History and Stories
Goodrich Castle from the north-west, with the tower that bore the brunt of the Civil War siege in the foreground

Life under Siege at Goodrich Castle

In the 1920s, workers clearing rubble from the courtyard at Goodrich Castle discovered the castle’s well, which had been filled in and buried. The well head had taken a direct hit during the Civil War siege, probably from a shell fired by Roaring Meg.

When the workmen emptied the well to its base, 166 feet down, they found not only fragments of the shell but also many objects relating to the domestic activities that took place in the yard and its service buildings in the mid-17th century.

At the bottom of the well was the bucket with its windlass and chain – all water in the castle would have been drawn by hand and carried to where it was needed. Above these were tools and household equipment mixed in with cannonballs. All were very well-preserved because of the waterlogged conditions in the well. They were covered by a great depth of rubble from the bomb-damaged buildings.

The moat and stables area produced large numbers of cannonballs and other weaponry, as well as horse equipment.

You can explore some of the highlights from the Goodrich Castle collection in the gallery below.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE CIVIL WAR SIEGE

Caltrop

Caltrop

  • Date: 17th century
  • Material: wrought iron

Caltrops are a type of defensive weapon used since the Roman period and still in use today. They were spread on the ground in advance of foot soldiers and cavalry. Because of their form, they will always fall with a spike pointing upwards.



Incendiary cannonball

Incendiary cannonball

  • Date: 17th century
  • Material: cast and wrought iron

Fired from cannon when red-hot, cannonballs like these had spikes that would have enabled them to fix into timber buildings and set them alight. Incendiary cannonballs were also often used for naval battles.



Musket balls

Musket balls

  • Date: 17th century
  • Material: lead
  • Place Made/Found: across the castle

Muskets were slow to reload, inaccurate, and had a limited range. But with enough musketeers in a line firing together they could be very effective.

Musket owners had to carry the equipment needed to melt lead and cast their own shot. The casting marks showing the two halves of the mould are visible on some of the examples here.



Flintlock pistol barrel

Flintlock pistol barrel

  • Date: 17th century
  • Material: cast iron

During the Civil War, only the elite would have had personal small arms such as this. The foot soldiers would have been supplied with crude inexpensive weapons such as pikes.



Stoneware tankard

Stoneware tankard

  • Date: 17th century
  • Material: ceramic
  • Place Made/Found: north side of the moat, about 4 inches down

Durable stoneware drinking vessels such as this one were imported from Germany in huge numbers in the 17th and 18th centuries. In a rich household the rim was sometimes enhanced with a decorative silver collar.



Gilded spur

Gilded spur

  • Date: 17th century
  • Material: copper alloy with gilding
  • Place Made/Found: the barbican, about 3 inches down in made-up ground

In the 17th century horsemanship was almost a cult among the rich and powerful. The decoration of this gilded spur shows how elaborate equestrian equipment could be.



Baker’s peel

Baker’s peel

  • Date: 17th century
  • Material: wrought iron
  • Place Made/Found: the castle well

The kitchen and bread oven were near the well in the courtyard. This baker’s peel, for putting bread into a deep wood-fired oven and retrieving it, would originally have had a long wooden handle.



Harness mount

Harness mount

  • Date: 17th century
  • Material: copper alloy

Horses as well as riders had high-end accessories, the origin of later horse brasses. This decorative mount would have been highly polished when new.



Laundry paddle

Laundry paddle

  • Date: 17th century
  • Material: wood
  • Place Made/Found: the castle well

For millennia women washed laundry next to watercourses and wells using a paddle, also called a bat, to extract water from the wet fabric. This is a rare survival, preserved by the waterlogged conditions in the well.



Decorative ceiling plaster

Decorative ceiling plaster

  • Date: probably 16th century
  • Material: plaster under limewash
  • Place Made/Found: basement of the north-west tower

These three pendants and a section of a rib would have formed part of a plaster ceiling. Many high-status medieval buildings were modernised and redecorated in the 16th century, and an elaborate plaster ceiling for the most important rooms was a particular ‘must-have’ addition.



Claw hammer

Claw hammer

  • Date: 17th century
  • Material: wrought iron
  • Place Made/Found: the castle well

Many tools were recovered from the well, including this claw hammer, which is almost identical to a modern example.

Other types of tool found include a ‘plumber’s dummy’, used to unblock drains. The numbers of these found suggest that the drains were a considerable problem at Goodrich Castle.



Find out more

  • The Siege of Goodrich Castle

    In 1646 Goodrich Castle was the scene of one of the most hard-fought sieges of the English Civil War, which Parliament finally won with the aid of a huge mortar, known as Roaring Meg. 

  • History of Goodrich Castle

    Read a full history of Goodrich Castle, one of the best-preserved medieval castles in England, which was besieged and captured by Parliamentarians during the Civil War of the 17th century.

  • Life in a medieval household

    Goodrich Castle was a thriving medieval household, where sometimes hundreds of people were living at any one time. Find out about some of the household members and their life at the castle.

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