Storming of Shelford House
Confrontation of the English Civil War between 1 and 3 November 1645The Storming of Shelford House was a confrontation of the English Civil War that took place from 1 to 3 November 1645. The Parliamentarian force of Colonel-General Sydnam Poyntz attacked the Royalist outpost of Shelford House, which was one of a group of strongholds defending the strategically important town of Newark-on-Trent. The house, owned by Philip Stanhope, 1st Earl of Chesterfield and controlled by his son Philip Stanhope, and made up of mostly Catholic soldiers, was overwhelmed by the Parliamentarian force after calls for submission were turned down by Stanhope. The majority of the defenders were killed in the resulting sack by the Parliamentarians, commanded by Colonel John Hutchinson, and the house was then burned to the ground. Stanhope died soon afterwards from injuries he sustained in the attack.