Explore Poole’s role in the Civil War through the Poole Borough Archive
The Civil Wars
The English Civil Wars were a series of conflicts which raged from 1642 to 1651, revolving around the struggle between the Royalists on one side and the forces of Parliament and its allies on the other. Parliament saw the King’s rule as increasingly tyrannical, demanding excessive taxes from the nation, including the hated ‘ship money’ levied to fund the Navy. The wars led to the eventual victory of the Parliamentarians and along the way saw the trial and execution of the king, Charles I, in January 1649. The hostilities had a profound impact on the whole country, with conflict and disease killing thousands. Dorset was frequently fought over and many of its key towns changed hands throughout. Poole, however, remained stubbornly Parliamentarian for the duration of the war. Seventeenth century records in the Borough of Poole Archive provide an insight into the town at war.
Defending the Town
From the early months of the war, work was undertaken to ensure the defence of Poole and for the maintenance of the soldiers garrisoned there.
At the Court of Quarter Sessions on 14 Jan 1642/3, a watch was ordered to provide for the security of the town:
‘a constant watch should be thenceforth kept for [th]e p[re]s[er]vation and the defence of this towne, by the number of one watchman, one Rounder and a gunner for the daye tyme att the towne gate and six ordinary watchmen of the Comonality and two rounders for the night watch…And every man in p[er]son to observe this order unlesse he be otherwise hindred by sicknesse and then to supply the same by some able p[er]son in his steede’
Town accounts for the Civil War period provide evidence of the money expended on the garrison from town funds, along with payments relating to local forts or temporary defensive positions. Amongst the wealth of detail in the accounts can be found references to the town gates, ‘seamans battery’, ‘fort at Ham’, ‘westerne works’, costs for pickaxes for the ‘mount workes’ and fuel for the ‘key guards’:
‘Rec’d by me Moses Durell of my late father Aron Durell, maior of the sume of 54-5-0 w[hi]ch is for the use of the garrison soul of the town…’
‘Item for a paire of pinsers lost at ripping up the fort at Ham 00 01s 06d’
‘Item for 4 men to unrig the fort at Ham for ladinge it, bringinge it out & pillinge it & for the cartage of it in all 00 12s 06d’
‘Item gave 4 Dartmouth men taken by the kings man of war 00 02s 00d’
‘Item to Gifford for guarding at seamans battery 00 05s 00d’
Leadership and the Parliamentary Army
Poole’s governance saw an overhaul during the war years, with royal supporters being replaced by those with parliamentarian sympathies. Henry Harbin, mayor from 1642, was arrested on suspicion of planning to betray Parliament. Poole’s Member of Parliament and Town Recorder, William Constantine, was also removed from office following a vote in September 1643. The decision was recorded in the Town Record Book:
‘Resolved: That Mr Constantine be forthwith disabled and discharged from being any longer a Member of this house during this Parliament for being in Armes ag[ain]st the Parliam[en]t and endeavouring to betray & deliver upp the towne of Poole’
A number of entries in Poole’s town accounts make reference to significant military leaders of the time, in particular Colonel Bingham, Governor of Poole; and Sir Thomas Fairfax, Commander-in-Chief of the New Model Army 1645-1650 and superior of Oliver Cromwell. Such references generally deal with the provision of supplies and the sending of messages between the town and the army:
‘Item gave the carter for bringinge a load of hay fro[m] Colo[nel] Bingha[m] …tusday 17 Feb 1645 [1646] 00 01s 00’
‘Item to Mr W[illia]m Hollis (lat[e] of a troope of horse) cominge from the Lord generall Fairfax & a kinsman to Mr Densill Hollis 00 02s 00’
‘Item for a quart of sacke to Mr Bromwell & his men sent fro[m] Colo[nel] Bingha[m] about speciall business & wax for their designs 00 01s 04’
Also discovered within the Borough collection is a partial rate book from the era, listing individuals upon whom a rate was levied ‘for the payment of the forces under the command of Sir Thomas Fairfax, Knight, and carrying on of the war of Ireland’. The lists are an excellent source for identifying individuals owning property in Poole during the war years.
