Siege of Brampton Bryan

With her husband Sir Robert Harley attending Parliament, Brilliana Harley organised the defence of the family seat at Brampton Bryan in Herefordshire. Royalist forces surrounded and bombarded the castle during a prolonged siege in the summer of 1643.

The defenders held until the attackers withdrew, although the village and surrounding property suffered extensive damage. Brilliana died later that year, probably from illness worsened by the hardships of the siege.

Marriage Under Siege substantially romanticises chronology and relationships but incorporates much of the documented Civil War setting.