Charles I, Shilling, 1648Pontefract castle was left as a ruin following three sieges by Parliamentarian forces, a castle once described by Oliver Cromwell as ‘one of the strongest inland garrisons in the kingdom’. When this coin was struck Charles was imprisoned, the obverse legend reads ‘whilst I live, I hope’, a phrase that illustrates the lack of control Charles had concerning his own future let alone the proceedings of the war.