Lead musket balls from the Battle of Newbury, 1643 during the English Civil War. Size is approx 16mm or 5/8th inch diameter, and would have been fired from matchlock muskets or pistols. After the Siege of Gloucester the Royalist and Parliamentarian armies headed east towards Reading on different routes that would be converging at Newbury Sept 1643. The Royalist held the town itself and along the Andover road blockaded any further advancement of the Roundheads. The resultant battle over a few days ended in stalemate with some 3,000 soldiers killed. In 1644 Oliver Cromwell returned to West Berkshire with his Parliamentarian army to attack Donnington Castle, Newbury held by the Royalists under Col. John Boys. The resultant battle was yet again inconclusive, though Donnington Castle suffered severe damage from the bombardment of Parliamentarian canons.

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