We might have expected a more stubborn defence, for the Castle was strongly fortified. If the besiegers had entered the breach they would have had six distinct works and a drawbridge to pass over. Moreover victuals were abundant.
Cromwell now wrote the following unctuous letter to Fairfax:—
“Sir,—This is the addition of another mercy. You see God is not weary of doing you good. I confess, Sir, His favour to you is as visible when He comes by His power upon the hearts of your enemies, making them quit places of strength to you, as when He gives courage to your soldiers to attempt hard things. His goodness in this is much to be acknowledged; for the Castle was well manned with six hundred and eighty Horse and Foot, there being near two hundred gentlemen, officers and their servants, well victualled with 15 cwt. of cheese, very great store of wheat and beer, nearly 20 barrels of powder, seven pieces of cannon; the works were exceeding good and strong. It’s very likely it would have cost much blood to have gained it by storm. This is repeated to you that God may have all the praise, for it’s all His due. Sir, I rest your most humble servant,
“Oliver Cromwell.
“Winchester, 6th October, 1645.”
Cavaliers Disguised.
Among the spoil were three or four hogsheads of French wines and a hundred and twelve hogsheads of strong beer. The Cavaliers felt a natural reluctance that all this good tipple should go down rebel throats, and seem to have done their best to prevent such a calamity. The enemy were by the articles to enter at eight on Monday morning, but the surrender had to be delayed until after two, owing to the intoxicated state of the garrison. “Viscount Ogle was as drunk as a beggar,” writes an eye-witness. “I had come sooner had not my Lord Ogle and his company been so unwilling to part with their sack and strong beer, of which they drank so liberally at their farewell that few of them, as it is their manner, could get up on their horses without help.” The Bishop and his chaplain came out in their long gowns and cassocks, and were granted an escort to protect them from insult. Dr. Curle died a few years later in poverty.
The Castle was conferred by Parliament on Sir W. Waller, brother-in-law to Sir Henry Tichborne, to whom it belonged. It had been in the Waller family, who were connected with the Tichbornes. Waller sold the Hall to the County and the Castle to the Corporation of Winchester.[28]
The Parliaments of England sat occasionally in this Hall for four hundred years after the Conquest. Since Henry VIII.’s reign county business has been transacted here, and from Cromwell’s time the Law Courts have been established, the space being divided, the upper part devoted to the Crown Court, and the lower to Nisi Prius. Generations of judges here shivered on the Bench, but at length a successful demand was made that New Courts should be constructed at the east end, and that this hall should be only the vestibule and waiting-room. During a long period the graceful pillars we now behold were portly and shapeless, encased in cement a foot thick, but in course of time the witnesses, plaintiffs, and defendants who were kept kicking their heels here by “the law’s delays” did some good, for they knocked off the lower part of the cement and the marble became visible. About fourteen years ago it was determined to try the effect of removing the incrustation, and the operation having proved successful on one of the pillars near the door, the rest were soon “translated.”