Aston Hall in the Civil War
Listener's query
"I used to live near Aston Hall and the story we heard was that it had been involved in the English Civil War and had been hit by a cannonball. Is this true?"
Brief summary
Aston Hall in Birmingham was one of the last major Jacobean houses to be built in England. It was built by the wealthy Warwickshire landowner Sir Thomas Holte, who had been knighted when James I first made his way to London from Scotland, and who subsequently bought himself a baronetcy. Wanting a country seat suitable for his new status he built a mansion at Aston. Now it is no longer in the country but tucked down beside and almost under the dual carriageway swooping its way on concrete stilts from the M6 down into Birmingham. It is also within yards of the Aston Villa football ground. Work began on the Hall in 1618 and it was only completed in 1635. Seven years later its involvement in the English Civil War began.
Birmingham was strongly Parliamentarian; the country areas were not. Sir Thomas had Royalist sympathies, and after sitting on the fence for some time he finally came out in open support of the Royalist cause. Twice during the Civil War Aston Hall came to the forefront. Early in the war, in 1642, King Charles and his army, heading from Shrewsbury to London, stopped at Aston Hall and spent the night of 18 October there. It is said that the King's train of baggage handlers were attacked as they went through Birmingham, which possibly explains the violence of the revenge later taken on the city. A few months later the King's nephew, Prince Rupert, took a small force there and sacked Birmingham, raping and pillaging as they went. After his night at Aston Hall, the King went to Edgehill and there fought the first pitched battle of the war.
The Hall next came to the front line over a year later. Now a confirmed Royalist, Sir Thomas Holte asked for the Hall to be garrisoned.In December 1643 a small detachment of 40 Royalist musketeers was sent from Dudley Castle. The Parliamentary response was swift: 300 horse and foot troops were sent from Coventry to take Aston Hall.
On Christmas Day 1643 the Hall was put under siege. When the Royalists refused to surrender, the Hall was bombarded by cannon. The church was stormed and the Hall attacked. The Parliamentarian troops scrambled over the earthwork defences which Sir Thomas had reluctantly allowed the Royalist garrison to dig in the grounds. The troops got into the house and there was some stiff fighting in which several members of the garrison and the household were killed. At some stage a cannonball hit a balustrade on the main staircase - the damage has never been repaired and is there to this day. Most of the Royalists surrendered but two Parliamentarian soldiers were shot and in revenge some savage killing went on before the final surrender. The house was sacked, Sir Thomas arrested, in time charged and his estate sequestered. Eventually he paid a large sum of money to get Aston Hall back.
Experts consulted
Rachel Hunter, curator of Aston Hall
John Sutton, historian
Further reading
Roy Sherwood, Civil War in the Midlands (Sutton Publishing, 1992)
Peter Young and Richard Holmes, The English Civil War - A Military History of Three Civil Wars, 1642-51 (Wordsworth Editions Ltd, 2000)
Oliver Fairclough, Grand Old Mansion: Holtes and Their Successors at Aston Hall, 1618-1864 (Birmingham Museums & Art Galleries, 1984)
Place to visit
Aston Hall
Trinity Road, Aston, Birmingham B6 6JD
Tel: 0121 327 0062
Websites
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Vanessa has presentedÌýscience and current affairs programmes for ±«Óãtv, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Discovery and has presented for ±«Óãtv Radio 4 & Five Live and a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday, Scotsman and Sunday Herald.Ìý