How Warwick Castle fitted in to the Civil War - fascinating lecture takes place in Banbury
Warwick Castle and its importance as a stronghold during the Civil War are the focus of a fascinating lecture in Banbury on Thursday.
The talk is the second lecture of the season organised by Banbury Historical Society. It takes place on Thursday (October 9) at 7.30pm and delivering the talk is Prof Andy Hopper of the University of Oxford.
The castle was an important stronghold for Parliament during the English Civil Wars. It was the seat of the Greville family, headed by the parliamentarian Robert Greville, 2nd Lord Brooke.
The castle withstood a siege by royalist forces at the outbreak of civil war in 1642, but Brooke was killed soon after while besieging Lichfield Cathedral Close in March 1643.
Thursday’s lecture will utilise the recently-published Brooke Household Accounts to examine what life was like in Warwick Castle and how his widow, family and household adapted to his loss.
It will also consider the significant role that Warwick went on to play in the parliamentarian war effort and how the physical structure of the castle survived the slighting inflicted on other Midland castles after the second civil war of 1648.
Professor Andy Hopper is Professor of Local and Social History in the Department for Continuing Education at the University of Oxford. He is the author of Black Tom: Sir Thomas Fairfax and the English Revolution (Manchester University Press, 2007), and Turncoats and Renegadoes: Changing Sides during the English Civil Wars (Oxford University Press, 2012).
Lectures take place in the Education Studio of Banbury Museum, with access via Spiceball Park Road and the canal towpath. Non-members are welcome – fee £5.