Title: Edge Hill - The Battle and Battlefield
Author: Walford, Edwin
Language: English
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[Illustration: THE TOWER, EDGE HILL.]



  EDGE HILL:
  THE BATTLE AND BATTLEFIELD.

  WITH
  Notes on Banbury & Thereabout.


  BY
  EDWIN A. WALFORD, F.G.S.


  _SECOND EDITION._


  Banbury:
  E. A. WALFORD, 71 & 72, HIGH STREET.

  London:
  CASTLE, LAMB & STORR, SALISBURY SQUARE.

  1904.



Preface to Edition, 1904.


For the present edition the available material of the last eighteen years
has been consulted, but the plans of battle are similar to two of those of
my book of 1886. They were then the first series of diagrammatic
representations of the fight published, but in no case has this been
acknowledged in the many plans of like kind subsequently published. Some
new facts and inferences the author hopes may increase the value of the
account.

The letters of Captain Nathaniel Fiennes and Captain Kightley, now added,
may serve to make the tale a more living one. They are reproduced, by the
kind courtesy of the authorities of the Radcliffe Library, Oxford, and the
Birmingham Reference Library.

New pages of Notes on Banbury, and an extended bibliography are also
given.

EDWIN A. WALFORD.

_Banbury,

March, 1904._



Preface to First Edition.


In the following pages an endeavour has been made to give a concise
account of the physical features of the Edge Hill district, as well as to
describe the events of the first great battle of the Civil War, with which
it is so intimately associated. The intention is to provide a handbook for
the guidance of the visitor rather than to attempt any elaborate
historical or scientific work. Though Nugent's "Memorials of John Hampden"
has supplied the basis of the information, Clarendon's "History of the
Great Rebellion," the various pamphlets of the time, and Beesley's
"History of Banbury," have also been freely used. In order to avoid
burdening the pages with foot notes, a catalogue of works upon the subject
is printed as an appendix, and the letters and numbers throughout the text
refer thereto. The catalogue, it is hoped, may be of use to the future
student. The plans of the battle, based upon Nugent's account, must be
looked upon as merely diagrammatic, the scale being unavoidably distorted
for the purpose of showing the conjectured positions of the troops. In the
plans it may be worth note that the troops then known as "dragooners" are
classed with the infantry.

The "Notes on Banbury and Thereabouts" are in part reproduced from a small
pamphlet published in 1879. Much of the detail relating to the older
buildings has been derived from Skelton's "Antiquities of Oxfordshire" and
Parker's descriptions in Beesley's History.

To Mr. W. L. Whitehorn my thanks are due for aid in the revision of "Edge
Hill," and in the compilation of the "Notes."

EDWIN A. WALFORD.

_Banbury,

July 7th, 1886._



EDGE HILL: THE BATTLE AND BATTLEFIELD.


I.

To Edge Hill from Banbury a good road trends gradually up hill nearly the
whole way. It rises from the 300 foot level of the Cherwell Vale to 720 at
the highest ground of the ridge of the hill. At a distance of eight miles
to the North-West is the edge or escarpment of high ground bounded on the
East side by the vale of a tributary of the Cherwell, and on the North and
West by the plain drained by the tributaries of the Avon. From Warmington,
six miles from Banbury, North-Westwards to the point marked on the
Ordnance Map as Knowle End, and thence South-Westwards to the Sun Rising,
once the site of a hostelry on the Banbury and Stratford-on-Avon coach
road, the edge makes a right angle with the apex at Knowle End. The
nearest point of the hill range is at Warmington, where a fine fourteenth
century Church stands high above the rock of the roadway. There is the
first record of the battle--a simple headstone to the right of the path to
the South porch telling how one Captain Alexander Gourdin had died on
October 24th, 1642, the day after the fight. From the church-yard long
flights of steps lead to the roadway and village below, where the house
tops show through the foliage of the apple orchards in which they are
partly hidden. Across the vale, three miles to the North, is the range of
the Burton Dassett Hills, an outlier of the Edge Hill range. The Windmill
Hill, the most distant, bears the Beacon House; the square tower of Burton
Dassett Church may be seen amongst the elms on the lower slopes of Church
Hill; Bitham Hill appears in the foreground of the range with the pretty
spire and village of Avon Dassett close at hand.

Westward of Warmington Church runs Camp Lane. It winds along the ridge,
and commands wide views of the plain lands. A beautiful field path springs
from the South side of the lane leading through the village of Ratley to
the Round House and Ratley Grange. Facing Southwards, one looks upon an
equally pleasant though more circumscribed view--the vale of Hornton. The
Arlescot Woods clothe the Northern slopes, and the Manor House rests
amongst the fine trees below. The terraced fields of Adsum Hollow are
three miles down vale Southward, and Nadbury Camp, supposedly a
Romano-british remain, is but a remnant of similar _natural_ terracing on
the South side of the Camp Lane above Arlescot.

At Knowle End, where the road to Kineton plunges steeply down hill, is the
first point of the battle ground and the commencement, strictly speaking,
of Edge Hill. A short distance down the Kineton Road, a pathway on the
right leads under overspreading beech and oak trees for some distance
along the crest of the Knoll, whence a good side view of the hill may be
got. The gate on the opposite side of the Kineton Road opens to a path
through the Radway Woods, and from it, where the foliage is less dense a
prospect opens of many wide leagues of fair midland country--a veritable
patchwork of field and hedgerow. The furze below covers in part Bullet
Hill, the last stand of the Royalists on the battle ground. The road from
Kineton as well as the footway through the woods leads to Edge Hill Tower,
or Round House. Covering the steep hill sides are beech, elm, chestnut
and lime trees of exceptionally fine growth and a wealth of common wild
flowers. The Tower or Round House is an inn, which, with a
_modern-antique_ ruin, makes as it were a landscape gardening adjunct to
Radway Grange lying in the park below. From its upper room is obtained a
fine view of the country. It is an octagonal tower, and was erected with
artificial ruins in 1750 to mark the spot where the King's Standard was
displayed before the Royalist army descended into the plain to give
battle. The village of Radway rests amongst the elms near the foot of the
hill, the church spire being one of the prominent objects of the
foreground. Kineton lies about four miles directly to the North, beyond
which Warwick Castle may be sometimes descried, or the yet more distant
spires of Coventry. Some distance from the Burton hills the smoke of the
Harbury lime works drifts across the landscape. The farms Battledon and
Thistledon, about midway between Radway and Kineton, marked by the
coppices which almost hide the homesteads, are noted from the fact of so
much of the fight having revolved round them.

The footway to the Sun Rising, 1-1/2 miles S.W. of the Round House,
follows the hill side, and though still pleasantly wooded, soon gets
clear of that heavy growth of foliage which has hitherto shut out so much
of the view. The eye ranges over the flat Warwickshire plain in front, to
the hills of Gloucestershire and Worcestershire on the West and the
North-West. The North-Eastern outliers of the Cotteswolds, the hills of
Ebrington and Ilmington, are the nearest in prominence Westwards, beyond
which a clear day will allow even the distant slopes of the Malverns to be
seen. The Bromsgrove, Clent and Clee hills fringe the North-West horizon,
and sometimes the Wrekin is said to appear "like a thin cloud" far away.

At the point where the pathway enters the Stratford-on-Avon road stands
Edge Hill House (the Sun Rising) wherein years ago were some curious
relics of the fight: breast-plates, swords, matchlocks, and a sword
supposed on the evidence of emblems in its decoration to have belonged to
the Earl Lindsay, who commanded the royalists forces prior to the battle,
and who received his death wound in the fight.

In a fir coppice about 200 or 300 yards to the South of the house, the
figure of a red horse roughly cut in the turf of the hill side might
formerly be seen. Dugdale[h] gives the following account of it: "Within
the Precinct of that Manour in Tysoe, now belonging to the E. of
Northampton (but antiently to the Family of Stafford, as I have shewed)
there is cut upon the side of Edg-Hill the Proportion of a Horse, in a
very large Forme; which by Reason of the ruddy Colour of the Earth, is
called THE RED HORSE, and gives Denomination to that fruitfull and
pleasant Countrey thereabouts, commonly called The Vale of Red Horse. The
Trenches of which Ground, where the Shape of the said Horse is so cut out,
being yearly scoured by a Freeholder in this Lordship, who holds certain
Lands there by that service." There is a tradition quoted by Beesley[b] of
its having been cut to commemorate the slaughter of a chieftain's horse at
the battle of Towton, in 1461, the chieftain preferring to share the
perils of the fight with his followers.


II.

The reign of King Charles I. showed a widening of the difference between
the ecclesiastic and puritan elements of the English community--elements
which were the centres of the subsequently enlarged sections, royalist and
parliamentarian. In the later dissentions between the King and the Commons
it was early apparent how widespread had been the alienation of the
people from the King's cause--an alienation heightened, as Green in his
"Short History" tells us, by a fear that the spirit of Roman Catholicism,
so victorious on the continent, should once more become dominant in
England. How great was the tension may be known from the fact of the
contemplated emigration to the American colonies of such leaders as Lord
Saye and Sele, Lord Warwick, Lord Brooke, and Sir John Hampden and Oliver
Cromwell. When the rupture at last came, the Parliament was found to have
secured the larger arsenals, and also to have forces at its disposal in
the trained bands of London and in the militia, which it was enabled
rapidly to enrol. Though the unfurling of the Royal Standard near
Nottingham failed to secure many adherents to the King's cause, Essex
hesitated to attack the royalists when they might have been easily
dispersed, thinking no doubt to overawe the King by mere show of force.
Yet when Charles began recruiting in the neighbourhood of Shrewsbury, he
was soon able to gather an army, and on October 12th, 1642, he commenced
his march upon London. The astute and carefully moderate policy of the
Commons was to rescue the King from his surroundings, and to destroy the
enemies, especially the foreign enemies, of the State, about the King's
person. The sanctity of the King's person was yet a prominent factor--the
belief in divinity of Kingship, notwithstanding all the misrule there had
been, was yet alive in the hearts of the people. Therefore when the King
had gathered his forces together and began his Southward march, Lord Essex
with his army was commissioned "to march against his Majesties Army and
fight with them, and to rescue the persons of the King, Prince and Duke of
York." The Earl of Essex, with the Parliamentarian forces, was at that
time in Worcestershire, endeavouring to prevent the recruiting of the
King's troops; and though the Earl moved two days later on by rapid
marches into Warwickshire, it was only to find that he had been
out-marched by the King, who, after resting at Southam, stood with the
Royalist army at Edgcot across the way to the capital. That this had been
accomplished, notwithstanding the opposition of the strongholds of Warwick
and Coventry, speaks not unfavourably for the generalship of Earl Lindsay,
the King's Lieutenant-General, whom we find at Edgcot contemplating an
attack upon Banbury Castle. The King's was a good position: it commanded
all the roads to London, held Banbury in its hand, covered the Cherwell
bridge and fords, and had within touch the dominating escarpment of Edge
Hill. If the purpose was the subjection of some prominent leaders of the
Parliamentarians it succeeded only in the taking of Lord Saye and Sele's
house at Broughton, and of Banbury, and Banbury Castle; in the partial
destruction of Lord Spencer's house[B] at Wormleighton, and in sending a
summons to Warwick Castle[P] to surrender.

