Destruction in the English Civil Wars

by S. Porter

'This day came their Mortar piece which struck the poor Cittizens into an Ague fite of trembling and gazing at the strangeness thereof, not having seen the like before.'. The inhabitant of the besieged town of Lichfield who recorded the above was not alone in witnessing the destructive impact of the English Civil Wars of the mid-seventeenth century. Towns, villages, churches and country houses up and down the land were affected. Indeed, destruction was so widespread that by the end of the Second Civil War at least 150 towns and 50 villages had suffered some damage, 200 country houses had been ruined, and more than 50,000 people had been made homeless. This book is the first detailed study of this aspect of the Civil Wars and makes available the results of many years of study and research of original documents and manuscripts in record offices and local history libraries throughout the country. Much of the material has never previously been published. The author conveys vividly, often t