Anatomy of a Siege: King John's Castle, Limerick, 1642

Kenneth Wiggins

Hardback. 306p, 79 b/w illus (Boydell 2001). Publishers price € 36.00

During early 1642 Limerick Castle was held siege by a rebel Irish army for 37 days. Recent archaeological work at the castle, undertaken during the 1990s, revealed evidence for mining under the castle's walls. Wiggins successfully combines archaeology with documentary evidence that chronicles each day of the 37-day siege to reconstruct the dramatic events that ended in the castle's capture. Well-illustrated chapters also examine the large number of timbers that were uncovered which were used as props in the network of tunnels, 17th-century military mining technology and the historical background and aftermath of the siege.