Kineton, on October 22nd, was the headquarters of the Parliamentary army,
the troops in the evening disposing themselves on the surrounding plain.
"The common soldiers have not come into a bed, but lain in the open field
in the wet and cold nights," says the Worthy Divine[PG] "and most of them
scarcely eat or drank at all for 24 hours together, nay, for 48, except
fresh water when they could get it." The want of transport, which had
necessitated Hampden and Hollis struggling behind a day's march in the
rear in the neighbourhood of Stratford-on-Avon, had no doubt entailed
these privations upon the army. Nor do the Royalists appear to have fared
better, for Clarendon[B381] complains of the hostility of the country
people, stating also that the circuit in which the battle was fought,
being between the dominions of Lord Saye and Lord Brooke, was the most
eminently corrupt of any in the kingdom. The King's forces seem to have
been quartered about the country between Wormleighton and Cropredy, Prince
Rupert with his cavalry near Wormleighton, the King himself staying at
Edgcot House, whilst the main body of the army occupied the slopes and
high lands on the Northamptonshire side of the Cherwell vale near by. Thus
the three roads North of Banbury were dominated by the Royalist troops,
and the fourth, the old London road, was within striking distance.

The preaching of the local divines, Robert Harris, John Dod, and Robert
Cleaver, had no doubt added largely to the enthusiasm of the country folk
for the cause of the Commons. Though no great increase of the King's
forces could be expected in such a district, yet there is an interesting
account in Kimber and Johnson's Baronetage[NO] (1771) of a country
gentleman Mr. (afterwards Sir Richard) Shuckburgh:

"Sir Richard Shuckburgh, Knt., eldest son and heir, was in no way inferior
to his ancestors. As King Charles I. marched to Edgecot, near Banbury, on
October 22nd, 1642, he saw him hunting in the fields with a very good pack
of hounds, upon which it is reported that he fetched a deep sigh, and
asked who the gentleman was that hunted so merrily that morning when he
was going to fight for his crown and dignity; and being told that it was
this Richard Shuckburgh, he was graciously ordered to be called to him,
and was by him very graciously received. Upon which he went immediately
home, armed all his tenants, and the next day attended him in the field,
where he was knighted, and was present at the battle of Edge Hill. After
the taking of Banbury Castle, and his Majesty's retreat from those parts,
he went to his own seat and fortified himself on the top of Shuckborough
Hill, where, being attacked by some of the Parliament forces, he defended
himself till he fell, with most of his tenants about him; but being taken
up and life perceived in him, he was carried away prisoner to Kenilworth
Castle, where he lay a considerable time, and was forced to purchase his
liberty at a dear rate."

A fight for the possession of Lord Spencer's house at Wormleighton was the
Saturday evening's prelude to the Sunday's battle. It had been garrisoned
by some Parliamentarian troops sent by Essex, and in Rupert's attack some
prisoners were taken, from whom, it is said, the whereabouts of the
Parliamentarian army was learned.[Y] The house is said to have been
partly burned down in the fight, but it is not clear whether it happened
then or in the year 1643. Though with the Parliamentarians in the early
part of the Rebellion, Lord Spencer became Royalist long ere the campaigns
were over. The fact of an outpost being pushed so far as Wormleighton
shows that the Dassett Hills were held by the Parliament forces. The
Royalists had marched into the heart of a hostile country, Warwick Castle
and Lord Brooke on the N.W., Fawsley House and the Knightleys on the N.E.,
and on the South, Sir A. Cope and Hanwell Castle, and Banbury and
Broughton Castle. Lord Northampton's lands on the Western border of
Oxfordshire were near enough to find touch with the King. His house played
locally a most prominent part for the Royalist cause, and its military
leadership was of the best.


III.

Early on the morning of Sunday, October 23rd, Prince Rupert forwarded
information to the King that the camp fires of the Parliamentarian army
had been seen on the plain between Edge Hill and Kineton. With keen
foresight Earl Lindsay abandoned the intended advance upon Banbury, and
speedily began the movement of the Royalist army towards the fringe of
hills which dominates the Warwickshire vale. It seems at first strange
that the Parliamentarians, familiar as so many of them were with the
physical features of the neighbourhood, should have neglected when so near
to secure possession of some part of the Edge Hill ridge. This, however,
is explained in a pamphlet of the time,[PH] "An Exact and True Relation of
the Dangerous and Bloudy Fight between his Majestie's Army and the
Parliament near Keynton." Therein we learn that the artillery were
unready, for want of draught horses, and with Colonel Hampden and Colonel
Grantham were forced to be left behind, and hence no advance could safely
be made beyond Keynton.

Hampden had with him three regiments of foot, nine or ten troops of horse,
some companies of dragooners, and seven pieces of cannon, with the
necessary ammunition train,[PB] perhaps about 4,000 men in all. The troops
of the Parliament were quartered in the villages of the plain. Tradition
says that Tysoe was occupied, and that the soldiers took the bread from
the village ovens ere they marched down street to the fight. But of the
doings at Compton in the Hole, barely a mile distant, during the
occupation we know nothing.

It is hard also to understand that there should have been anything in the
nature of a surprise[B] in the Royalist advance, for within a district so
sympathetic to their cause, one would have supposed the Puritan leaders to
have been immediately informed of every movement of their enemies. Indeed,
in another quaint pamphlet, "A Letter sent from a Worthy Divine,"[PG] the
writer says that the alarm came at about eight o'clock in the morning,
that the enemy were advancing, and that "it pleased God to make myself the
first instrument of giving a certain discovery of it, by the help of a
perspective glass, from the top a hill."

Deploying, therefore, before daybreak, across Cropredy Bridge, then
narrower than at present, and no doubt crossing the Cherwell at certain
fords also, the King's forces marched by way of Mollington to Warmington,
where they had been preceded by Prince Rupert's horse, who would have
travelled across the Southern part of the Dassett Hills. It is said[B]
that "the foot were quartered at so great distance that many regiments
marched seven or eight miles to the rendezvous, so that it was past one of
the clock before the King's forces marched down hill." Much delay would be
occasioned in getting the troops across the river Cherwell, not so easy
to be forded at that time of the year. The narrow bridge[1] would allow
but slow passage for 10,000 or 12,000 men, with all the impedimenta of war
material. Another pamphleteer[PA] says "the King's horse were at the
rendezvous between ten and eleven; the van of the foot an hour later, and
the rear and artillery, including the Lord Lt. General's own regiment, not
until two hours after."

As the Parliamentarian troops take up their position upon the plain, it is
worth while to pause for a few minutes to look at the composition and
armament of the two forces. Many of the troops on both sides appear to
have been indifferently provided with weapons. Implements of warfare that
had not been in use since the Wars of the Roses--the long bow, the cross
bow, &c.--resumed their places amongst the accoutrements of the men at
arms.[a] There were the heavy horse in iron casques, breast-plates and
greaves, the musketeers with their matchlocks, and the dragoons or
dragooners,[J118] with sword and matchlock. These last seem to have been
so called from the drake, the firearm they once carried, and though not
strictly speaking cavalry, yet accompanying and supporting them. Each
regiment of Lord Essex's army carried a standard inscribed on the one side
with the watchword of the Parliament, "God with us," and on the other side
the motto of the regimental commander; Lord Saye and Sele's were the blue
coats, the Commander's were orange and Lord Broke's purple; Colonel
Ballard's troops were clad in grey, Colonel Holles' in red, and Lord
Mandeville's in blue. Across his breastplate each officer of the
Parliamentary army wore an orange scarf, the commander's colour.

There were on the side of the Parliament eleven regiments of foot,
forty-two troops of horse, and 700 dragoons, numbering according to Nugent
about 13,000, though the officers in their account[PH] place their
strength as low as 10,000, which may have meant prior to the arrival of
Hampden with the artillery and rear troops. The Royalist army is stated to
have possessed 1,000 horse and 4,000 foot more;[G256] in all 14,000 foot
and 4,000 horse and dragoons--but as very few troops were of full
compliment the numbers were no doubt over estimated. The _full_ strength
of a foot regiment was 1,200, of a troop of horse about 120[x26] and of
dragooners about the same number to each company.

The Red and the Blue Regiments of the King's foot were so named from the
colour of their uniforms, the former being the King's foot guards. In
cavalry, however, it was that the Royalist army was predominant--more so,
perhaps, from the quality of the material than from any superiority of
equipment, Prince Rupert's show troop being a prominent example. Cromwell,
in a speech before Parliament,[q] bore testimony on this point, explaining
his reconstruction of the army as having arisen from the fact that "such
base and mean fellowes," tapsters and serving men as they then had, not
being "able to encounter gentlemen that had honour and courage and
resolution in them, He strove to find such as had the spirit of God in
them."

Towards mid-day the royalist army had occupied the whole length of the
brow of the hill between the Sun Rising and Arlescot; the left wing at the
Sun Rising, the centre at about the point where the Round House now
stands[2] and the right wing at Knowle End, where the road to Kineton
descends the hill. Well had it been for the King had the advice of so able
a soldier as Earl Lindsay prevailed at the council of war over the more
impetuous policy of Rupert. He had the strong position of the hill crest,
with convenient roads for the rapid movement of troops, and, moreover,
natural advantages which would have masked those movements. Essex would
have hesitated to risk the assault of a position of such strength,
especially when defended by a force greater than his own. These advantages
were, however, abandoned for the more dashing policy of Rupert to descend
to the plain and at once give battle. It must not be forgotten, however,
that the knowledge of the enemy's artillery with part of the army being
far in the rear,[PB] but approaching with what speed they could, and the
difficulty of provisioning the army in a hostile district,[B] would give
weight to Rupert's counsel. Brilliant cavalry officer as he undoubtedly
was, his defiance of control caused the Earl to resign his command, and
the disposition of the forces to devolve upon Earl Ruthven, and so he
decided against the King the fortunes of the then commencing war.

The Parliamentarians had in the meantime not been idle. Turning aside from
church, whither they had been going, the divines encouraged the soldiers
as they stood drawn up ready for the fight. Poor retrenchment as they were
said to have had, the ground lent itself to preparation for defence: the
thick growth of furze tied and wattled together on the gently sloping
upland: (the old phrase a "good bush whacking" may point to its service in
fight). Also there was the long ditch with its wet clay banks covering the
front. It is certain that a large number of the force were fighting on
their own ground and for their own homes. Evidence shows how heavy the
fight was thereabouts.

The centre consisted of three regiments of infantry, including one of the
general's, under Lord Brooke and Colonel Ballard, another regiment, under
Colonel Holles, being in the rear. These faced the Battledon Farm, about
one mile North-West of Radway, and on some rising ground to the right the
artillery was posted.

