Imagine what it must have been like to live in war torn Newbury.
Seting the scene for our very local battle, the first point to make is that the summer of 1643 had progressed very successfully for the royalists. In June, Prince Rupert had captured the country's second wealthiest city, the key port of Bristol. By August most of the South West, was in royalist control. The Severn valley became the heart of the royalist war effort, only the strategically important city of Gloucester held out. It controlled both road and river communication in the region, standing between the royalist headquarters at Oxford and their suppliers, supporters and recruits in the West and South Wales. Charles needed to secure the city. But the parliamentarian Governor of Gloucester, Colonel Massey, had refused to surrender. Unwilling to repeat the heavy losses that had resulted from the storming of Bristol, Charles had besieged the city.
At the end of August the parliamentarian Earl of Essex, with an army some 15,000 strong, set out from London for the relief of Gloucester. On learning of Essex’s approach Charles raised the siege on the 5th September and withdrew southward. Gloucester had been relieved, but Essex still had to safely return his army to London. It was Charles's intention to bring Essex to battle and bring a swift end to the war.
Newbury was a key location on the main route back to London and the royalists managed to reach the town before Essex, blocking his path to London. Battle was inevitable. The town was broadly supportive of the Parliamentary cause as the King had really upset them over cloth money. King Charles took an army of Londoners, and Prince Rupert, leaving the city undefended. On the morning of 20th September 1643 he fought the battle of Newbury with parliament's main field army under the Earl of Essex. Although the royalists had blocked his path in the approach to Newbury, the Earl had managed to outmanoeuvre them, forcing them to engage him in a largely enclosed landscape. Here Charles' troops would have great difficulty in exploiting their enormous advantage in cavalry. Had they had a better understanding of the geopraphy they would have easily won. Dave Stubbs suggested that a decisive victory for Chrales could well have sewn the seeds for a revolution similar to that seen in France later. Imagine England as a republic and Newbury being an instrument in that process.
As it was, Essex's strength was in infantry; in the deep lanes, and in fields with embanked hedgerows, which covered much of the land to the south west of Newbury, giving him a distinct advantage. The resulting action ended in a bloody draw, leaving the road to London open for the parliamentarian army.
Newbury was perhaps the last point at which the royalists had a real chance of winning the war. In this first battle of Newbury, the Earl of Essex achieved his only major military success, but one which ultimately marked the turning point of the whole war.
Newbury is also one of the major battles of the war where there is real uncertainty about the detailed placing of the action within the landscape and it is one of the most threatened of English battlefields. Already much of the south eastern periphery of the battlefield is built over, with only a small area of Wash Common remaining undeveloped, to the east of Wash Common Farm. In the north east there has also been considerable development, with modern housing on the edge of Newbury continuing to encroach upon the battlefield. Across the northern edge of the battlefield the Kennet and Avon canal was cut in the 18th century, and far more destructively, the A34 Newbury bypass was constructed from north to south across the field, though probably largely to the rear of the parliamentarian positions.
During this battle Lord Falkland, Lucius Carey, lost his life. He is an amazing personality and the subject of a future post.
ack.
The first battle of Newbury was held on 20 Sept 1643. During this era Parliament was challenging the power of the King as he was getting way too big for his boots and taking terrible economic liberties. There were no armies in those days. Employers armed their workers and told them what side they were on. Friends and family membes often found themselves on opposing sides. No wonder the town could not talk about the war afterwards. It was not until the Victorian era that a monument was erected in Wash Common, one that took a somewhat biased Royalist apprch to boot.
Seting the scene for our very local battle, the first point to make is that the summer of 1643 had progressed very successfully for the royalists. In June, Prince Rupert had captured the country's second wealthiest city, the key port of Bristol. By August most of the South West, was in royalist control. The Severn valley became the heart of the royalist war effort, only the strategically important city of Gloucester held out. It controlled both road and river communication in the region, standing between the royalist headquarters at Oxford and their suppliers, supporters and recruits in the West and South Wales. Charles needed to secure the city. But the parliamentarian Governor of Gloucester, Colonel Massey, had refused to surrender. Unwilling to repeat the heavy losses that had resulted from the storming of Bristol, Charles had besieged the city.
At the end of August the parliamentarian Earl of Essex, with an army some 15,000 strong, set out from London for the relief of Gloucester. On learning of Essex’s approach Charles raised the siege on the 5th September and withdrew southward. Gloucester had been relieved, but Essex still had to safely return his army to London. It was Charles's intention to bring Essex to battle and bring a swift end to the war.
Newbury was a key location on the main route back to London and the royalists managed to reach the town before Essex, blocking his path to London. Battle was inevitable. The town was broadly supportive of the Parliamentary cause as the King had really upset them over cloth money. King Charles took an army of Londoners, and Prince Rupert, leaving the city undefended. On the morning of 20th September 1643 he fought the battle of Newbury with parliament's main field army under the Earl of Essex. Although the royalists had blocked his path in the approach to Newbury, the Earl had managed to outmanoeuvre them, forcing them to engage him in a largely enclosed landscape. Here Charles' troops would have great difficulty in exploiting their enormous advantage in cavalry. Had they had a better understanding of the geopraphy they would have easily won. Dave Stubbs suggested that a decisive victory for Chrales could well have sewn the seeds for a revolution similar to that seen in France later. Imagine England as a republic and Newbury being an instrument in that process.
As it was, Essex's strength was in infantry; in the deep lanes, and in fields with embanked hedgerows, which covered much of the land to the south west of Newbury, giving him a distinct advantage. The resulting action ended in a bloody draw, leaving the road to London open for the parliamentarian army.
Newbury was perhaps the last point at which the royalists had a real chance of winning the war. In this first battle of Newbury, the Earl of Essex achieved his only major military success, but one which ultimately marked the turning point of the whole war.
Newbury is also one of the major battles of the war where there is real uncertainty about the detailed placing of the action within the landscape and it is one of the most threatened of English battlefields. Already much of the south eastern periphery of the battlefield is built over, with only a small area of Wash Common remaining undeveloped, to the east of Wash Common Farm. In the north east there has also been considerable development, with modern housing on the edge of Newbury continuing to encroach upon the battlefield. Across the northern edge of the battlefield the Kennet and Avon canal was cut in the 18th century, and far more destructively, the A34 Newbury bypass was constructed from north to south across the field, though probably largely to the rear of the parliamentarian positions.
During this battle Lord Falkland, Lucius Carey, lost his life. He is an amazing personality and the subject of a future post.
UK Battlefields Trust
DAvid Stubbs
DAvid Stubbs
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