Berkeley Castle surrenders to the Parliamentarians
The Civil Wars (1642-46) were a troubled time for the Castle.
Its strategic position made its possession
important to both sides and it changed hands five times.
A notable occasion occurred when a Parliamentary
force attacked the King’s forces
which had held the Castle from August 1643: the churchyard was captured
following a
cavalry charge up the slope from the High Street and once
artillery had been
brought into the churchyard, the Castle was forced to surrender.
As the Parliamentary troops were then urgently
needed elsewhere,
the officers commandeered the Castle chattels
and sold them
to pay each man five shillings in lieu of plunder.
In August 1646 Parliament ordered that the
Castle be slighted,
resulting in the gap in the Keep wall, still visible today.