The right wing moved towards the Sun Rising. It was composed of four
brigades of horse, under Sir John Meldrum, Col. Stapleton, and Sir William
Balfore (the divisional general), with Col. Fielding's brigade and some
guns in the rear. Capt. Fiennes' regiment was with this wing, which was
covered on the right by some musketeers. Captain Oliver Cromwell fought
there also. Infantry, including the Oxfordshire Militia under Sir William
Constable and Lord Roberts, took up the intervening space between the
centre and the right wing. The cavalry of the left wing, covering the
Kineton road, was made up of twenty-four troops, under Sir James Ramsay:
the infantry in five regiments, officered by Cols. Essex and Chomley and
Lords Wharton and Mandeville, with Sir Wm. Fairfax in reserve, occupied
the ground between the cavalry and the main body. A few guns were placed
in the rear of the horse.

Imposing indeed must the sight have been in bright sunlight of that early
Sunday afternoon as the Royalist troops, began to descend the hill side!
The slopes do not appear to have been so thickly wooded as they are now,
and the unenclosed country, without the many obstacles of fence and
hedgerow,[B388] offered all that a cavalry officer could desire for the
exercise of his art and arm. Before this[PF] the King had summoned the
officers to the royal tent, and in his brief speech had said: "My Lords
and Gentlemen here present,--If this day shine prosperously for us, we
shall be happy in a glorious victory. Your King is both your cause, your
quarrel, and your captain. The foe is in sight. Now show yourselves no
malignant parties, but with your swords declare what courage and fidelity
is within you. * * * Come life or death, your King will bear you company,
and ever keep this field, this place, and this day's service in his
grateful remembrance." The King,[a286] wearing a black velvet mantle
over his armour, and steel cap covered with velvet on his head, rode along
the lines of his troops and spoke to them: "Matters are now to be declared
with swords, not by words."[PF] Perhaps, however, the most beautiful of
these records is that of the truly soldier-like prayer of Lord
Lindsay,[a286] "O Lord, Thou knowest how busy I must be this day; if I
forget Thee do not Thou forget me."


[Illustration: I

BATTLE OF EDGE HILL

(Commencement of Battle.)]


The King's centre, under General Ruthven, moved forward as far as the
village of Radway. The six columns of infantry of which it was composed
were under the divisional command of Sir Edmund Verney and Sir Jacob
Astley; Earl Lindsay and Lord Willoughby led their Lincolnshire regiment.
Between these and the right wing were eight other regiments of infantry.
The cavalry of the right wing, under Prince Rupert, commenced slowly the
steep descent of the road through Arlescot wood and the Kineton road, the
base of which is known as the Bullet Hill, and drew up there in a meadow
at the bottom of the hill.[PB] Fiennes states that the better opportunity
for the Parliamentarian attack would have been before the artillery and
rear came down the hill, which they were a long time in doing. The left
wing rested upon the Sun Rising, Col. Ennis and Col. Lisle's dragoons
covering the flank; near by were the Welsh soldiers and Carnarvon's
regiments of pikemen. In advance Wilmot's two regiments of horse were
working across the Vale of the Red Horse, Digby's reserve covering the
crest of the hill.

Lord Essex's artillery were the first to break the peace of the day, a
challenge immediately replied to by the Royalist guns near Radway. Wilmot,
of Adderbury, made the first aggressive movement in a charge upon the
Parliamentarian right, and though some success seems to have attended it,
yet it can scarcely have been of so much importance as Clarendon the
Royalist historian[B] makes out, for he writes: "The left wing, commanded
by Wilmot, had a great success, though they had to charge in worse ground,
amongst hedges and through gaps and ditches which were lined with
musketeers. Sir A. Aston, with great courage and dexterity, beat off these
musketeers with his dragoons; and then the right wing of their horse 'was
easily dispersed, and fled the chase fearlessly.' The reserve, seeing none
of the enemy's horse left, thought there was nothing more to be done but
to pursue those that fled, and could not be contained by their commanders,
but with spurs and loose reins followed the chase which the left wing had
led them. Thus while victory was unquestionable, the King was left in
danger from the reserve of the Parliament, which, pretending to be
friends, broke in upon the foot, and did great execution." Certainly in
charge and counter charge at this stage of the attack, the
Parliamentarians show to no advantage, and the dispersal of the dragoons,
musketeers, and part of Fielding's horse, seems to have taken place, but
the subsequent successful charge of Balfour's and Stapleton's brigades
makes it clear that _they_ were not involved in any disaster.

On the right wing, soon after the time of Wilmot's charge near the Sun
Rising, Rupert's troops moved down the foot of the hill in the direction
of the Kineton road and towards Ramsay's horse, which advanced to meet
them. The Parliamentary general had lined the hedgerows on his flank with
musketeers, and had placed ranks of musketeers between his horse. But as
the cavaliers[3] swept down the slope a defect was visible in the
Parliamentarian ranks, and Sir Faithful Fortescue's Irish troop threw off
their orange scarves and deserted bodily, not quite soon enough, it seems,
to save themselves, for a score or so of saddles were emptied in the
onrush of Rupert's cavaliers. The roundhead ranks were disordered, for
the troops had fired their long pieces wildly, and scarcely waiting the
meeting, they fled, leaving the musketeers to be cut up. The troops of
cavaliers swept through them scattering and destroying all in their way;
then deflecting a little to the left they pressed back the mass of
fugitives upon the foot regiments of Essex, Mandeville and Chomley which
in turn were overthrown, and the artillery captured. Even Wharton's
regiment and Fairfax's reserve were hurled back. Ramsay, the cavalry
general, was carried for two miles in the melee, and with some of his
troopers found a way through the hostile lines to Banbury.[a] Rupert
continued in unsparing pursuit even into the streets of Kineton and as far
as Chadshunt. Thus was the left wing of Lord Essex's army dispersed,
though to reform for a later phase of the fight. After so much success the
baggage proved to be too attractive to the victors, and had the time
wasted in plundering been spent in an attack upon the rear of the
Parliamentarian army, then the reign of Charles Stuart might have had a
less tragic ending. But with all this, it must be borne in mind that the
incident of the rolling up of a wing was repeated in other battles of the
war which were more disastrous to the King's cause. Sir James Ramsay at a
Court Martial at St. Albans[Vn] in November of the same year made a
vindication of his conduct.

An amusing letter from Captain Kightley tells of this phase of the fight.
He admits that in part his own regiment ran away, and it seems to be
probable that Captain John Fiennes was in no better way, though in the
subsequent rally and attack upon Prince Rupert both did very good service.

The right wing of the Puritan forces had in the meantime become
aggressive. It was the beginning of the great turning movement which was
repeated in each of the great battles of the war by the Parliamentarians,
in fact, so evident at Naseby and Marston Moor, as to compel belief in
studied uniformity of plan. The abandonment or weakening of one wing, then
the use of all the weight of the other wing with the foot as a centre
pivot, to out-flank, attack, and crush in succession the opposing wing and
centre of the Royalist army. Balfore, Meldrum, and Stapleton's brigades
charged Wilmot's cavalry with such vigour that these were thrust back upon
the three regiments of pikemen, under Lord Carnarvon, and chased up the
hill side. Cannon balls and other remains of the fight found on the hill
slopes at Lower Westcote near the Sun Rising are evidence of this attack.
The infantry under Roberts and Constable having moved forward to aid in
the attack upon Carnarvon, now wheeled upon the King's centre, which soon
became the focus of a fierce and bloody fight, for the elated Roundhead
horse, after crushing in the Royalist left wing, hurled themselves also
upon the flanks of the nearest troops of the King's centre, and the
blue-coated Broughton horsemen had a busy time of it amongst the royalist
gunners as they rode through the battery. Earl Lindsay's Lincolnshire
regiment, which he had led pike in hand, received the brunt of the attack;
it was overpowered, and the unfortunate general left for dead with a
musket ball in his thigh. The Red Regiment moved up in support, only in
turn to be cut up and almost annihilated, and Lord Willoughby was made
prisoner also in the attempt to rescue his father the Earl. Then followed
a brilliant personal fight for the royal standard, but the Puritan
horseman Copley cut down Sir Edmund Verney, knight marshal of the King's
horse, and standard bearer, and secured the prize. The success of this
attack was largely brought about by the ruse alluded to, where,
"pretending to be friends," they broke in upon the King's regiments. If
it is true that they got so near as to shake hands, the business must have
been very simple. Verney had presentiment of his death, and the severed
hand clasping the standard shaft is said to be yet sadly searched for by
the ghost of Claydon House.[Vr] On the finger of the hand was a ring, a
king's gift. Nugent says about the standard's recapture: "The Royal
standard was taken by Mr. Young, one of Sir William Constable's ensigns,
and delivered by Lord Essex to his own Secretary, Chambers, who rode by
his side. Elated by the prize, the Secretary rode about, more proudly than
wisely, waving it round his head. Whereupon in the confusion, one of the
King's officers, Captain Smith, of the Lord John Stewart's troop, seeing
the standard captured, threw round him the orange scarf of a fallen
Parliamentarian, and riding in among the lines of his enemies, told the
Secretary that 'it were a shame that so honourable a trophy of war should
be borne by a penman.' To which suggestions the credulous guardian of this
honourable trophy consenting, surrendered it to the disguised cavalier,
who galloped back with it amain, and before evening received knighthood[4]
under its shadow."

Brooke's, Hollis', and Ballard's infantry, moved across part of the ground
abandoned by Ramsay's horse to attack the right flank of the King's
centre, an attack which soon becomes as disastrous to the Royalists as
that on the other flank where Lindsay has fallen. In fact, the regiments
of foot from the Parliamentary rear with Constable's infantry and
Stapleton's horse, made a combined assault upon the King's centre, which
they commenced breaking up. In vain were the royalist reserves hurried
forward. The Blue Regiment was cut off by Sir Arthur Haselrigge. Stapleton
made a dash, and the King, who had been watching the fickle fortunes of
his soldiers from a mound (now the King's Clump) near Radway, narrowly
escaped being made a prisoner. The timely interference of a body of
royalist horse--an interference not of sufficient weight to _stop_ the
tide of the Puritan attack, but only to stay it for a few moments--enabled
the King to gain the shelter of the hill, whither also the fragments of
some of his regiments are compelled to follow.


[Illustration: II

BATTLE OF EDGE HILL.

Advance of Hampden_Retreat of Rupert & King]


Meanwhile Rupert had been lost to sight in Kineton streets. When he
learned that the fortunes of the day were, in other parts of the field, in
full flow against his cause, he and his cavaliers re-formed for the
retreat. The place is still known as Prince Rupert's Headland. There was,
however, another factor to be taken into consideration. Some of Hampden's
green-coated soldiers, stimulated no doubt by the sounds of the fight, had
in the meantime come up from Stratford-on-Avon, and were prepared to
dispute Rupert's return. They also succeeded in re-forming many of the
fugitives, in which duty Captains Cromwell,[5] Nathaniel Fiennes and
Kightley, took part.[q] The guns and infantry opened fire upon the
retreating cavaliers, who had a hard fight to regain the hill butt, for
Stapleton's horse, after fighting along the whole of the Royalist line,
chased them home. Nevertheless, two of the royal regiments refused to be
beaten; falling back upon their guns, they made a stand, probably along
the line from Radway to Bullet Hill, and there, reinforced by Rupert's
returning troops, they held their ground, repulsing the Parliamentarian
attacks, and so says Fiennes,[PB] "horse and foot stood together against
horse and foot until night, when the Royalists retired up hill." It is
probably from this stage of the fight that Bullet Hill got its name. The
braided lovelock of many a cavalier who rode so exultingly down the hill
in the afternoon sunlight had a stain of a far deeper colour 'ere sunset,
and with the phase of the fight following the straggling return of
Rupert's Horse, the events of the day seem to have ended. The King would
have tried a final charge with some unbroken regiments to test once more
the fortunes of the day, but was with difficulty persuaded from so
perilous an enterprise.

