Alan Turton: Basing House

FoSMAG is delighted to welcome historian Alan Turton to present May's illustrated talk. Alan was curator of Basing House for 24 years and has written several books on the English Civil War. He's also appeared in several TV programmes, including Time Team, Digging for Britain and Horrible Histories.

Basing House was once the largest private house in Tudor England. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1642 it became the refuge of John Paulet, Marquess of Winchester, its Catholic owner. When King Charles I set up his headquarters at Oxford, Basing House became an important royalist outpost and soon attracted the attention of the parliamentarians. Paulet and his small garrison beat off major sieges in 1643 and 1644, however, the House was stormed by Cromwell on 14 October 1645.