User menu
Main menu

Siege of Lichfield

60 second histories

This video covers:  A description of the sieges of Lichfield during the English Civil War

There were two sieges on the cathedral and close at Lichfield in sixteen forty-three. In the first siege the Royalists were inside the cathedral and the Parliamentarians used a mortar on them. It’s a piece that fires a ball so big filled with gunpowder and shoots it almost vertically up into the air dropping the explosive ball onto the enemy position to explode among them. The use of this weapon caused the Royalists to surrender. In the second siege, the Parliamentarians were in the cathedral when the Royalists succeeded in mining under one of the towers in the close. They exploded at least five barrels of gunpowder and it blew up the tower. The battle that followed was hot and although the Royalists were beaten back the Parliamentarian soldiers had to surrender the cathedral for lack of food and ammunition. During a third siege, three years later with the Royalists back in the Cathedral, the Parliamentarians had to blow up the centre spire and fetch it down to stop Royalist soldiers from shooting down at them, but still the siege dragged on.
Eras: 
17th Century
English Civil War
Topics: 
Civil War
Battles
Character: 
17th century lady
Key words: 
Lichfield, English Civil War, Civil War, cathedral, 1643, royalist, parliamentarian, mortar, gunpowder, undermining, mining, 17th Century, KS3, key stage 3, key stage 3 history, secondary, KS3 videos, KS3 clips, KS3 history, KS3 videos, KS3 history film, KS3 history clip, 17th Century, 17thC, 17C, 17th C, civil war, English civil war, Y7, Y8, Y9, Year 7, year 8, year 9