Each side claims that only the night prevented a completely victorious
issue for its cause, but when we consider that the right wing and centre
of the King's army were disorganised, and in part driven up the hill, and
that the Parliamentarians were in possession of the battle ground, the
Royalists retaining possession only of the low ground from Radway to
Bullet Hill, it seems that the advantage rested on the Puritan side.
One[a] remained master of the field of battle, the other kept the London
road.

Amongst the several estimates of the slain, it is hard to say which is
nearest the truth. Clarendon gives the number as 5,000, two parts of whom
were Parliamentarian, and one part the King's, but the probability is
that it was nearer, a half of that number. Fiennes[PB] puts down the
losses acknowledged by the Royalists themselves as 2,000. Certainly the
records show that they were exceptionally heavy in officers, one writer
adducing as a reason that "the rebel officers had fleeter horses, so not
so many of them were slain." During the cold frosty night after the battle
the wounded must of necessity have been left exposed, inasmuch as the
fight stretched over many miles of country, and was continued until night;
nor do the Royalists appear to have been debarred from searching for their
wounded, as we learn by the succour of old Sir Gervase Scroop by his son.
The King's troops says Clarenden "had not the shelter of tree or hedge,
and after a very cold night spent on the field, without any refreshment of
victual or provision for the soldiers (for the country was so disaffected
that it not only sent no provisions, but many soldiers who straggled into
the villages for relief were knocked on the head by the common people),
the King found his troops very thin." The Parliamentarians, whose baggage
had been cut up by Rupert, could not have been in much better plight; some
of them, however, fired the Dassett Beacon, and the news of the conflict
was thus flashed across country to London. Though so much is recorded of
Mr. Wilmot's (afterwards Lord Rochester, of Adderbury,) position and work
during the day, nothing other than the mere statement is made of a far
greater leader, Spencer Compton, Earl of Northampton, than that he was at
Edge Hill, with some of the best disciplined men.[MW] It would seem that
the extended movement of the Royalist forces along the hill ridge in the
early part of the day was to give support to Compton Wynyate, or get aid
therefrom. It was but three miles distant. Whether any deflection of
Hampden's force moving from Stratford-on-Avon was made to mask or retard
Compton's men is mere surmise: the main part of Hampden's rear did not
reach the field until the Sunday midnight, when Essex got reinforced by a
regiment of horse and two of foot.

The story of successive campaigns, as in this the first fight, resolves
itself into the superiority of the heavy armament of the Parliamentarian
horse. The improved status of the men added greater force at a later date.
With all the dash, and all the value of the light horse of the King for
foray, when in the field the cavalier went down before the iron armed
horse of the Parliament's army.

On the following day, the two armies again drew up, the Parliamentarians
having in the early morning retired from the hill side towards
Kineton,[PB] but neither showed any disposition to renew the fight. Essex
was pressed to do so by some of his more impetuous officers, but wanted
the daring necessary for so bold a movement. Charles sent a messenger into
the rebel lines with a pardon for Earl Essex, which "messenger returned
with so great a sense of danger as not to have observed the number and
disposition of the Parliamentary forces." Later on, Essex retired to
Warwick with his troops, and Prince Rupert is reported to have followed,
but failed to overtake them, though it is stated that he destroyed many
wagons and carriages with munitions, &c. The reconnaissance appears to
have been otherwise fruitless, for the King at once marched southward, and
received the surrender of Banbury Castle, and also subsequently of
Broughton Castle. Lord Saye, Sir Wm. Cobb, of Adderbury, and John Doyley,
Esq., were not only proclaimed traitors, but were specially exempted from
the King's pardon.[y430]

The position of the graves in which the slain were buried is about 200
yards south of Thistle Farm, the ground bearing still the name of the
Grave Field, and a wych elm marks the site of one of the graves.

The part that Oliver Cromwell played in the struggle has not unnaturally
been the cause of much comment. Carlyle[q101] characteristically cuts the
Gordian knot with the statement, "Captain Cromwell _was_ present, and did
his duty, let angry Denzil say what he will."[6] Denzil Hollis's[o226]
charge that Cromwell purposely absented himself from the field may be
fairly set aside on the ground of malice, his enmity being openly shown,
and moreover it meets contradiction in Cromwell's own statement:[Q249] "At
my first going out into this engagement, I saw our men were beaten at
every hand. I did indeed." Neither can Dugdale's[C] account of Cromwell's
hurried descent from a church steeple by means of the bell rope, when he
saw the Parliamentarian disaster, be received in the face of the letter
written by Captain Nathaniel Fiennes,[PB] which ends thus: "These persons
underwritten were all of the Right wing and never stirred from their
Troops, but they and their Troops fought till the last minute. The Lord
Generall's Regiment--Sir Philip Stapleton, Captain Draper, Serjeant Major
Gunter, Lord Brookes, Captain Sheffield, Captain Temple, Captain Cromwell;
Sir William Belfore's Regiment--Sir William Belfore, Serjeant Major
Hurrey, Lord Grey, Captain Nathaniell Fiennes, Sir Arthur Hasilrigge,
Captain Longe." It is equally curious that Captain Oliver Cromwell, of
Troop Sixty-Seven,[q100] was at Edge Hill in the place he invariably
occupied during the civil war, viz., with the victorious wing, and that
the history of the fluctuations of the fight should be repeated in so many
of the great battles, Naseby and Marston Moor to wit.



  A most true and Exact
  RELATION
  OF
  BOTH THE BATTELS FOUGHT BY
  HIS EXCELLENCY
  and his Forces against the bloudy Cavelliers.
  The one on the 23 of _October_ last near _Keynton_
  below _Edge_-Hill in _Warwickshire_,
  the other at _Worcester_ by
  Colonell _Brown_, Captain _Nathaniel_, and
  _John Fiennes_, and
  Colonell _Sands_ and some others.

  Wherein the particulars of each Battel is punctually set
  down at large for the full satisfaction of all people, with
  the Names of the Commanders and Regiments that valiently
  stood it out.

  Also the number and Names of the Chief Commanders that were
  slain on both sides: All which is here faithfully set down
  without favour or partiality to either Army.

  Written by a worthy Captain Master _Nathaniel Fiennes_, And
  commanded to be Printed.

  London, Printed for Joseph Hunscott
  Novem. 9. 1642.



Mr. _Nathaniel Fiennes_ his Letter to his Father.

MY LORD,

I have sent to your Lordship a Relation of the last Battell fought in
_Keynton_ Field, which I shewed to the Generall and Lievtenant Generall of
the Horse, and divers Colonels and Officers, and they conceive it to be
right and according to the truth: For the ill writing of it, I desire that
your Lordship would excuse me, for I had not time to write it over again;
yet I suppose it may be read, and your Lordship may cause it to be written
faire, if your Lordship thinke it worth so much. For that which your
Lordship writeth concerning my brother _John_, is a most false and
malicious slander which that fellow hath raised upon him, that he should
be the first man that fled on the left wing, when as none of your
Lordship's sonnes were in the left wing, and my brother _John_ was not at
all in the field while the fight was; for by occasion that I intreated him
on Saturday morning, when we marched towards _Keynton_ (little dreaming of
a Battell the next day) to go to _Evesham_ (which was but three miles from
the quarter where our Troops lay, before they marched with the Army to
_Keynton_) for to take some Arms that were come thither the night before,
for such of our men as wanted Arms, and so to come after to the Rendevous
at _Keynton_. He could not come thither on Saturday with those men of both
Troops which went backe with him to _Evesham_ for their Arms, but the next
day he came thither between three or foure of the clock; at which time our
left wing being defeated, many of the Runaways met with him as he was
coming to the Army; and happily among the rest, this fellow that raised
this report; for that _Vivers_ which your Lordship mentioneth, was not
Captain _Vivers_ (for he was in _Banbury_) but a brother of his that was
in one of Colonell _Goodwin's_ Troops, and as I heard my brother say, he
saw him there; and I heard my Lord Generall say, that _Vivers_ was one of
the first that ran away: Now it seemes that those men that ran away so
timely, seeing my brother before them, reported as if he had fled from the
Army, which is so contrary to the truth, that he tooke a great deale of
pains to make his own men and Captain Vivers' men which were with him to
stand, and to stop the Runaways that came from the Army, and this he did,
and made two or three stands, and at length gathered a pretty body upon a
hill together, and with them (there being Captain Keightlye's, and Captain
Cromwell's Troope, at length came to them also) he marched towards the
Town; and hearing the enemy was there (as indeed they were with the
greatest part of their horse they made a stand, and sending forth their
Scouts to give them intelligence where the enemy and where our Forces
were, at length they came to knowledge of Colonell _Hampden's_ Brigado
that was coming another way to the Town, and so joyning themselves unto
them, they came to the Army together. My Lord Generall is very sensible of
the wrong that this fellow hath done my brother, and will inquire after
him to have him punished, as he hath written to my Lord _Wharton_
concerning him, to let you know so much. Master _Bond_ whom he citeth for
one of his authors, denies that ere he spake to my brother at all, or that
he saw any such thing of flying, as that base fellow reporteth, and this
your Lordship shall have under his hand. It had been a strange thing if my
brother that shewed so much courage at _Worcester_, should have been so
faint-hearted on this occasion; But I strange that men will give credit to
every idle fellow; if they will, they may heare that my Lord Generall and
all the Officers, every one of them ran away. But my Lord, as your
Lordship hath great cause to be thankfull, together with us, to God, that
in all these late actions of danger, hath preserved the persons and lives
of all your three Sons, so also for preserving their honors, and the honor
of Religion; that in this cause they have never flinsht, but have all of
them in their severall places and conditions been as forward to hazard
their persons into the midst of their's and God's enemies as any whosever.
And of the truth of this (though we do not vapour so much as some do)
there are enough, and those very honorable witnesses that can and will
affirm it as well as

_Your Lordship's most obedient Son_,

NATHANIEL FIENNES.



A most true Relation of the Battell fought by his Excellency and his
Forces against the bloudy Cavalliers.

