Battlefields›Pontefract Castle Second Civil War Sortie 1648
English Civil War

Pontefract Castle Second Civil War Sortie 1648

1648
England
Era
English Civil War
Battle Type
Pitched Battle
Location
England
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Parliamentarians
Forces
Parliamentary officers at Doncaster
VS
Victor
Royalists
Forces
Royalist Pontefract garrison sortie party
Outcome
Royalist sortie success; Rainsborough killed at Doncaster; garrison continued to hold until March 1649 when it became the last castle in England to surrender.
The Battle

History & Significance

The Royalist garrison of Pontefract Castle in the Second Civil War conducted aggressive sorties, including the assassination of the Parliamentary general Colonel Rainsborough at Doncaster in October 1648, seized from his quarters by a Pontefract raiding party.

Questions & Answers

Frequently Asked Questions

Protected heritage nearby

Scheduled Monuments near Pontefract Castle Second Civil War Sortie 1648

Pontefract Castle: part of late Saxon cemetery and town ditch, Norman motte and bailey castle and later medieval enclosure castle
Scheduled monument · ~0.4 miles
St John's Priory
Scheduled monument · ~0.7 miles
Boundary cross on the corner of Ferrybridge Road and Stumpcross Lane
Scheduled monument · ~1.3 miles
Ferrybridge Henge, a prehistoric enclosure, and two round barrows
Scheduled monument · ~1.9 miles
Churchyard cross at the Parish Church of St Luke and All Saints
Scheduled monument · ~2.1 miles
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