Siege of Newcastle (1644)
Who Fought
History & Significance
The siege of Newcastle (3 February 1644 – 27 October 1644) occurred during the First English Civil War, when a Covenanter army under the command of Lord General Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven besieged the Royalist garrison under Sir John Marlay, the city's governor. Eventually, the Covenanters took the city of Newcastle upon Tyne by storm, and the Royalist garrison who still held castle keep surrendered on terms.
This was not the first time that Newcastle upon Tyne had changed hands during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The Scots had occupied the city during the Second Bishops’ War in 1640.
A Covenanter army from Scotland under the command of Lord General Leslie crossed into England in January 1644. As Leslie moved his army south he left six regiments under the direction of Lieutenant General James Livingstone, 1st Earl of Callander, to lay siege to the city of Newcastle upon Tyne beginning 3 February (after the town was formally asked to surrender).
The city was not continually invested at that time. In a complicated situation, the Earl of Callander diverted his troops to take surrounding towns like Newburn, as the main Covenanter army pressed south. In the meantime, the royalist governor reinforced his position and also sent forces south where the Royalist and the main Covenanter-Parliamentarian allied armies clashed at the Battle of Marston Moor.
The defeat of the Royalist field army at Marston Moor on 2 July ultimately decided the fate of Newcastle and all the other Royalist strongholds in the North East of England as all such garrisons would be separated from any possibility of relief during a siege.
Beginning 15 August 1644, Newcastle and Tynemouth were again a target for Callander, now joined by the main Covenanters under Leven. Bombardment and mines were necessary to breach the walls. The western half of the city's wall fell on 19 October 1644. Those remaining loyal to the Royalist cause retreated into the Castle Keep. Finding the situation hopeless, surrender was negotiated with General Leslie by the Royalist Governor, Sir John Marlay on 27 October 1644. The terms of surrender were generous including the promise of mercy for the garrison, although some of the Royalist leaders, including Marlay himself, suffered imprisonment or banishment.
The Covenanters were delighted at the result, more so it is thought than the English Parliament. Tynemouth had fallen on 27 October 1644 and the Scots were now able to control the Tyneside coal trade for a second time which they did until they were persuaded to leave on 30 January 1647 with the demise of the Solemn League and Covenant.
The ground they fought on
The site of Siege of Newcastle (1644) lies on Pennine Middle Coal Measures Formation And South Wales Middle Coal Measures Formation (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Moscovian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete.
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- Siege of Newcastle · Wikidata
- Siege_of_Newcastle · Wikipedia