The two and twentieth of _October_, being _Saturday_, his Excellency the
Earl of _Essex_ came with twelve regiments of Foot, and two and forty
Troops of Horse, and a part of the Ammunition and Artillery, to _Keynton_,
a little Market Toun, almost in the mid-way between _Stratford_ upon the
Avon, and _Banbury_, there being three Regiments of Foot, and nine or ten
Troops of Horse, with seven Pieces of Cannon, and good store of Ammunition
coming after, together with six Companies of Dragooners; the Dragooners,
and two of the Regiments of Foot, with the Cannon, and nine or ten Troops
of Horse, came to _Keynton_ on _Sunday_ night, a little before the day
went down; The Regiment, with the Lord Rochfords, came not into the Army
till Monday in the afternoon. The King's Army was lodged on Saturday
night, about Croprede and Edgecot, some 6 or 7 miles from _Keynton_; and
having, no doubt, got intelligence that part of our Army, and Artillery,
with a great part of our Ammunition was behinde us, they thought they
could not have a better opportunity to fight with our Army, especially if
they could get the advantage of the hill before us, it being a very high
and steep assent, which if they were put to the worst might serve them for
a Retreat, as it did, it being that which saved them, their Carriages, and
the Colours of their Regiments of Foot that ran away; for of those that
fought it out, we tooke most of them, excepting onely those two Regiments
that stood it out till night, and went off with their horse in an orderly
way. The enemy having resolved to give us Battell, and no whit doubting of
the Victory, they being more then we were, both in horse and foot (a
considerable Brigado of our Army being behinde) and having a great opinion
of the resolution of their Souldiers, wherein they were partly deceived,
and partly not, as it hapned also on our side; They returned back towards
_Edge Hill_, and made all possible speed to gain the hill before us (which
they did, by reason that his Excellency had not timely intelligence of
their designe, otherwise we were much neerer the hill, and might have been
possessed of it before them). And by that time our Army was drawn out of
the Town about a mile and half towards the hill, the Dragooners, and some
of the enemie's Foot were coming down the hill; Their horse having gotten
down most of them on their right hand, and placed themselves in a fair
Meadow, at the bottom of the hill; Their Cannon and Ammunition, with the
Rere of their foot, were something long ere they came down. And if we had
charged them before their Cannon and all their Foot were come down, we
might have had a great advantage: but they got all down into the Meadow at
the foot of the hill, and there drew up their Army very handsomely, their
horse being on their right Wing for the most part, and their Dragooners,
and some few Troops of horse on their left Wing; some of their prisoners
said they had four Regiments of horse on that wing also; but I could never
speak with any of our Army, that either saw any such number of horse, or
could tell what they did, unlesse they went directly to _Keynton_, to
plunder the Carriages without charging our Army at all.

For our Army, it was drawn up upon a little rising ground, and being
amongst the horse, I could not well discern how the foot were drawn up;
only I knew they were most of them a good space behinde the horse, when we
began to charge: but for the horse, there were three Regiments on the
right Wing of our Army, _viz._, The Lord Generalls Regiment commanded by
Sir _Philip Stapleton_; Sir _William Belfore's_ Regiment, Lieutenant
Generall of the Horse; and the Lord _Fielding's_ Regiment, which stood
behinde the other two, in the way of a reserve.

On the right Wing of our Army, was Sir James Ramsey, with some 24 Troops,
for many of our Troops were not in the Field that day. The Armies being
thus placed one against another with no great oddes of the winde or ground
(but what their was of winde the enemies had it, the ground being
reasonable indifferent on both sides) after many shot of Cannon which did
very little hurt amongst us, and very much amongst them, their foot
advancing for the most part against our right Wing, and their horse
against the left Wing of our Army. Their horse had the better of our horse
that were on our left Wing, and routing them, drove them back upon our
foot, and amongst the rest, upon Colonell _Hollis_ his Regiment, which was
in the Rere, and they brake through it, yet they ran not away, nor seemed
to be at all dismayed at it; but four other Regiments ran away, and fought
not at all, and many of them cast away their Colours, and so the enemy
took them up, having scarce got so much as one Colour or Cornet of those
Regiments or Troops that fought, whereas all the Colours that we got from
them, and the King's Standard, which we had a long time in our possession,
were taken out of the midst of their best Regiments that fought it out
very resolutely: Our left Wing being thus put to the worst, the day was
very desperate on our side; and had not God clearly fought for us, we had
lost it; for had the enemie's horse when they routed the left Wing, fallen
upon the Rere of our right Wing, in all probability the army had been
wholly defeated: But they made directly to the Town, and there falling
upon our Carriages, most barbarously massacred a number of poor Waggoners
and Carters that had no arms to defend themselves, and so fell to
pillaging and pursuing those that ran away, so long till they met with
Colonell _Hampden_, who with the other Brigado of the Army (which came
with the Artillery and Ammunition which was behinde) was by this time come
near to _Keynton_, and the enemie's Troops falling upon him as they
pursued our men that ran away, he gave them a stop, and discharging five
pieces of Cannon against them, he slew some of them; whereupon they
returned in some fear and disorder: But when they came back into the
Field, they found all their Infantry, excepting two Regiments, cut in
pieces or defeated and run away; for it pleased God to put such courage
into four or five of our Regiments of foot, and two Regiments of horse,
the Lord Generall's commanded by Sir _Philip Stapleton_, and Sir _William
Belfore_, that they defeated all their Regiments of foot, except two. Sir
_William Belfore's_ Regiment of horse charged a Regiment of the enemie's
foot, before any foot came up to assist him, and breaking into it cut most
of it off; and after, by the assistance of some of our foot, he defeated
another Regiment, and so we got up to the greatest part of the enemies
Ordnance, and took them, cutting off the Geers of the horses that drew
them, and killing the Gunners under the Carriages, but were forced to
leave them without any to guard them, by reason we were fain to make good
the day against severall Regiments of foot that still fought with a good
deal of resolution; especially that which was of the King's Guard, where
his Standard was, close by which Sir _William Belfore's_ Regiment rode
when they came from taking the Ordnance; and they taking us to be their
friends, and we them, some of our Company, shook hands with some of them,
which was the cause that after riding up towards the Lord Generall's
Regiment of horse, they gave fire upon Sir _William Belfore's_ Regiment,
and discerning each other to be friends, we joyned Companies; and so with
half the Lord Generall's Regiment, which his Excellency himself led up,
charging the King's Regiment, we defeated it, took the Standard, took the
Generall of the King's Army, the Earl of Lindley, and his son, and
Colonell Vavasor who was Lieutenant Colonell of that Regiment, and killed
Sir Edward Varney upon the place (who carryed the Standard), Colonell John
Munroe, and divers others: In this charge, and generally throughout the
day, the Lord Generall's Troop, consisting most of Gentlemen, carried
themselves most valiantly; and had all our Troops, of our left Wing been
made of the same metall, the enemy had not made so easie an impression
into them. And what is said of my Lord Generall's Troop, may most truly,
and to his high praise, be said of himself; and also that noble Earl, the
Earl of Bedford, Generall of the horse, for both of them rode all day,
being in the heads of the severall Troops and Regiments to give their
directions, and to bring them on upon the enemy, hazarding their persons
as far and further than any particular Souldier in the Army. By this time
all the enemie's foot being dispersed and gone excepting two Regiments,
they retiring themselves, found their Ordnance behind them without any
Guard, and there they made a stand, and made use of their Cannon, shooting
divers shot at us; at which time our Regiment of foot began to want
Powder, otherwise we had charged them both with horse and foot, which in
all probability would have utterly ruined their Infantry, for those two
Regiments were the onely stake which they had now left in the hedge: But
partly through want of Ammunition, and partly being tyred with fighting
all the day (the whole brunt of the Battell having been sustained by two
Regiments of horse, and four or five of foot) we made no great haste to
charge them, so that the enemies horse that had been pillaging at Keynton
had leisure to come about, some on one hand of us, and some on the other,
and so joyned with their foot: Yet as they came back on our left hand, Sir
_Philip Stapleton_, with his Troop, went out to charge some 4 or 5 Troops
of them which went away from him as fast as they could upon the spur to
the rest of their Company, and their foot that stood by their Ordnance,
most of the enemie's horse being gathered to their foot, most of our horse
also gathered to our foot, and so we stood horse and foot one against the
other till it was night. Our Army being thus possessed of the ground that
the enemy chose to fight upon, stood there all night; the enemy having
withdrawn their Army to the top of the hill for more security to
themselves, where they made great fires all the night long, whilst we in
the meantime drew backe some of our owne Ordnance, which they had once in
their possession, and some of their's which they had left behinde.

The next morning, a little before it was light, we drew back our Army
towards the Town to our other Brigadoe and Artillary and Ammunition that
was come and lodged there, and the enemy drew out their horse in the
morning upon the side of the hill, where staying till towards night,
whil'st the foot were retyring behinde the hill and marching away, at
length a little before night, their horse also marched away; and about an
houre after, our horse also marched towards their Quarters, the Foot and
some horse staying all night in their Quarters, in and before _Keynton_;
and the next day the whole Army both horse and foot marched towards
_Warwicke_ to refresh themselves; instead of which, if they had marched
towards _Banbury_, they would have found more victuals, and had in all
probabilities dispersed all the foot of the King's Army, and taken his
Canon and Carriages and sent his horse farther off to plunder, whereas now
because we did not follow them though they quitted the field to us which
we fought on and left their quarter before us the next day, yet they begin
to question who had the day: It is true, there were Colours and Canon
taken on both sides, without any great difference in the numbers, but for
the number and quality of men slaine and hurt, it is verily believed, they
left foure times as many at the least as we did, and in saying foure times
as many, I am confident I speake much below the truth. There were slaine
on their side the Earl of _Lindsey_ Generall of their Army, the Lord
_Aubigney_, brother to the Duke of _Richmond_, Sir _Edward Verny_
Colonell, _John Monroe_ and divers other gentlemen and Commanders, and
very many hurt. Of our side were slaine the Lord St. John, Colonell
_Charles Essex_, Lieutenant Colonell _Ramsey_ and none other of note,
either killed or dangerously hurt that I can heare of; They acknowledge
that they lost 1200 men, but it is thought they lost 2000: and whereas
they report we lost divers thousands, where one man judgeth that we lost
400, ten men are of opinion that we lost not 200 Souldiers, besides the
poore Waggoners and Carters.

These persons underwritten were all of the Right wing and never stirred
from their Troops but they and their Troops fought till the last minute.

  The Lord Generall's Regiment   _Sir William Belfore's_ Regiment

  _Sir Philip Stapleton_         _Sir William Belfore_

  _Captain Draper_               _Sergeant Major Hurrey_

  _Sergeant Major Gunter_        _Lord Grey_

  _Lord Brookes_                 _Captain Nathaniell Fiennes_

  _Captain Sheffield_            _Sir Arthur Hasilrigge_

  _Captain Temple_               _Captain Longe_

  _Captain Cromwell_



A FULL AND TRUE RELATION of the great Battell fought between the King's
Army, and his Excellency, the Earle of Essex, upon the 23 of October last
past (being the same day twelve-moneth that the Rebellion broke out in
Ireland) sent in a Letter from Captain Edward Kightley, now in the Army,
to his friend Mr. Charles Lathum in Lumbard Street, London, Wherein may
bee clearly seene what reason the Cavaliers have to give thankes for the
Victory which they had over the Parliaments Forces.

  Judges 5-31.

  "So let all thine enemies perish O Lord, but let them that love him, be
  as the Sun when he goeth forth in his might."

London: Printed November the 4, 1642.


