Battlefields›Siege of Coventry, 1642
English Civil War

Siege of Coventry, 1642

1642
England
Era
English Civil War
Battle Type
Siege
Location
England
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Royalist
VS
Victor
Parliamentary
Outcome
Charles I's forces demanded entry to Coventry in August 1642; after the mayor offered to admit only the King and 200 followers, Charles refused and besieged the city. On 19 August his artillery bombarded the walls from Park Hill and blew a breach, but the garrison and townspeople barricaded the gap and repelled the assault. The Royalist force withdrew and Charles retreated to Leicester, after which he formally declared war.
The Battle

History & Significance

Siege of Coventry, 1642 was a Civil War siege, the investment of a fortified position, fought in England in 1642. The victor was Parliamentary. Charles I's forces demanded entry to Coventry in August 1642; after the mayor offered to admit only the King and 200 followers, Charles refused and besieged the city. On 19 August his artillery bombarded the walls from Park Hill and blew a breach, but the garrison and townspeople barricaded the gap and repelled the assault. The Royalist force withdrew and Charles retreated to Leicester, after which he formally declared war.

Confirmed battlefield location
The ground

The ground they fought on

The site of Siege of Coventry, 1642 lies on Warwickshire Group, bedrock that formed in the Early Permian. The rock here is siltstone and sandstone with subordinate mudstone.

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Frequently Asked Questions

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Everything a full report reveals about Siege of Coventry, 1642

This page covers Siege of Coventry, 1642. 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
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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Protected heritage nearby

Scheduled Monuments near Siege of Coventry, 1642

Cast iron single-span bridge 110m WNW of Sherbourne House
Cast iron single-span bridge 110m WNW of Sherbourne House
Scheduled monument · ~0 mi

Cast iron single-span bridge 110m WNW of Sherbourne House is a nineteenth-century bridge constructed from cast iron. The bridge exemplifies the industrial applications of cast iron that became prevalent during the Victorian era, reflecting the technological advances in metal working and civil eng…

Amanda Slater / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Cook Street Gate
Cook Street Gate
Scheduled monument · ~0.6 mi

Cook Street Gate is a timber-framed gatehouse structure located in Warwickshire, dating to the medieval period. The gateway stands as evidence of the settlement patterns and defensive or administrative infrastructure of its era, with its timber construction being characteristic of medieval buildi…

E Gammie / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Coventry city walls
Coventry city walls
Scheduled monument · ~0.9 mi

Coventry city walls is a late medieval fortification enclosing the centre of Coventry in Warwickshire. The walls were constructed primarily during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, representing a significant investment in urban defence during the later Middle Ages. Substantial sections of t…

PC (Wikipedia Takes Coventry participant) / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Site of Charterhouse
Site of Charterhouse
Scheduled monument · ~1.2 mi

Site of Charterhouse is a Carthusian monastery situated in Warwickshire that dates to the medieval period. The monument represents the remains of a religious house established for the Carthusian order, a contemplative monastic community known for their austere practices and enclosed lifestyle. Th…

M.B. Quigley / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Motte castle 150m SSW of Allesley Hall
Motte castle 150m SSW of Allesley Hall
Scheduled monument · ~1.9 mi

Motte castle 150m SSW of Allesley Hall is a Norman motte-and-bailey earthwork situated in Warwickshire. The monument consists of a substantial mound of earth forming the motte, characteristic of defensive structures erected in the Norman period following the conquest of 1066. The castle exemplifi…

Anthony Vosper / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Roman fort at The Lunt
Roman fort at The Lunt
Scheduled monument · ~2.5 mi

The Lunt is a Roman auxiliary fort located near Coventry in Warwickshire, England. Constructed around 60 AD during the early Roman occupation of Britain, the fort served as a military installation during the campaigns following the Boudican revolt. The site is notable for its well-preserved defen…

Original uploader was Snowmanradio at en.wikipedia (Original text : snowmanradio) / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Site of Cloister, Chapter House and Undercrofts of Coventry Priory
Scheduled monument · ~0.5 miles
Moated site at Bishop Ullathorne School
Scheduled monument · ~2.1 miles
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In the same landscape

Battles near Siege of Coventry, 1642

Yorkist Siege of Coventry, 1471
1471
~0.4 miles away
Battle of Kenilworth 1265
1265
~4.7 miles away
Dudley Conspiracy Arrests 1556
1556
~7.2 miles away
Aethelflaed Builds Warwick Burh 914
914
~9.1 miles away
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