We then prepared our batteries

Medieval castles were not designed to withstand the artillery of the mid-seventeenth century. Drawing on archaeological, architectural, topographic, cartographic, and historical evidence, ‘We then prepared our batteries’: The Medieval Castles of the Welsh Marches in the British Civil Wars of 1642–1646 and 1648 explores how these fortresses fared against the artillery and siege warfare of the British Civil Wars, and how their medieval structures shaped a conflict for which they were never intended.

Using the Welsh Marches as a focused study area, this work illuminates the role of the medieval castle during the brutal Civil Wars, examining in detail the castles of Chepstow, Raglan, Goodrich, Hopton, Beeston, and Denbigh.

This is Richard Israel’s second book for Helion. His first, ‘The Cannon Played the Great Fort’: Sieges in the Severn Valley during the English Civil War, 1642–1646, was published in 2021.

"[This] book should be read by anyone intending to visit the castles covered, as it provides a new perspective from which to appreciate the structures and landscape." Chartered Institute for Archaeologists