Loving Cousin, I shall make so neare as I can a true, though long relation
of the battell fought betweene the King's Army and our Army, under the
conduct and command of my Lord Generall on Saturday _October_ 22. Our
Forces were quartered very late and did lie remote one from the other, and
my Lord Generall did quarter in a small Village where this Battell was
fought, in a field called Great Kings Field, taking the name from a
Battell there fought by King _John_ as they say: on Sunday the 23 of
_October_ about one of the clocke in the afternoon, the Battell did begin
and it continued untill it was very darke, the field was very great and
large, and the King's Forces came down a great and long hill, he had the
advantage of the ground and wind, and they did give a very brave charge,
and did fight very valiantly: they were 15 Regiments of Foot and 60
Regiments of Horse, our Horse were under 40 Regiments and our Foot 11
Regiments: my Lord Generall did give the first charge, pressing them with
2 pieces of Ordnance which killed many of their men, and then the enemy
did shoote one to us, which fell 20 yards short in a plowed Land, and did
no harme, our Souldiers did many of them run away to wit blew Coats and
Grey Coats, being two Regiments, and there did runne away, 600 horse, I
was quartered five miles from the place, and heard not anything of it,
until one of the clocke in the afternoone. I halted thither with Sergent
Major _Duglis'_ troope, and over-tooke one other troope, and when I was
entiring into the field, I thinke 200 horse came by me with all the speed
they could out from the battell, saying, that the King had the victory,
and that every man cried for God and King Charles. I entreated, prayed and
persuaded them to stay, and draw up in a body with our Troopes, for we saw
them fighting, and the Field was not lost, but no perswasions would serve,
and then I turning to our three troopes, two of them were runne away, and
of my Troope I had not six and thirtie men left, but they were likewise
runne away, I stayed with those men I had, being in a little field, and
there was a way through, and divers of the enemy did runne that way both
horse and foote, I tooke away about tenne or twelve horse, swords, and
armour, I could have killed 40 of the enemy, I let them passe disarming
them, and giving the spoile to my Troopers; the Armies were both in a
confusion, and I could not fall to them with out apparent loss of my selfe
and those which were with me, the powder which the Enemy had was blowne up
in the field, the Enemy ran away as well as our men, God did give the
victory to us, there are but three men of note slain of ours, namely my
Lord Saint _John_, Collonell _Essex_, and one other Captaine, whose name I
have forgot: Captaine Fleming is either slaine or taken prisoner, and his
Cornet, he had not one Officer which was a souldier, his Waggon and money
is lost, and divers of the Captaines money and Waggons are lost, to great
value, our foote and Dragooners were the greatest Pillagers, wee had the
King's Standard one houre and a halfe, and after lost it againe: Wee did
lose not above three hundred men, the enemy killed the Waggoners, women
and little boyes of twelve years of age, we tooke seventeene Colours and
five pieces of Ordnance, I believe there were not lesse than three
thousand of the enemy slaine, for they lay on their own ground, twenty,
and thirty of heapes together, the King did lose Lords, and a very great
many of Gentlemen, but the certaine number of the slaine cannot bee
knowne, we did take my Lord of _Lindsey_, Generall of the Foote, being
shot in the thigh, who dyed the Tuesday morning following, and his body is
sent away to be buryed, the Lo: _Willoughby_ his son was taken,
_Lunsford_, _Vavasour_, and others, being prisoners in Warwick Castle; on
Munday there did runne from the King's Army 3000, foote in 40, 50, and 60
in Companies, wee kept the field all Sunday night, and all Munday, and
then marched to our quarters, and on Munday the enemy would have given us
another charge, but they could not get the foote to fight, notwithstanding
they did beate them like dogs, this last Relation of the enemy I received
from one which was a prisoner and got away.

Banbury is taken by the King, there was 1000 Foote in it, the Captaines
did run away, and the souldiers did deliver the Toune up without
discharging one Musket. It was God's wonderful worke that we had the
victory, we expect to march after the King. The day after the Battell all
our Forces, horse and foote were marched up, and other forces from remote
parts, to the number of 5000, horse and foote more than were at the
Battell, now at my writing, my Lord Generall is at Warwick, upon our next
marching we doe expect another Battell, we here thinke that the King
cannot strengthen himself, for the souldiers did still runne daily from
him, and I believe if we come to fight a great part of them will never
come up to the charge. The King's guard were gentlemen of good quality,
and I heard it, that there [was] not above 40 of them which returned out
of the field, this is all I shall trouble you with, what is more, you will
receive it from a better hand than mine: Let us pray one for another, God
I hope will open the King's eyes, and send peace to our Kingdome. I pray
remember my love to all my friends; if I could write to them all I would,
but for such newes I write you, impart it to them, my Leiutenant and I
drinke to you all daily; all my runawayes, I stop their pay, some of them
for two dayes some three dayes and some four dayes, which time they were
gone from mee, and give their pay to the rest of the souldiers, two of my
souldiers are runne away with their Horse and Armes: I rest, and commit
you to God.

Your loving Cousin,

EDWARD KIGHTLEY.


The Rebellion in Ireland and our Battell were both the 23 of October.



II.

The Geology of Edge Hill.


The Geology of the Edge Hill region presents points of study to the
student of the physical phases of the science rather than to the
palæontologist, though it does not appear in either case that the
conditions presented are difficult to read. Beginning with the low range
of hills three miles N.W. of Kineton, forming the Trias outcrop, and
fringed with a thin development of Rhætics, we cross the broad plain of
the Lower Lias almost without undulation, save in the ridge which
stretches from Gaydon to Butler's Marston, until the foot of Edge Hill
itself is reached. Fragments of Ammonites of the _rotiformis_ type are
occasionally ploughed up in the plain, and the railway cutting at North
End has yielded specimens of _Ammonites semicostatus_. The hill slopes are
in the main formed of the clays and shales of the Middle Lias, the Zone of
_Ammonites margaritatus_ with certain characteristic fossils, _Cypricardia
cucullata_, &c., appearing in the old brickyard at Arlescot. There is no
other exposure of the seleniferous shales of the zone; their course is
masked by a rich belt of woodland. The natural terraces somewhat
characteristic of this horizon in the midlands are roughly developed
towards the Sun Rising, and are more perfectly shown at Hadsham hollow in
the Hornton vale. At Shenington, four miles southward, there are some
beautifully terraced fields, one locally known as Rattlecombe Slade
recalling to mind the lynchets of the Inferior Oolite sands of
Dorsetshire. They are in the main terraces of drainage, the step-like form
of subsidence being due to the composition of the seleniferous marls and
under waste. The terraces are of exceptional regularity, and run parallel
to the lines of drainage; in one case, however (Kenhill), in the same
locality, they form a bay or recess on the hill slope. A familiar instance
of the last phase is to be seen at the Bear Garden, Banbury. The salient
feature of the Edge Hill escarpment is the Marlstone rock-bed, the
uppermost division of the Middle Lias. Several sections in this zone
(_Ammonites spinatus_) may be seen near the Round House. It has three main
divisions: The upper red layers the roadstone, the middle of several green
hard beds called top-rag, and the lower courses of dark green softer
stone, the best rag (used for building). Some of the quarries have been
worked for centuries, and the grey green slabs of Hornton stone, its local
name, are familiar on the hearths and in the homes of nearly the whole
country-side. At this its N.W. outcrop, the rock thickens considerably,
attaining a development of about twenty-four feet. The stone itself is a
ferruginous limestone, greenish when unweathered, otherwise of a rich red
brown colour. Good evidence of its durability as a building material is
shewn in the fine fourteenth century churches of North Oxon, which are
almost without exception built of the stone. Near the Beacon House on the
Burton Dassett Hills, a good section is exposed in which fossils are found
more freely. Amongst the brachiopod shells _Waldhemia indentata_,
_Terebratula punctata_, _T. Edwardsii_ occur, together with an abundance
of the characteristic _Rhynchonella tetraëdra_: _Spiriferinæ_ are rare.
When the ironstone workings were extended, ten years or so since, large
_Pholadomya ambigua_ and other shells were obtainable from some sandy beds
at the base of the series. Capping the "spinatus" beds are a few feet of
Upper Lias Clay belonging to the zone of _Ammonites serpentinus_, and
fragments of the Ammonites common to the horizon are scattered about; but
these beds are not found along the escarpment east of Shenloe Hill.

By the roadside leading from Burton Dassett to Fenny Compton, a small
quarry on the south side shows a patch of Inferior Oolite. A fault has
preserved this the only remnant to prove the former extension of the
Bajocian beds over the area of the Burton and Edge Hills. Tysoe Hill, four
miles S.W. of the Round House, and the hills which fringe the borderland
of Warwickshire and Oxon, are nearly all capped with sands or limestones
of the Inferior Oolite, and occasionally with the marly limestones of the
Great Oolite also.



[Illustration: BANBURY CROSS.]


III.

NOTES ON BANBURY AND THEREABOUT.

STATISTICAL TABLE.

Banbury, in N.E. Oxfordshire, on river Cherwell, drainage N. to S.

Altitudes: river level, 300 o.d.; the Cross, 331; high town, 424.

Average rainfall, 27.59 inches. Mean temperature, 41.5.

Population, Municipal Borough, 12,967.

Parliamentary division of Banbury, in W. Oxon., bounded E. by river
Cherwell, S. by line from E. to W. through Finstock. Member of Parliament,
1890, A. Brassey, Esq., Heythrop Park, Chipping Norton.

Railway Systems: G. W. R.; L. & N. W. R.; B. & C. R.; N. & B. J. R.; G. C.
R.

Canal: Oxford and Birmingham.


Table of Distances in miles from Banbury:--

  Aylesbury          32
  Bicester           15-1/4
  Birmingham         42
  Brailes            10
  Buckingham         17
  Byfield             9-1/4
  Brackley            9
  Charlbury          15-3/4
  Chipping Norton    13
  Cheltenham         39-1/2
  Enstone            12
  Edge Hill           8-1/2
  Deddington          6
  Daventry           17
  Hook Norton         9
  Harbury            14
  Kineton            11-1/2
  Leamington         21
  London             70
  Moreton-in-Marsh   21
  Northampton        24
  Oxford             22-1/2
  Stratford-on-Avon  20
  Shipston-on-Stour  13-1/2
  Southam            14
  Stow-on-the-Wold   20-1/4
  Towcester          17-1/2
  Warwick            20
  Witney             23
  Woodstock          16-1/2

_Municipal Properties and Buildings:_

  The Cross
  The Town Hall
  The Old Bridge and Bridge-ways
  The Municipal School
  The Recreation Ground and Baths
  The Spittal (Sewage) Farm

_Ecclesiastical and other Buildings:_

  St. Mary's (Parish) Church
  Vicarage House
  Christ Church
  St. Paul's Church, Neithrop
  St. John's Church (R.C.)
  St. John's Priory
  Wesleyan Chapel, Marlborough Road
  Congregational Chapel, South Bar
  Baptist Chapel, Bridge St.
  Unitarian Chapel, Horse Fair
  The Corn Exchange
  The Mechanics' Institute
  The Horton Infirmary

The Borough Arms: The Sun in glory or' and on a mount vert. A lily argent
in pare the letters B.A.

Manufactures: Agricultural implements and machinery, patent files, patent
boxes, and cabinet goods; linen garments; cloth; cakes; ale and beer;
horse girths; patent gates.

