Siege of Hartlebury Castle
Who Fought
Royalist garrison: 120 foot soldiers and 20 cavalry troopers under Captain Sandys and Lord Windsor; Parliamentary forces under Colonel Thomas Morgan
History & Significance
Hartlebury Castle, a Grade I listed building, near Hartlebury in Worcestershire, central England, was built in the mid-13th century as a fortified manor house, on manorial land earlier given to the Bishop of Worcester by King Burgred of Mercia. It lies near Stourport-on-Severn in an area with several large manors and country houses, including Witley Court, Astley Hall, Pool House, Areley Hall and Hartlebury and Abberley Hall. Later, it became the bishop's principal residence.
Hartlebury Castle was the residence of the Bishop of Worcester from the early 13th century until 2007.
Bishop Walter de Cantilupe, a supporter of Simon de Montfort, began to fortify the Castle, which was embattled and finished by his successor, Godfrey Giffard, in 1268. The gatehouse was added in the reign of Henry VI, by Bishop Carpenter.
King Edward I became Hartlebury Castle's first royal visitor in 1282, when he was on the way to Wales. Princess Mary came to Hartlebury in April 1526. Queen Elizabeth stayed on 12 August 1575 with the Bishop Nicholas Bullingham, while on a journey to Worcester.
In 1582, Bishop John Whitgift signed the paper that allowed William Shakespeare to marry Anne Hathaway.
In 1646, during the First English Civil War, Hartlebury Castle was strongly fortified and held for King Charles I by Captain Sandys and Lord Windsor, with 120 foot soldiers and 20 horse (cavalry troopers), and provisions for twelve months. However, when summoned by Colonel Thomas Morgan for Parliament, it surrendered in two days without a shot being fired. The Castle was slighted, and the Parliamentary Commissioners seized it and the manor estate, which were sold to Thomas Westrowe for £3,133 6s. 8d. They were returned to the Bishop of Worcester after the Stuart Restoration of 1660. The remains of the Civil War-era bastion ditch were first identified from cropmarks in July 2022, and were excavated in 2023. The ditch was found to be 3.4m deep, and produced 17th-century finds including a coin of James I and lead pistol shot.
The Hurd Library was built by Bishop Hurd in 1782 and still contains his extensive collection of books, including works from the libraries of Alexander Pope and William Warburton. Among them is the copy of the Iliad from which Pope's translation was made.
Bishop Hurd was visited by King George III, Queen Charlotte, three of the princesses and the Duke of York in 1788.
The avenue of limes in the park was planted by Bishop Stillingfleet. Bishop Pepys presented Queen Victoria with the herd of deer kept at Hartlebury since time immemorial. An idea of how a bishop's family lived in the mid-19th century can be gained from the vivid diary of ten-year-old Emily Pepys, daughter of Bishop Pepys, which covers a six-month period in 1844–1845.
The ground they fought on
The site of Siege of Hartlebury Castle lies on Triassic Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Triassic. The rock here is sandstone and conglomerate, interbedded.
Despite being garrisoned with 120 foot soldiers, 20 cavalry troopers and provisions for a full year, Hartlebury Castle capitulated to Colonel Thomas Morgan's Parliamentary summons in just two days without a single shot exchanged. Centuries later, excavations in 2023 uncovered the bastion ditch the Royalist defenders had dug to protect the castle, still 3.4 metres deep and yielding lead pistol shot and a coin of James I as silent reminders of a siege that never truly began.
- None recorded; no shot was fired
Frequently Asked Questions
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