BattlefieldsReading Siege 1643 Essex Relief March
English Civil War

Reading Siege 1643 Essex Relief March

1643
England
Era
English Civil War
Battle Type
Siege
Location
England
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Royalists
VS
Victor
Parliamentarians
Forces involved

Parliamentarian army over 19,000 (16,000 foot, 3,000 cavalry, plus artillery) under the Earl of Essex; Royalist garrison approximately 3,300 under Sir Arthur Aston then Colonel Richard Feilding; separate Royalist relief force under King Charles I and Prince Rupert

Outcome
Essex's Parliamentarian army blockaded and bombarded the town for eleven days, repelled a Royalist relief attempt led by King Charles I and Prince Rupert at Caversham Bridge on 25 April, and accepted the Royalist garrison's surrender (with generous terms allowing safe passage to Oxford) on 27 April 1643.
The Battle

History & Significance

Reading Siege 1643 Essex Relief March was a Civil War siege, the investment of a fortified position, fought in England in 1643. Parliamentarians prevailed over Royalists. Essex's Parliamentarian army blockaded and bombarded the town for eleven days, repelled a Royalist relief attempt led by King Charles I and Prince Rupert at Caversham Bridge on 25 April, and accepted the Royalist garrison's surrender (with generous terms allowing safe passage to Oxford) on 27 April 1643.

Confirmed battlefield location
The ground

The ground they fought on

The site of Reading Siege 1643 Essex Relief March lies on White Chalk Subgroup, bedrock that formed in the Maastrichtian. The rock here is chalk.

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Overview
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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.
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Protected heritage nearby

Scheduled Monuments near Reading Siege 1643 Essex Relief March

Reading Abbey: a Cluniac and Benedictine monastery and Civil War earthwork.
Reading Abbey: a Cluniac and Benedictine monastery and Civil War earthwork.
Scheduled monument · ~0 mi

Reading Abbey is a Cluniac and later Benedictine monastery founded in 1121 by King Henry I in Berkshire, England, which became one of the wealthiest and most influential religious houses in medieval England. The abbey was established as a daughter house of the Cluniac order and housed the reliqua…

Chris Wood (User:chris_j_wood). / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
High Bridge
High Bridge
Scheduled monument · ~0.2 mi

High Bridge is a medieval masonry bridge in Berkshire, England, constructed in the thirteenth century to carry traffic across a local watercourse. The structure is built of stone and represents characteristic engineering of the period, with its arch and coursed masonry construction reflecting the…

don cload / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Site of St Bartholomew's Church
Site of St Bartholomew's Church
Scheduled monument · ~4 mi

Site of St Bartholomew's Church is a medieval ecclesiastical monument located in Berkshire, England. The site represents the remains of a parish church that served a local community during the medieval period, with evidence suggesting occupation and use spanning several centuries. The monument su…

Michael FORD / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Sheffield (or Shenfield) Lock
Sheffield (or Shenfield) Lock
Scheduled monument · ~4.8 mi

Sheffield Lock is a canal lock situated on the Kennet and Avon Canal in Berkshire. The lock dates from the early nineteenth century and forms part of the engineering infrastructure associated with the canal's construction and operation between 1794 and 1810. As a surviving example of Georgian can…

Traveler100 / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Castle Grove camp
Castle Grove camp
Scheduled monument · ~5.1 mi

Castle Grove camp is a prehistoric earthwork monument located in Oxfordshire, England. The site consists of a defended enclosure with banks and ditches characteristic of Iron Age hillforts or camps, representing settlement and defensive structures typical of the first millennium BCE. The monument…

ian freeman / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Greys Court; castle wall, towers and well house
Greys Court; castle wall, towers and well house
Scheduled monument · ~6.1 mi

Greys Court is a medieval fortified house in Oxfordshire with origins in the late twelfth century, though the surviving structures largely date from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The site retains substantial remnants of its defensive works, including castle walls and towers that exempli…

Dennis Jackson / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Cropmark complex S of Charvil Lane
Scheduled monument · ~3.1 miles
Cropmark complex in Straighthanger Field
Scheduled monument · ~3.2 miles
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