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BOOK
REVIEW
English Civil War Fortifications 1642-51
by Peter Harrington, illustrated by D
Spedaliere and S S Spedaliere.
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I
was very excited about this title. I have read a lot of books about the English
Civil Wars but have seen very little entirely devoted to the science of
fortifications and siege craft during the conflict. This is surprising, because
although the Wars are often thought of in terms of battles such as Marston Moor
and Naseby, the author of this new volume quite rightly points out that sieges,
and not battles, rapidly became "the dominant instrument for prosecuting
the war". Indeed, the armies spent far more energy surviving or prosecuting
sieges than they did in looking for a decisive confrontation on the battlefield,
from the King's blockade of Hull in July 1642, to the surrender of Galway to
Parliament ten years later.
However, in the early 1640s very places in England had defences in a state of repair, and fewer still had modern fortifications capable of resisting artillery fire. As a result, many towns and cities had to improvise their defences, piling earth behind their medieval walls, adding bastions for artillery, and building outworks to keep besieging forces at a distance. The author of this new work, Peter Harrington, explains all of this in detail. He covers the cost and methods of construction and the science of fortification, reports the experience of defenders and attackers in actual cases, and tells what life was like for the besieged, backing it all up with many quotations from contemporary writers.
The
book also explains why there is so little evidence of the huge amount of
fortification remaining today, and details sites where you can still see the
evidence. It ends with a useful bibliography, a glossary of fortification terms,
and an index. Of course, like all Osprey titles, the real strength of the book
lies in the many illustrations. There are contemporary engravings of all aspects
of fortification and construction methods, as well as plans of towns, details of
parts of fortifications, and even the tools required to construct them. In
addition there are full colour artworks showing fortifications and sieges at
Chester, Newark, Donnington Castle, London and Basing House, and illustrations
of besieging forces and a siege battery. I don't know the artists, but the
illustrations are certainly finely detailed and nicely executed. Some of the
besieging troops look a little Italian in appearance, but I'll be charitable and
assume those characters to be continental engineers and mercenaries!
This
book fills a much-needed gap in the information available on the Civil Wars.
There is certainly plenty of information in the book and more than enough detail
to allow the construction of miniature 17th century defence works, plus
trenches, saps, and lines of circumvallation for the besiegers. If you have an
old discarded medieval castle, maybe now is the time to apply the modern science
of artillery fortification, add on bastions, a couple of ravelins and a sconce,
and put your defences in order for the King.
John
Ramscar
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