Clubs were trumps when Basing House was took

from Malcolm Gaskill’s 3164 word review of The Siege of Loyalty House: A Civil War Story by Jessie Childs in the 30 March 2023 LRB:

At the start of the civil war in 1642, Basing House’s aesthetic virtues were second to its strategic significance, namely its command of the main road heading west from London. To puritan polemicists, it was also tainted by Stuart moral corruption, a ‘limb of Babylon’ dripping with effeminate decadence and idolatrous popery.

Basing House seemed like easy pickins but it turned into a fierce siege or series of sieges. At last:

Basing House was ‘hobbled by religious factionalism, clashing egos and a weak king’. Cromwell arrived with the big guns (literally), and, murmuring scripture, blasted Basing House and its ‘nest of Romanists’ into submission. The New Model Army surged in, the ragged defenders crawled out of their holes and the game was up. The treasures of the house – its jewels, plate and tapestries – vanished in minutes; the quaking inhabitants had the clothes stripped from their backs. The marquess was carted off to the Tower of London, as church bells pealed through the city in gratitude that Babylon had finally fallen.

Found at Visually Impaired Person Awareness (terrific) Basing House page:

On the 13th, a last patrol was sent out and captured prisoners included Captain Robert Hammond, later the King’s gaoler at Carisbrooke Castle. Then, on the morning of the 14th October 1645, at dawn, the Ironsides launched a final attack and intaking of Basing House. The small garrison could never have stopped these fresh soldiers, but it is said they were surprised while playing cards. This story is unlikely, but a phrase has caught on and ‘Clubs are trumps, as when Basing House was taken’ is a, now little-known unfortunately, Hampshire saying. The final assault did not take long. Three thousand men were employed in the attack and a further four thousand ringed the house out. There was no escape. Yet men fought to the death at sword point. At the end, there were only two hundred prisoners, including women and children.

after it was taken its rubble was declared free for the taking and not much remains of Basing House except a gatehouse and a shape in the earth.

Cheers to John Clegg.

Clubs were trumps when Basing House was took. Adding that to my stable of phrases, be warned.