Geology: Lower town, Middle Lias clays and thin limestones; Middle town,
Middle Lias seleniferous marls and thin limestones; High town, Middle Lias
rock (ironstone); Crouch Hill and Constitution Hill, capped with thick
Upper Lias clays and Inferior Oolite limestones and sand.

BANBURY CROSS.--A fine hexagonal Gothic structure, fifty feet in height,
was erected from the designs of the architect, Mr. John Gibbs, in 1859, in
commemoration of the marriage of the Princess Royal with Prince Frederick
William of Prussia. On the buttresses of the lower stage are painted the
municipal seals of old Banbury. Between the buttresses are pedestals
intended to receive statues. Statues of the late Queen, Oliver Cromwell,
and Whateley would complete the beauty of the structure if accompanied by
the removal of the palisading. The upper panels are enriched with
conventional ornaments of vine, ivy, rose, and other flowers, and bear the
arms or cyphers of Queens Mary and Victoria, Kings Charles I. and George
I., the Princess William of Prussia, the Earls of Banbury and Guildford,
Viscount Saye and Sele, Sir William Cope, Sir William Compton, the Bishop
of Lincoln, and the Rev. W. Whateley. The celebrated old Cross is believed
to have stood near the site of the present one, and was destroyed about
the year 1602, at which time it went ill with the other Crosses which
formerly adorned the town, owing to excesses of religious zeal. The High
Cross mentioned in King Ed. VI.'s reign is probably the same as The Bread
Cross repaired in 1563, on the site of which the present Cross is supposed
to be. Of the White Cross "outside Sugarford" (West) Bar and of the Market
Cross no more can be said. From a passage in Leland's Itinerary, it
appears that the Cross was of some note, and from the old nursery rhyme,
"Ride a cock-horse," &c., if from no more veracious record, it seems that
it was honoured by an occasional pageant.

THE PARISH CHURCH (ST. MARY'S).--The old church, of which there is
abundant record in engravings and contemporary drawings, stood on the
ground where now is the new church. Of fine proportions and good style,
its destruction (1790) appears to have been an ill-judged measure. It had
a massive west tower, embattled and crowned by eight ornamented pinnacles
and a series of beautiful windows on the south and south-east sides. Its
chantry of St. Mary was founded in 1413, and there was another chapel
dedicated to honour the resurrection of our Lord. Records remain of the
armorial glass, nearly all of which was destroyed during the time of the
siege of Banbury Castle, when the church was used as a vantage point.
There were sixty coats of arms. The church was said to be the burying
place of Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, its founder, also of William Pope,
cofferer to Henry VII., and of Captayn Wm. Danvers who died "in the
service of God and the King" in 1643. Mr. Arden's list of the Vicars of
Banbury gives the date of death of Vicar Roger as 1278. Many of the
remains of the old fabric are in use as ornaments in Banbury gardens.

Erected about 1797, the present church stands in architecture far away
from the taste of the time. It is nevertheless a bold and good design by
Cockerill of domestic Doric style. Betwixt its beginning and its
completion so many years intervened as to give birth to the rhyme:

  "Proud Banbury, poor people,
  Built a church without a steeple."

The portico with its semicircle of plain columns and the circular tower,
133 feet high, with its ornamental quartrefoiling and the balconied
alleis are not without massive beauty of their own. The bareness and heavy
structure of the body are compensated for by the beauty of the interior
decoration, which is of the best of the mural work of the kingdom. The
galleries and dome are supported by twelve graceful Ionic pillars,
arranged in an octagonal figure. The chancel has been re-built in unison
with the original design, and the apse is worked in colour in three
divisions representing the twelve apostles with trees of scripture in the
background. The ceiling illustrates the enthronement of Christ (Rev. iv.)
On the wall, at the east of the nave, are inscribed the tables of the
commandments. A band of gold encircles the dome, bearing the text, "The
Lord is in His holy temple," &c. The painted windows are good examples of
modern work; one in the north-west gallery is in memory of the explorer,
Admiral Sir G. Back, uncle of the late vicar, and represents arctic scenes
and figures. The work was carried out at the cost of and during the office
of the late vicar, the Rev. H. Back, aided by Miss Wyatt and others. The
decorators were Messrs. Heaton, Butler and Baines. There is also a richly
inlaid marble font, and pulpit. At the time of the Victorian Jubilee the
peal of eight bells was overhauled, and new chimes with shifts for
three weeks added to the clock tower. Beesley gives four of the bells as
having been made by the Bagleys' of Chacombe, where they had a well known
17th century bell foundry. The eighth bell bears the inscription:

  "I ring to Sermon with a lusty boome
  That all may come and none may stay at home."


[Illustration: INTERIOR ST. MARY'S CHURCH. BANBURY.]


THE VICARAGE HOUSE, dated 1649, stands against the south-west corner of
the churchyard, and is a handsome specimen of the domestic architecture of
the period. The gabled front, window mullions and porch remain of the old
work, and also the hall and front rooms. The room over the porch, used as
a private chapel, seems to be of its old service. Very carefully has the
interior ornamentation been carried out, of which the cornice of music
staves of the front room is an instance.

OLD HOUSES.--The gabled houses on the north side of the High Street, and
on the south and west sides of the Market Place, are good examples of
domestic architecture of late Tudor or early Stuart times. An old
sun-dial, bearing the motto "Aspice et abi," is attached to the front of
the High Street houses. The barge boards and pargeting of the front and
the good casemated windows of the west side remain, but the roof has been
stripped of its Stonesfield slate, and the finials are badly restored.
Also worth notice is the front of No. 11 Market Place, and the old jail,
No. 3 (1646), though the lower stage has been cut away. Orchard House,
Neithrop, the front of which it is said was protected by woolsacks during
the siege of Banbury Castle, stands on a mound away from the road side. It
bears the appearance of a manor house, as it probably was, and it has a
massive oak stair-way. The Woodlands, Horse Fair, has a handsome garden
front; it was formerly an inn. The Woodlands, as well as the school house
near by, now Banbury Academy (and here Dean Swift commenced his Gulliver's
Travels, taking the title of Gulliver from the name on a tomb in the
churchyard opposite), are typical houses of the time. A beautifully carved
oak cornice remains in the north-west room of house No. 47 North Bar, Mrs.
J. Bolton's.

CALTHORPE HOUSE.--The Calthorpe Manor of old time is now sadly diminished,
its fish pond drained and its park a building ground. The north-west part
of the house is in use as a wool warehouse, but yet the east front, now
Calthorpe House School, stands in good order with stone porch, and
armorial shield of the Hawtayne's, and a good oriel window above bearing
the arms in stained glass of the Brancestre (1545) and Danvers'
families. The inscriptions thereon are "Danvers Matched D'Oyley," "Danvers
long time owned Calthropp," etc. The house, one of the religious houses of
early date and probably part of the hospice of St. John, was linked with
the early history of the town. Beesley and Macnamara speak of its
associations with the Brancestre family in the time of Richard II. (1378),
and later with that of Danvers. The former granted lands to the master of
St. John, thus implying a religious holding. By its reconstruction in
Queen Elizabeth's days we know the reformation had swept away its
religious order, and the fine oriel window is of that date. It is said
that Nonconformity was preached for the first time in Banbury in the oriel
room.


[Illustration: COURTYARD, REINDEER INN, BANBURY.]


OLD INNS.--The Reindeer, in Parson's Street, is probably older than any of
the houses before mentioned; the wooden gates are dated 1570, and have
inscribed on them the names Iohn Knight, Ihone Knight, David Horne. The
richly moulded ceiling and the fine panelling of the principal room, known
as the Globe Room, are of the style of the Italian renaissance, and above
the window is an inscription of the date 1570. The Unicorn Inn, in the
Market Place, and the adjoining house, at one time no doubt part of the
inn, belong to a later period; the massive wooden gates are carved with
the date 1648. The Old George (1614) seems to have formerly borne the name
of The George and Altarstone, from a supposed Roman altar dug up on the
site of the inn, and formerly exhibited in one of the rooms.

THE BARS.--The entrances to the town were formerly crossed by gates, or
bars, five in number. The North Bar, from which the present street is
named, stood near the tan-yard, southward of the corner of Warwick Road.
The Cole Bar closed the old Adderbury and Oxford Road, which entered the
town by way of New Land and Broad Street before the making of the turnpike
road. St. John's Bar closed the entrance from Chipping Norton, and stood
at the spot where Monument Street now enters South Bar. When the Bar was
destroyed its site was marked by an obelisk, long since removed, from
which Monument Street takes its name. Sugarford Bar stood in West Street,
close to where it is now crossed by the Shades, and the Bridge Gate stood
on the old bridge over the Cherwell. Not a vestige of any of the bars
remains.

THE MECHANICS' INSTITUTE, founded 1835, received the gift of its new
building in Marlborough Road in 1884. It has a general library and a
reference library and news and magazine rooms well suited to the
requirements of the day. There is an excellent replica of Herkomer's
portrait of the donor in the news room.

THE MUNICIPAL SCHOOL buildings adjoin the Institute, and are also in part
a gift to the town by the Right Hon. Sir Bernhard Samuelson (Parliamentary
representative of Banbury for 30 years). It is also a School of Science
and Art, with well equipped rooms for art study, and with good
laboratories and class rooms. The School of Science and Art was a
continuation of science and art classes which were among the earliest
started in the kingdom (1861). It shows a good record of work. The
buildings are well proportioned, and the doorways of the local (Hornton)
stone are bold, and have good mouldings.

THE TOWN HALL.--The old Hall stood on the open space in the Market Place
in front of the Exchange Hall. It was a plain brick building, standing on
arcading, forming a Market Hall on the ground floor, and it has been
re-erected in Cherwell Street as a warehouse. The first Hall was built in
Queen Mary's reign, 1556. The Hall of to-day, built in 1853, was enlarged
in 1892. Portraits of Mr. Tancred, the late High Steward (Lord Saye and
Sele), and Aldermen Draper and Barford are hung in the Court Room.
Formerly a good painting by Hayn had a place there.

The Horton Infirmary, presented to the town by the late Miss Horton, of
Middleton Cheney, and her nephew, J. H. Horton, Esq., is on the Oxford
Road. Two Corn Exchanges existed in the Corn Hill and Market Place; one
has become an Inn with covered court yard, the other is used as a Theatre
but is also used for corn sales on Thursdays; Christ Church, St. John's
Priory and Church, the Wesleyan Chapels, and the various other
denominational places of worship, do not admit of full description.

