ABSTRACT
The impact of the first Civil War on the lives and fortunes of the parliamentarian gentry vindicated those who had predicted that it would have the most damaging consequences and shattered the illusions of those who had been convinced that the king would soon be vanquished. At one time or another there was hardly a county in England, excepting only East Anglia, where known Roundheads could feel reasonably immune from royalist attacks. In the counties to the west of London many of the parliamentarian gentry had their houses and estates plundered. During the years 1643 to 1645 Sir Thomas Jervoise’s estate at Herriard in Hampshire was laid waste by soldiers from the royal garrison at Basing House. Although Northamptonshire was the most strongly parliamentarian of the Midland counties there was a continuing danger of incursions from some of the neighbouring shires.
