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SOMERSET
DUNSTER AT WAR
The Middle Ages
Dunster’s strategic castle by the Bristol Channel ensured that the community was often caught up in
civil war and feudal conflicts. In 1139 King Stephen is said to have burnt all the villages around
Dunster leaving nothing that could supply his enemies with food or other necessities, an accusation
also made against William de Mohun. Stephen is also said to have built a second castle nearby to be
held by Henry de Tracey as Dunster castle was impregnable but there is no evidence of such a
fortification.1
The civil war in Dunster
The 17th century was not kind to Dunster, ravaged by fire, plague, storm and civil war. With the
outbreak of Civil War Dunster castle was regarded as an important stronghold, partly because of its
proximity to the port at Minehead, and the long siege clearly had its consequences for the people of
Dunster. Thomas Luttrell (d. 1644) held the Castle for Parliament in 1642 with a garrison of 100 men
but in 1643 it was handed to Francis Wyndham who held it for the king. It was even used to house the
sick and injured from Taunton in May 1645.2
Robert Blake attacked the castle in 1645 and was repulsed but it was by then the last Royalist
stronghold in Somerset and it was blockaded by a troop of 1,500 partly raised by Roger Sydenham.
1
VCH Somerset, I, 181—2; Wm of Malmesbury, Historia Novella, ed. R. R. Potter (1955), pp. xxii—xxiv,
36.
2
Cal. SP. Dom. 1644—5, 493.
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Despite the blockade the Royalists were able to obtain food and ammunition and destroy the attempts
to mine the walls. The assaults on the castle and the blockade were all unsuccessful and the castle
proved impregnable again. Casualties were relatively light and the dead soldiers received proper burial
and were entered in the parish register, seven in spring 1645. As the war turned against the king
Wyndham was persuaded to surrender on favourable terms in April 1646 bringing the Civil War in
Somerset virtually to an end.3
Thomas Luttrell’s support of parliament and the Marquis of Hertford’s attempts to take Dunster with
Welsh soldiers may account for the lack of support for the Royalists in the area. Local people were
said to be reluctant to take up arms unless they could serve under a local man but Dunster men served
on both sides. Few in Dunster would have been unaffected by the siege and the resulting loss of trade,
billeting of besieging soldiers and damage to their property. Surgeon John Question had houses burnt
and many properties must have been damaged. The Luttrell family returned to the Castle but under a
Parliamentary governor, Major Robinson. Parliament even considered destroying the castle or at least
slighting it but eventually used it as a prison. In 1649 William Prynne was imprisoned in Dunster
Castle by Parliament for sedition and spent his time cataloguing the manuscripts. He was thought to
have become too friendly with George Luttrell and in 1651 was transferred to Pendennis Castle,
Cornwall.4 Other dissidents were threatened with imprisonment at Dunster. When George undertook
not to use the castle to the prejudice of the government the Dunster garrison was disbanded.5 In the
1650s it was said that the area had suffered from free quarter in respect of the besiegers of castle and
3
There are many accounts of the siege and the politics of those involved: D. Underdown, Civil War in
Somerset (1973); Bellum Civile 1642—4 [Ralph Hoptons narrative] (Som. Rec. Soc. 18); E. Green, The Siege
and Surrender of Dunster Castle 1645—6 (1905).
4
Underdown, Civil War in Som., 162; Cal. SP. Dom. 1650, 550; 1651, 263. The Prynne catalogue is still in
use and the references DD/L P refer to the items he listed.
5
Cal. Cttee Compounding, I, 358, 391; Cal. SP. Dom. 1651, 109, 211, 220.
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the many soldiers who passed by Minehead to Ireland and 'lay sometimes very long upon the Country
hereabouts before they were ship'd'.
The 18th century
There has probably been a long tradition of sea service among Dunster men. John Sealy died in 1746
on board Britannia a man of war at Sheerness. Local seaman William Watson served at Trafalgar and
throughout the 19th century Dunster men served in the navy. Many Dunster men also served in the
infantry in the 18th and 19th centuries including John Hurford who wrote home from Guadeloupe
c.1760 and at least a dozen men who joined up during the Napoleonic Wars. Francis Luttrell joined
the Guards, fought in the Peninsular campaign and was wounded at Waterloo. The Dunster troop of
West Somerset yeomanry was raised in the late 18th century.
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Mary Siraut
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