John Barratt - The First Battle of Newbury 1643

THE FIRST BATTLE OF

NEWBURY

THE FIRST BATTLE OF

NEWBURY

JOHN BARRATT

This edition first published 2005

The History Press

The Mill, Brimscombe Port

Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL 5 2 QG

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

This ebook edition first published in 2013

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John Barratt, 2005, 2013

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EPUB ISBN 978 0 7524 9635 1

Original typesetting by The History Press

Contents

About the Author

John Barratt has written and lectured extensively on the English Civil War. His other books include The Battle for York: Marston Moor 1644, The Great Siege of Chester (both published by Tempus), Cavaliers: The Royalist Army at War 164246 and Cavalier Generals: King Charles I & His Commanders. He also writes regularly for Military Illustrated and The English Civil War Times. He lectures at the National Army Museum and the Royal Armories. He lives on Merseyside.

Preface

By the summer of 1643 the Royalist tide of success in the English Civil War was approaching its peak. The capture of Bristol, Englands second largest port, on 26 July climaxed a string of successes which had seen most of the west and north of England pass into the Kings control. The Royalists appeared to be on the verge of complete victory, with one more major reverse likely to bring the tottering Parliamentarian cause crashing down.

The Royalist Council of War hoped to make the capture of the town of Gloucester that catalyst. But the siege which followed, together with its succeeding campaign climaxing in the First Battle of Newbury (20 September), proved instead to be decisive in thwarting the hopes of the Cavaliers. Though the Kings supporters would enjoy other successes in the following weeks, their hopes of decisive victory faded into a military stalemate in which the growing power of the Parliamentarian-Scots alliance would eventually tip the scales inexorably in favour of the Kings opponents.

Though its significance was not fully grasped at the time, the First Battle of Newbury, variously regarded as indecisive, a Royalist failure or a narrow victory for the Parliamentarians under the Earl of Essex, was far-reaching in its effects. By avoiding a defeat which would have almost certainly have been fatal for his cause, Old Robin as Essex was known to his troops, not only saved his army but breathed decisive new life into the Parliamentarians.

Despite its importance and its ranking, in terms of numbers involved, as probably the third largest battle of the First Civil War, Newbury is one of the more neglected actions of the conflict. Indeed the battlefield itself lacks much of the visual interest of, for example, the other great engagements at Edgehill and Marston Moor.A large part of it is now covered by the spreading suburban housing of the modern town of Newbury, whose roads, named after such luminaries of the action as Cary, Villiers and Essex, represent the only visible reminders on much of the battlefield. Further dislocation has resulted in recent years from the development of the controversial Newbury bypass, while the only monument, a nineteenth-century memorial to the Earl of Falkland, stands marooned on a small grassy island amidst a busy road intersection some distance from the probable site of his death.

Only on the northern part of the battlefield, around the key high ground now known as Round Hill, and in some of its adjacent high-banked lanes, does the modern terrain still give an idea of its significance and appearance in 1643.

To add to the difficulties encountered by anyone attempting to reconstruct the course of what has been described as a monumentally confusing battle, extant contemporary accounts give little information regarding many of its details. Yet Newburys significance is such that it deserves much fuller treatment than is usually afforded to it.

As in previous books, I owe a great debt of gratitude to the painstaking researches of many others in the field of the English Civil War and of seventeenth-century military theory and practice. Among them are David Blackmore, David Evans, John Lewis, Les Prince, Stuart Reid, Keith Roberts, David Ryan, John Tincey and the late Brigadier Peter Young, whose enthusiasm and pioneering research did so much to spark the modern interest in the Civil Wars.

As usual, I owe a great deal to the long-suffering and invariably helpful staff of a number of libraries, including the Sydney Jones Library, University of Liverpool; Berkshire County Libraries and Record Office; the British Library, London, and the Bodleian Library, Oxford. At Tempus Publishing, Jonathan Reeve and Joanna Lincoln and their team have provided their customary outstanding support.

John Barratt, April 2003

Chronology