Although most attention is generally given to our battlefields, there were typically far more sieges than battles in most periods of warfare. In almost all wars in the UK the siege was an essential complement to open battle. There has been even less original research undertaken on the archaeology of sieges than there has on the archaeology of battles, yet for the civil wars of the 17th century at least, there is siege archaeology very similar to that seen on 17th century battlefields.

Intensive survey of the small siege site at Grafton Regis (Northamptonshire, 1643) by Bob Kings and the MARS metal detecting team in the 1990s has revealed a dramatic distribution of lead bullets across the surrounding fields from the parliamentarian siege of what was a small royalist garrison which took place at Christmas 1643. Our cursory examination over the past few years of a substantial number of siege sites across England has revealed, where upstanding walls survive, that there can also be extensive evidence in the form of impact scars on the stonework from small arms fire. This is in addition to the far rarer though better known examples of artillery fire, such as that recorded on the walls of the 17th century royalist garrison of Chester. There have also been one or two excavations that have explored the buried evidence of mines and counter-mines dug during sieges and various surveys of the earthworks of the few surviving siegeworks, such as those around the major 17th century royalist garrison of Newark on Trent. What is needed is a national survey of all the garrisons and siege sites in the UK to establish which have the best surviving evidence.