Basing at the outbreak of war 

Basing House was the seat of John Paulet, the Catholic Marquis of Winchester, one of the wealthiest landowners in England. During the 16th Century, Paulet's ancestor the first Marquis of Winchester had transformed Basing from a medieval manor house into a massive palace and fortress five storeys high with nearly 400 rooms. There were two main buildings: the Citadel or Old House, built within the ramparts of the medieval castle, and the New House, a large mansion built in the bailey some years later. A bridge and gateway linked the two houses. Beyond these were outbuildings, orchards and gardens, all contained within a boundary wall approximately one mile in circumference.

Situated on the main road from London to the west, Basing House was strategically important and was attacked three times by Parliament: the first siege in November 1643, the second siege from June-October 1644 and the final siege from August to October 1645 when the House finally fell.

Basing sheltered many Royalist fugitives and refugees, including the architect Inigo Jones and the engraver Wenceslas Hollar. The Marquis was a Roman Catholic so Basing also became a refuge for Catholics, amongst whom were a number of priests. Puritans regarded Basing as a malevolent "nest of Papists".

The First Siege

Basing was attacked by local Parliamentarians under Colonel Richard Norton in July 1643. The Marquis and his retainers held them off until reenforcements arrived from Oxford.  Shortly afterwards, Colonel Marmaduke Rawdon arrived with his regiment to take over as military governor of Basing.  During summer/autumn 1643, Rawdon supervised the strengthening of Basing's defences with the addition of an extensive system of earthwork banks, ditches and bastions that transformed it into a formidable fortress commanding the main road from London to the west.  Waller laid siege to the House in November 1643 but abandoned the siege later that month as winter closed in.

The Second Siege

Parliament resumed the siege in June 1644.  The Marquis only had 250 men to defend Basing.  However, the Parliamentarian commander, Colonel Norton, was aware that all Waller's attempts to storm the House had failed and he therefore planned on blockading the garrison and starving them out.  With Basing surrounded and cut off, the Parliamentarians began constructing siege works and once they were firmly entrenched, artillery was sent down from London. The bombardment began on 28 June and continued at intervals throughout July and August.   

Photograph by Lizzie Webbe - SK

By early September 1644, supplies were running dangerously low (the House had run out of necessities like flour for bread and salt for preserving meat) and the Marquis sent a message to Oxford that he could hold out for another ten days and then "must I submit to the worst conditions the rebels are like to grant to my person and religion".  Colonel Henry Gage raised a volunteer force from surrounding outposts and set out for Basing on 9 September carrying supplies of ammunition and gunpowder.  

Gage succeeded in driving the besiegers back and cutting their way through to Basing House during the early hours of 11 September.  Having assigned 100 men of Hawkin's regiment to the garrison, Gage proceeded to Basingstoke to commandeer livestock and supplies of wheat, malt and cheese, while a separate party of men from the garrison and the relief force drove Parliament out of Basing village and the church, securing the victual trains' approach to the House. With Basing fully reprovisioned, Gage's force slipped out under cover of darkness and fog on Thursday night (12 September).   They succeeded in evading Parliamentarian patrols by swimming their horses across the rivers Kennet and Thames guided by two local scouts and reached Oxford in safety on 14 September. Gage was later knighted.

Colonel Norton resumed the siege for a further two months, but again backed off when winter closed in.

The Third Siege

In May 1645, the Marquis petitioned King Charles for the removal of all Protestants from Basing, including the military governor Sir Marmaduke Rawdon who had directed the defence of the first two sieges. The King agreed to his request and Rawdon marched out with reportedly 50 horse and 450 foot on May Day 1645.

In August 1645 Parliament commissioned Colonel John Dalbier to reduce Basing and provided him with artillery and a local force of 800 foot and horse. Dalbier was a skilled military engineer and spent several weeks surveying and planning the deployment of his guns to maximise their effectiveness against Basing's walls. The bombardment began in September and Dalbier methodically weakened the defences.  

 On 8 October Cromwell arrived with New Model Army regiments and a further train of artillery, setting up batteries on the south-eastern side of the House. A final summons to surrender was rejected on 11 October and the guns began firing on 12 October.   On 13 October, a party of horse slipped out of the House and captured two high ranking Parliament officers, Colonel Hammond and Major King.After two days bombardment, the heavy guns had breached the walls in at least two places and Cromwell ordered a general assault for daybreak on 14 October. 

The storm was brief and bloody, lasting less than two hours. The assault was led by the regiments of Colonels Pickering, Hartop, Dalbier, Montagu and Sir Hardress Waller from different directions. There were too few defenders to withstand the massive strength of the New Model Army and they were quickly driven back from the outer defences to make a last stand at the gatehouse of the Old House. Civilians as well as soldiers were killed in the assault, including six Catholic priests and one woman (after she protested at the treatment of her father who had been taken prisoner and was badly wounded). Between one and two hundred defenders were killed, the rest taken prisoner, including the Marquis.

Cromwell allowed his troops to plunder the riches of the House: money, plate, jewels, hangings and furniture to the value of £200,000.  Having been looted bare, Basing House itself caught fire, probably by accident: heated shot was fired against the House during the attack and it is possible that a small fire wasn't properly doused and had remained smouldering unperceived.   Not all of the prisoners had been taken out of the House before the fire started and those who were still locked in the vaults were left to burn to death.      The House burned for 20 hours and after the fires were finally out, Parliament ordered the ruins to be demolished - determined that Basing should be an example to other Royalist garrisons to encourage them to surrender on easy terms.

This page was last modified on 02 July 2010