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Battle of Nantwich

The Battle of Nantwich 25 January 1644

While the summer of 1643 had seen significant gains for the Royalists, the ability for the northern armies under the Marquis of Newcastle and the King’s Oxford Army to combine was a major rebuff for the campaign objectives faced in 1644. In December 1643, Lord Byron was appointed field marshal for all Royalist forces in Cheshire, Lancashire and North Wales, reinforced by forces recently returned from Ireland, his force num

ber 5000 men. His objective was the subjugation of the seat of the Parliamentarian Midlands Association at Nantwich.

Before this could be achieved, he first had to mop up neighbouring Parliamentarian resistance, taking Beeston (forcing the execution of Captain Steele, the garrison commander), and plundering both Barthomley (supposedly after firing a potshot at a Royalist officer) and Middlewich over the Christmas weekend, gaining Byron the nickname “Bloody Bragadoccio”. This forced SirWilliam Brereton, Parliament’s area commander to retreat towards Manchester. A breakthrough could only be affected by creating a coalition army connecting Northern and Eastern Association forces under Sir Thomas “Black Tom” Fairfax, his forcing number 2500-3000 foot, 1800 horse and 500 dragoons.

The town of Nantwich sits within a natural meander in the River Weaver, forming a moat enclosing the towns environs. With a siege now inevitable, these defences were further added to by a fully enclosed set of earthworks, built by the 2000 strong garrison under Colonel George Booth. Little physical remains of these remains, although the encircling local railway embankment may well have incorporated and destroyed surviving remains.

Byron immediately set up his headquarters in Acton on the 10th January 1644 and called for terms of surrender. When these were refused he commenced bombardment of the town, This was punctuated by infrequent unsuccessful sallies from the town, until on 18th January an assault was attempted, spearheaded by Captain Sanford’s Firelocks, heroes of Beeston Castle, through 5 breeches in the walls; this was an unmitigated disaster at the loss of 400 men. With ammunition running dangerously low and news of Fairfax’s long expected force engaging his outworks at Delamere, Byron was forced to withdraw to Barbridge, 3 miles from the town

.

During the night, floodwaters rose from thawing snow, to the extent that the bridge separating both wings of the Royalist army was swept away, forcing Byron to force a flank march 4 miles via Shewbridge for his cavalry and artillery to realign, leaving Colonel Gibson with the unenviable task of organising a defence around Acton Church and its surrounding enclosures, breaking up any chance of a solid Royalist frontage.

Meanwhile Fairfax had come between the Royalists and the army and was just marching into the town, when news of Byron in his rear forced, in the midst of a snow storm for parliament to advance along the present line of the A51 towards Acton, pioneers clearing paths through hedgerows towards Acton village. The parliamentarian field sign, the motif worn on clothing to distinguish friend from foe, was the celebrated holly bough, worn in the hat.

There is very little to distinguish the Nantwich battlefield, largely made up of river flood plain, agriculture pasture, enclosure and deer park at Dorfold park, where one of the Royalist siege camps was based. The southern reaches of the battlefield align to Welsh Row, the road edging beside the present Millbank School, although the full extent of the battlefield boundary remains misunderstood by the intersection of the Shropshire Union Canal and further urban expansion.

Allowing both wings of the Royalist line to rendezvous while dressing their own line of battle around Henhull, Parliament started the engagement at 2pm, with both sides centres engaging, the disparity in frontages and numbers in the Royalist command overstretching their foot, causing divisions in their frontlines, while enclosures on their flanks negated the use of cavalry. Losses were heavy on both sides, but with Col George Monck (author of the Restoration) changing sides as their centre broke, with the Booth’s garrison sallying out, attacking the churchyard and then looting the baggage, the tide inevitably turned against Byron.

Col Gibson was forced to negotiate surrender as Byron’s regiment formed a rearguard. Overall a third of his army was captured along with his entire train of artillery, effectively sealing Cheshire under parliamentarian control. The mass graves can still be identified next to Acton Church as Deadman’s Field’s, while the evidence of bloody carnage can still be seen inscribed in stone from from pock marks from musket balls around the windows of the church.

Select bibliography

Dore, R. N. And Lowe, John “The Battle of Nantwich 25 January 1644” Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire (Liverpool, 1961)

English Heritage Battlefield Report: Nantwich 1644 Register of Historic Battlefields (EH, London, 1995)

Plant, David, The Nantwich Campaign 1643-4 (BCW Project, 1999)

Reid, Stuart All the King’s Armies: A Military History of the English Civil War 1642-51 (Spellmount, Stroud, 1999)


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