Siege of Arundel

Siege of Arundel (1643)
Part of First English Civil War
Arundel Castle, 2006; the Norman keep (shown here) is the only survivor from 1643, the rest 19th century
Date 19 December 1643 – 6 January 1644 Location Arundel, West Sussex Result Parliamentarian victory
Belligerents
Royalists	Parliamentarians
Commanders and leaders
Joseph Bampfield  Sir Edward Ford	Sir William Waller John Birch (WIA)
Strength
800 [a]	5,000
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Unknown

The siege of Arundel took place during the First English Civil War, from 19 December 1643 to 6 January 1644, when a Royalist garrison surrendered to a Parliamentarian army under Sir William Waller.

At the end of 1642, South-East England was largely controlled by Parliament, with pockets of Royalist support in Hampshire and Kent. In an October 1643 offensive led by Sir Ralph Hopton, the Royalists advanced into Sussex, where a small garrison at Arundel Castle surrendered without fighting on 2 December.^[b]

Hopton's policy of trying to hold as many towns as possible left individual garrisons isolated, while the Royalists lacked a mobile field army, capable of quickly supporting threatened positions. Arundel was attacked by a large Parliamentarian force on 19 December; although strongly held, severe weather and poor roads meant it could not be relieved, and surrendered on 6 January.
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