Cavendish House ceased to be a residence of any kind after 1645 as a result of the events surrounding the Battle of Naseby.
In 1645 the Civil War was going badly for Charles I. He only had effective control over Wales, the West Country and parts of south Midlands. By late spring, Parliamentary forces under Sir Thomas Fairfax were besieging Oxford, the Royalist capital. In an attempt to draw Fairfax from the seige of Oxford, the King’s army marched on Leicester.
Charles’ army arrived at Leicester on 30th May, and after only a two day siege took and sacked the town. Fairfax broke the siege and headed north to meet the King’s army. Having thus saved Oxford, the Royalist commanders did not know what to do. The Royalist army headed slowly south to meet Fairfax, only to find itself facing a far larger army with the advantage of the ground. On 14th June the King’s army was decisively defeated at Naseby. The remains of the Royalist army fled back to Leicester pursued by the Parliamentary army, and Fairfax re-took the town on 18th June.
How this sequence of events led to the destruction of Cavendish House is unclear. All we know for certain is that on arrival in Leicester, Charles lodged at Cavendish House, as a guest of the dowager countess, and that he stayed there until his army marched south on 4th June. By the time Fairfax had secured the town, however, Cavendish House had been severely damaged by fire. We do not know who set fire to the house or circumstances under which it happened. The only other certainty is that the Cavendish family decided that they had no need of a residence just outside Leicester, so the mansion was neither re-built nor demolished.
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