CANNON PLAYED FROM THE GREAT FORT

◗ Richard Israel ◗ Helion (2021) ◗ £25 ◗ 165 pages (softback) ◗ ISBN:9781913336509 ◗ helion.co.uk

The author brings an expert knowledge of landscape archaeology to bear on this analysis of the English Civil war sieges of Bristol, Gloucester, Worcester, Bridgnorth and Shrewsbury, demonstrating the importance of topography and geology on attack and defence.

However, the book has several major flaws. It is repetitive and at times selfcontradictory, and the author makes some fairly far-fetched statements – for example,‘Losing Marston Moor caused problems for the Royalists’whereas‘Poor use of artillery at Gloucester lost them the siege and the war’: a bizarre comparison. His description (quoting another author) of light artillery at Bristol as being‘akin to modern heavy machine guns’is one of the wilder examples of tactical remarks. It is also disappointing to see no reference to the many sieges of smaller places.

Maps and photographs are clear and well presented, and there is much archaeological evidence here, together with descriptions of key events such as the storming of a city, but offset by poor analysis and composition: his landscape expertise is perhaps not matched by military knowledge.