ABSTRACT
It was King Charles's misfortune that many of his most powerful subjects wanted to help him on their own terms and in their own back yards, rather than on the larger stage of the national scene. Throughout the English Civil War there were Royalists who fought purely on a parochial basis against their neighbours, and some interesting amateur sieges resulted. All kinds of subterfuge were employed to make up for lack of ordnance, mines were used and even the medieval device of piling brushwood against a gate to burn it down was not scorned. The first attack, led by Colonel Richard Norton, with a troop of horse and one of dragoons, coincided with the arrival of 100 musketeers from Oxford under Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Peake. The second major attack was not launched until 11 July 1644, but it must not be supposed that the interim was a time of peace and quiet for Basing.
