Qualla: Siege of Plymouth https://qualla.com/siege-of-plymouth en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:11 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/b/v/n/siege-of-plymouth-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Siege of Plymouth https://qualla.com/siege-of-plymouth Siege of Plymouth: Introduction https://qualla.com/siege-of-plymouth/ Photo credit NordNordWest, CC BY-SA 3.0. Two men came to demand Plymouth's surrender during the English Civil War, and both were turned away. The first was a messenger sent in the summer of 1642, who carried a polite request to capitulate and was told never to return. The second, two years later, was the King of England himself - Charles I, fresh from defeating the Earl of Essex at Lostwithiel - and Charles's blockade lasted only a few weeks before the urgent demands of his crumbling cause pulled him away. Plymouth held. For nearly four years, from August 1642 to January 1646, a town surrounded on land and ravaged by typhus refused every Royalist attempt to break it. The reason was simple and almost unanswerable: the Royalists never managed to take the sea.

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Image: NordNordWest | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/b/v/n/siege-of-plymouth-wp/gbvn-siege-of-plymouth-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Siege of Plymouth: An Island Holding the Sea Lane https://qualla.com/siege-of-plymouth/ Photo credit Nilfanion, CC BY-SA 3.0. Plymouth's strategic value was less about the town itself and more about its harbour. When the Civil War began in August 1642, Parliament secured most of southern and western England, including the great ports of Plymouth and Exeter, and crucially, the bulk of the Royal Navy. Tha...

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Image: Nilfanion | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/b/v/n/siege-of-plymouth-wp/gbvn-siege-of-plymouth-an-island-holding-the-sea-lane.mp3 0:06 2 full Siege of Plymouth: The Scottish Mercenaries Who Stayed https://qualla.com/siege-of-plymouth/ Photo credit Nilfanion, CC BY-SA 3.0. Plymouth's first real piece of luck was an accident of shipping. In early October 1642, a contingent of experienced Scottish mercenaries under Colonel William Ruthven called into the port for supplies on their way back from service in Ireland. The Parliamentary town council, face...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/b/v/n/siege-of-plymouth-wp/gbvn-siege-of-plymouth-the-scottish-mercenaries-who-stayed.mp3 0:06 3 full Siege of Plymouth: The Treason of Sir Alexander Carew https://qualla.com/siege-of-plymouth/ Photo credit Nilfanion, CC BY-SA 3.0. Royalist success elsewhere in 1643 - Hopton's victory at Roundway Down in July, Prince Rupert's storming of Bristol, Prince Maurice's capture of Exeter in September - left Plymouth isolated as the last Parliamentary enclave in the West Country, and isolation tempted defection. Th...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/b/v/n/siege-of-plymouth-wp/gbvn-siege-of-plymouth-the-treason-of-sir-alexander-carew.mp3 0:06 4 full Siege of Plymouth: Freedom Fields https://qualla.com/siege-of-plymouth/ Photo credit Nilfanion, CC BY-SA 3.0. The most serious Royalist assault came on 3 December 1643. Led by a local guide who knew the ground, Royalist troops took advantage of a low tide to capture an outpost at Laira Point. Parliamentary reinforcements tried to retake it but were driven back into what is now Freedom Fi...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/b/v/n/siege-of-plymouth-wp/gbvn-siege-of-plymouth-freedom-fields.mp3 0:06 5 full Siege of Plymouth: The King Comes In Person, and Leaves https://qualla.com/siege-of-plymouth/ Photo credit Nilfanion, CC BY-SA 3.0. After defeating the Earl of Essex at Lostwithiel in September 1644 the main Royalist field army under Charles I himself arrived outside Plymouth and demanded its surrender. The garrison again refused. Reinforcements continued to arrive by sea, including a regiment under Colonel J...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/b/v/n/siege-of-plymouth-wp/gbvn-siege-of-plymouth-the-king-comes-in-person-and-leaves.mp3 0:06 6 full