Making of the UK

From the point of view of local resources, the obvious focus is King Charles the first's imprisonment as Carisbrooke Castle. It illustrates something of the conflict between King and Parliament and between Parliament and army; it illustrates the impact the conflict had on individuals, and shows how different people could sincerely and conscientiously hold different points of view.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, the Island had quickly come under the control of Parliament. Nevertheless, in November 1647, the king took refuge on the Island after escaping from Hampton Court where he was a prisoner of parliament. He was apparently hopeful that the Island's governer, Colonel Robert Hammond, might be won over by the royalist cause.

Hammond however, remained dutiful to his employers, finding it impossible to satisfy simultaneously the requirements of parliament to whom he owed loyalty as the governer, the army to whom he owed loyalty as an officer, and the king to whom he owed loyalty as a subject.

At Carisbrooke castle, the rooms where the king was held prisoner, can still be seen. In fact the King's first bedroom is now used as the castle's education room. You can walk the circuit of the walls as the King did for exercise, and visit the bowling green specially laid out for his recreation by Colonel Hammond.

Accounts of the King's unsuccessful attempts to escape are given reality when linked with the actual locations of the events.

These accounts include one by his Page Henry Firebrace who described how the king became wedged in his window when trying to escape from his bedroom one night. After nearly one year on the Island, the King was taken back to the mainland, and to trial and execution in London in January 1649.