The Town at War
The town accounts give an insight into the everyday activity of a town at war, providing details of the movement of men, arms and supplies in and out of Poole.
‘Item paid for removing powder, match and shott out of Sir Jo[h]n Webb’s sell [cellar] to magazine 00 01s 06d’
‘Item for riddinge of the guns out of one cellar into another and makinge of it cleane & 6d for Mr Butlers horse meate the last tyme he preached here 00 03s 00’
Wartime activities throughout Dorset and the rest of the country are also brought to light. Many of the costs include money spent on celebrations, including Parliament’s victory after the Siege of Chester and supplies to ‘the guards’. They occasionally reference activity in nearby towns including Wareham, which was held by royalist and parliamentarian forces at various times during the war.
‘Item for the guards to drinke of the news of Chester 00 02s 00d’
‘Item for a sad[d]le that was lost when War[e]ha[m] was last taken 00 10s 00’
‘Item for beere bestowed on the guards for scalinge the Ordinance 00 01s 06d’
Battle for Corfe Castle
Significantly, references are made to the eventual taking of Corfe Castle by parliamentarian forces from the Poole Garrison, led by Colonel Bingham. The subject of multiple attacks, the castle had been successfully defended by Lady Mary Bankes and a small garrison, particularly through a siege in 1643. A second prolonged siege was mounted in 1645-46. Eventually betrayed by one of her own colonels, the castle was captured on 27 Feb 1646. Expenses incurred by the town include the cost of food provided to the ‘guards’ and payments to messengers:
‘Item gave to him th[a]t brought newes of taking Corfe Castle 00 02s 08d’
‘Item for faggots to the guards 18d per 400 faggots spent on taking Corfe Castle 00 08s 02d’
‘Item for 4l of prunes 8 to the guards on taking of Corfe Castle 00 02s 08d’
Further Trouble and Strife
War wasn’t the only crisis that Poole had to deal with during these difficult years. The town was also hit by outbreaks of plague, forcing the creation of an isolation hospital at the windmill at Baiter and diverting funds to provide provisions for the town’s ‘pesthouses’. Foodstuffs, including wheat, oatmeal, dairy, beer, wine, fish, tobacco and milk, along with ‘two roasts of mutton, bread, fruit and spice to make broth’, were supplied to these makeshift hospitals, with watchmen employed to guard them. The costs surrounding the relief of the sick and numerous deaths and burials feature prominently in the 1645-6 accounts and provide a harrowing insight into the realities of life in a war-ravaged town.
‘Item p[ai]d for carrying Hodders 3 children to windmill and the burying Hodder and Blaks wife 00 02s 00d
‘For pitch and tarr for the sicke people to burn in their houses’
‘Item p[ai]d W[ilia]m Young for a load of turfes and his horse to draw dead corpses 00 06s 00d’
‘Item to Tito for making the grave at the pest house, in money and victuals 00 01s 04d’
‘Item p[ai]d the porters for the bringing of cheese, butters, wheate to pesthouses from the Isle of Weyte [White] 00 04s 00d’
Sources
From Poole Borough Archive (available at Dorset History Centre)
Record Book, 1566-1701, DC-PL/B/1/1/1
Mayoral accounts of Aron Durell, 1639-1640, 1645-1646 (CLA 177), DC-PL/DA/2/81
Mayoral accounts of Aron Durell, 1645-1646, DC-PL/DA/2/83
Paper containing memoranda concerning town accounts and payments to the poor during the mayoralty of ‘Mr Hiley’, c.1649, DC-PL/DA/9/10
Clerk of the Market’s Court Book, 1649-1651 [Unfit for production], DC-PL/C/G/1/1
Published sources
Jenny Oliver, Transcript of Town Accounts, 1645-6 (Poole Museum)
Cecil N. Cullingford, ‘A History Of Poole’, 2003
John Sydenham, ‘A History of the Town and County of Poole’, 1839