman Sortie 1644
1644
~1.1 miles away
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