Legend has it that one October morning, in 1644, when moving close to the window to get better light to conduct his morning toilet, Charles I was almost removed from history. A bullet, shot by a Parliamentarian soldier, crashed through the glass and embedded itself in the wooden panelling, narrowly missing the king of England.
The bullet hole from this alleged attempt on the king’s life can be seen in the King Charles Room in Shaw House, a Tudor mansion. After many years in the hands of various private owners, Shaw House was used to house soldiers in World War II, then became a school, and was then restored by West Berkshire Council to its current state.
But in the 1640s, the area was in the grip of a civil war between the king and his parliament. King Charles demanded absolute power to raise money to fund armies for wars overseas, and was a staunch Catholic. Predominantly Protestant at the time, Parliament objected to his plans, so he dissolved it, upsetting most of the MPs to the point that they rebelled against the crown and raised arms. In October 1644, the Royalist forces had been split, and the King was attempting to relieve his forces at Basing House to the southeast. His forces occupied strongholds at Donnington Castle, the village of Speen, and at Shaw House. The walls of Shaw House were 6 feet thick in some places, and the cellars provided cover and a place to keep prisoners. Iron Age earthworks on the estate were incorporated into the defenses.
The Parliamentarian forces did their best to outflank the Royalist army and capture the King, but after fierce fighting and heavy losses for both armies, neither side had won, and the King retreated to Oxford. In the aftermath of the king’s retreat, Shaw House was ransacked by the Parliamentarians.In the 1700s, Shaw House was bought by a gentleman named Joseph Andrews, whose son James Petit Andrews was fascinated by history. It is likely that James is the one who had a brass plaque, commemorating the bullet, installed on the panelling in the King Charles Room in 1759.
Recent research undertaken by West Berkshire Council as part of the restoration works indicates that this story, and its commemorative plaque, are apocryphal. Charles I never visited Shaw House, and was garrisoned in Newbury, which was better protected. The historic plaque remains though, as after all, why should fact get in the way of an exciting and romantic story?