hands of Henry Grey, Earl of Kent. The Greys chose not to live at Goodrich, but instead rented the castle to a series of tenants. English Civil War Goodrich Castle became the scene of one of the most desperate sieges during the English Civil War in the 1640s, which saw the rival factions of Parliament and the king vie for power across England. In the years before the war, there had been a resurgence of building at the castle. Richard Tyler, a local lawyer, became the tenant and constable of the castle, and during the early 1630s there had been considerable renovation work. Shortly after the outbreak of war, the Earl of Stamford, with support from Tyler, garrisoned the castle for Parliament until December 1643, when increasing Royalist pressure in the region forced his withdrawal to Gloucester. The castle was then occupied by a garrison led by the Royalist Sir Henry Lingen. The occupation was not peaceful, with Royalist troops burning surrounding farm buildingsTyler himself was imprisoned by Lingen, although not before he had begun to sell off his livestock and other moveable property. Some references to Goodrich Castle during this period refer to it as Guthridge Castle, a variant on the name Goodrich. As the Royalist situation deteriorated, the south-west became one of the few remaining Royalist strongholds. Lingen, with 200 men and 90 horses at Goodrich Castle, conducted raids on Parliamentary forces in the region, representing a continuing challenge. No action had been taken, however, to strengthen the castle's defences with more modern 17th-century earthworks, and the castle remained essentially in its medieval condition. In 1646, the Parliamentary Colonels John Birch and Robert Kyrle marched south from their successful Siege of Hereford and besieged the castle, with the aim of eliminating one of the few remaining Royalist strongholds. There was some personal animosity between Lingen and Birch, and both were outspoken, impulsive men. Birch's first move was to prevent further attacks from Lingen, and on 9 March he burned the weakly defended stables in a surprise night attack, driving away the Royalist horses and temporarily denying the Royalist forces' mobility. Birch was unable to press home his advantage however, and over the next few months Lingen succeeded in replacing some of his horses and resumed his attacks on Parliamentary forces. In June, Birch returned and besieged the castle itself. He found that it was too strong to be