BattlegroundYorkshire

Well, I have decided to make my next project the 'Great Siege of Yorke' in 1644. I have done some very early initial research and I am confident that I can make a really good walking tour and combined book about the events of the siege and its after effects. I have began putting together the a4 leaflet and its early stages make it really exciting. There's nothing like this available to the interested casual visitor or more seasoned historical walker and battlefield addict at the moment in York, and its a piece of Yorks history usually neglected amongst the more popular Roman, Viking, Tudor, Georgian and Victorian periods.

Hopefully i will uncover some fascinating facts, lost locations, archaeological evidence and even some un-earthly tales to divulge to the walking groups. Here's some pix of Walmgate I took on Saturday last, having often read about signs of bombardment from the Parliamentarian guns on Lamel Hill and St Lawerences Church yard i decided to go and look for myself. Having seen the results of musket fire on the Gatehouse of Falkland Palace where i used to work, i know what the signature of the lead ball and cannon ball on stone looks like.

I also took some pix of St Sampsons church in the centre of York. Apparently due to the lack of any positive break thru by targetting the thick walls the Parliament gunners decided to aim for what they could see, and this included the highest church steeples and towers. Look carefully at the tower and you can see the original brickwork and the newer replacement work when the tower was reconstructed.

Outer wall on Walmgate barbican showing the effects of lead shot on the stone.

Larger diameter concave damage on the Walmgate barbican, probably due to a small cannon or culverin, about 5-6ins across. The trauma around the centre is typical of when iron or lead and stone meet. The frustration of the gunners to make large breaches to the strong defences are obvious. In fact the city walls were never broken down due to the bombardment, only by undermining the walls did the besiegers gain any access.

The barbican outer wall with noticable sagging of the stone work, probably due to the underground mining work carried out by the Parliamentarians, which was counter mined by the Royalists inside.

St Sampsons Church. The outer side of the tower with quite obvious new stonework showing where the gunners had a bit of effective target practice, with no strategic or military results.

One interesting aspect is the dual between the guns placed on Cliffords tower and the cannon situated on Lamel Hill, at least 100 shots were fired at the Parliament site, I wonder how many iron cannon ball still lie under the earth around there, now called Lamel Beeches. Methinks a knock on a few doors around the modern housing estate may uncover some results.....