       *       *       *       *       *

BROUGHTON CASTLE, the old seat of Lord Saye and Sele, now the residence of
Lord Algernon Gordon Lennox, is about two and a half miles to the westward
of Banbury. The older parts are at the east end, and comprise a chapel,
several small rooms and groined passages, and an embattled and loopholed
tower, all of early decorated or 14th century work. The chapel contains a
geometrical window and stone altar. Both north and south fronts, together
with a wooden inner lobby at the entrance to the drawing room, are figured
in Skelton's "Antiquities of Oxfordshire." The north front, of the date
1544, is best seen from the meadow adjoining the Broughton Road. In the
hall, dining and drawing rooms, are rich plaster ceilings of a half
century later. The moat, which still encircles the castle grounds, is
spanned by a modern bridge with a turretted gatehouse of early 15th
century work. The outbuildings on the east side of the gatehouse are of
contemporaneous date. The embattled wall on the west side is part of the
original castle, and belongs to an early part of the 14th century. In the
hall are portraits of Charles I. and Cromwell, by Dobson, and in other
parts of the building works by Westall, Dorcy, and Gainsborough. A large
historical painting of Lord Saye before Jack Cade (Shakespeare's King
Henry VI., pt. 2, sc. 7) formerly hung at the end of the drawing room.
After the Edge Hill fight, Banbury surrendered to the Royalists, who
attacked Broughton on the following day. The Castle, with wool-sacked
windows, stood siege for a day, and then it is said to have been taken by
Prince Rupert. There is little or no evidence to show the phases of the
fight, but when it is remembered that the Fiennes' in the vale of the Red
Horse were within an hour's ride, and that Ramsay and some of his troops
found a way to Banbury on the Sunday, it would point to the probability of
fierce defence. Bretch Cave, on the Banbury Road, has the common repute
of being a secret passage to the Castle, and perhaps some sally port of
the kind may have a tale to tell.


[Illustration: BROUGHTON CASTLE.]


The two paper mills on the borders of the Broughton estate, the Woad Mill
and the Fulling Mill, together with the settlements of the plush and other
weavers near by, point to surroundings of industry connected, it must be
believed, with the old house.

BROUGHTON CHURCH (ST. MARY'S) is a beautiful church of good Early English
work with a broach spire. The nave is on the north side of the church; the
south aisle appears to end as a chapelry. As a place of sepulture of so
many of the Fiennes' family, it is enriched by their tombs and those of
others of the house. The tomb of John de Broughton (circa 1306) is in a
richly decorated and canopied niche in the south wall. The high corner
tomb is that of Edward Fiennes (1528) and that near by with the effigy of
the Knight is believed to be of the father, Richard Fiennes (1501). In the
chancel are the rich alabaster effigies of Sir Thomas Wykham and wife
(circa 1441), and also plain tombs of Wm. Viscount Saye and Sele and wife
(dated 1642-1648).[7] The stone chancel screen with incised diaper
ornament, and the exceedingly well proportioned windows, place the good
work of the church amongst the typical gothic of the country side:
especially to be noticed are the geometrical tracery of the east window of
the south aisle; the south window with later perpendicular shafting; the
south chancel window and the square-headed early English windows of the
south wall. There is a finely crocketed ogee west door and plain south
porch.

WROXTON ABBEY or PRIORY, 3 miles north-west of Banbury, was founded by
Michael Belet; it passed into the hands of Sir Thos. Pope after the
troubles of the Reformation time, and thence by marriage to the Earls
Guildford and North. It is the seat of Lord North, and is famed for its
beautifully terraced gardens and park. The chapel, which is supposed to
date from the time of King John, contains a window in the Decorated style,
with old glass, and the carved woodwork is of the best in the
neighbourhood. The other part of the mansion was re-built in 1618,
excepting a wing which has been added within the last few years. On the
west front is a good porch, in the Italian style, of the time of James I.
The principal features of the hall are the carved woodwork of the gallery,
the fireplace, and the stag's head brackets and pendants. The ceiling of
the dining-room is a beautiful specimen of the classical work of the
Stuart period. Amongst the paintings are some portraits by Vandyke,
Holbein, Jansen and Kneller, and landscapes by Wouvermans, Hobbema, and
others. The famous "Garden Party," by Watteau, is one of the collection.
King James and King Charles I. visited Wroxton, the latter at the time of
the meeting of the King and Queen at Kineton in the year following the
battle of Edge Hill. A medal was struck to commemorate the meeting.
Pleasant paths to Banbury and Broughton lead across the fields.

ALL SAINTS' CHURCH, WROXTON, is of plain Gothic style. The chief points of
interest are a good decorated font, two sedilia, and a tomb with effigies
of Sir W. and Lady Pope, erected about the middle of the 17th century.

ADDERBURY.--Altitudes: high town 342, low town 300; population, 1132;
3-1/4 miles south of Banbury. It retains its old mansions and homesteads
and the wide margin of its ways to a fuller degree than other villages in
the north of the shire. The old rectory house, the manor house, formerly
Lord Rochester's home, and others on the south side of the green, are good
buildings. Nothing remains of the Cross once standing on the green, and of
Sir Thos. Cobb's famous house there remain but the gateways and kitchen.
The village during the time of the Great Rebellion was held as a Royalist
outpost in the Banbury area. Mr. Wilmot, afterwards Lord Rochester, with
his local troops of horse fought on the left wing of the Royalists' Army
at Edge Hill. A cavalry fight took place during the war near Bodicot, on
the Banbury road, when Fiennes had some success.

ST. MARY'S CHURCH is remarkable for its elegant chancel, built by William
of Wykeham. The chancel windows are in the early style of perpendicular
architecture, and are fine illustrations of the architect's skill. His
arms are to be seen above the exterior of the east window. The north door
is in the decorated style, and is rich in mouldings and crocketed
canopies. A good example of perpendicular work is to be seen in the
square-headed vestry door. The spire dates from the 14th century, and is
massive and imposing. The frieze under the cornice of the north wall is
filled with grotesque sculpture. In the interior, the timber roof of the
nave, the clustered columns, and the sedilia and piscina are excellent
specimens of work of the decorated period.

HANWELL.--Altitudes: 476-416; population, 176; 3 miles north-west of
Banbury. The village winds in one long street down-hill. It rests on the
ferruginous red rock of the Middle Lias. Midway in the village an old oak
tree covered the village stocks and the outflow of an aquaduct, probably
the Saint Ann's Well of past time. Pleasant footways follow the hill side
on the north to Shotteswell and on the south to Banbury. When King Charles
took the Castle after the battle of Edge Hill it would seem that it was
not without a fight. An old rhyme runs:

  Hornton in the hollow,
  Long Horley on the hill,
  Frowsty little Drayton,
  Bloody Hanwell hill.

HANWELL CASTLE during its tenure as a farm house lost much of its old work
in successive alterations. Two massive octagonal turrets and the facing of
the west front remain of the old building. The right-handed stairway, a
flight of eighty steps in the north turret, is of very thorough Hornton
stone work, but the turrets and front are of the good flat red brick in
use in Tudor time, with stone quoins. It would appear that the right hand
stairway lent itself better to defensive uses; the upper rooms are entered
from the turret stair. In the angle of the south turret a small room shows
some old oak panelling, and in an adjoining room a hearth and chimney
piece of local stone are in the south-east angle. The once "gallant
house of Hanwell," and, according to Dr. Plot, the home of Sir Anthony
Cope, the most eminent artist and naturalist, may be seen figured as in
its original state by Skelton in his "Antiquities of Oxfordshire," who
says the mansion was quadrangular with two towers at each angle. The
stonework of the doorways of the room adjoining the south entrance and
most of the masonry of the west side has been preserved. The Copes came
into early possession of the Hanwell estate, and John Cope, cofferer to
King Henry VIII., built the house which was so well spoken of by Leland.
In Tudor and Stuart times they were busy politicians, and James I. and his
Queen are said to have visited the Castle. The Copes were with the people
in the time of the Great Rebellion, and after Edge Hill the Castle was
taken by the Royalists. Subsequently Sir Anthony Cope found residence for
the eminent Puritan pastors Harris and Dod, who, with Whateley of Banbury,
ministered to enlarge the religious zeal of the neighbourhood. The pool
and plantation lie to the east of the grounds, and the plantation below is
worth mention from the number of rare plants found therein, amongst them
the Bistort, Lungwort, Green Hellebore, and Saracen's Woundwort.


[Illustration: HANWELL CASTLE.]


BLOXHAM.--Altitudes: high town 400, low town 310; population, 1340; 3
miles south-west of Banbury. The village stands on the red rock of the
middle Lias which bears a capping of clay on the high lands: the lower
levels are of the usual marls. Field ways from Banbury run from the end of
West Bar, and by a less direct but pretty route across the farm field on
the Oxford Road. The buildings of All Saint's School, founded about half a
century since, are at the entrance of the village. The school has earned
good place by the excellence of its tuition. The brook cutting through the
town from west to east and the many side streets and jetways add a
pleasant appearance to the many good homesteads and gardens.

BLOXHAM CHURCH (ST. MARY'S) is one of the most perfect specimens of Gothic
architecture in the county of Oxford. Part of the materials of the
chancel, the mouldings, walls, and buttresses are Norman, though the
church is mainly of the 14th century, about which time it was re-built.
The west doorway is surmounted by figures of the apostles, with a canopied
representation of the Saviour at the apex; on the left and right are
sculptured representations also of the rising of the dead and the
punishment of the lost. The spire, which is 195 feet high, presents a
particularly graceful outline. The square tower is crowned by an octagon
middle stage, rising above which is a balcony, projected on corbels from
the face of the tower. Within the balcony the spire springs, and from the
four angles of the square tower stage slender turrets, terminating in
spirets, are carried up through the middle stage to above the springing of
the spire. The geometric tracery of the windows of the west front, and the
grotesque cornice carvings on the north side, are exceedingly good work.
The decorated oak chancel screen is again a noticeable feature, and its
restoration has brought to light the remains of paintings on its lower
panels. There are also remains of a mural painting of St. Christopher on
the north wall, and of others on the wall above the rood loft. There are
large perpendicular windows in the Milcombe chapelry, on the south side of
the church, and in its north aisle is a beautiful decorated column, having
an enriched capital, with sculptures of mailed figures and heads of
saints. A good Gothic font, the carved work of the hoods of the north and
south doorways, and a handsome modern reredos and other portions of the
chancel can here be mentioned only.

KING'S SUTTON.--Altitudes: 385-282; population, 1037; 5 miles south-east
of Banbury. It is built on the red rock and marls of the Middle Lias. The
old life is represented in the handsome manor house, by tradition also
connected with the wanderings of King Charles I., and a good house on the
south side of the green said to have been a prebendary manor. The town was
in the eighteenth century, with the adjoining village of Astrop, of resort
for the use of its mineral waters. The chalybeate spring (St. Rumbald's
well) is in Sir Wm. Brown's park at Astrop. The well basin and the carved
stone hood stand as in old time together with the Well House. The Well
House, by the work of the doorway and windows, would appear to be of
earlier date than the well hood, but the spring is at present conveyed
from its source to a replica of the well head by the road side. The
associated buildings have long since disappeared, but the pleasant walk up
the old road past the Well Close and the Long Spinney remain. Near the
railway station at King's Sutton is the other mineral spring charged with
sulphate of soda, yet in common use by the people of the homesteads near.
Celia Fiennes in her diary, "Through England on a side saddle," writes of
her journey: "Thence I went to Astrop where is a Steele water much
ffrequented by y{e} Gentry, it has some mixture of Allum so is not so
strong as Tunbridge. There is a ffine Gravell Walke that is between 2
high cutt hedges where is a Roome for the Musick and a Roome for y{e}
Company besides y{e} Private Walkes. The well runnes very quick, they are
not curious in keeping it, neither is there any bason for the spring to
run out off, only a dirty well full of moss's which is all changed yellow
by the water. There are Lodgings about for y{e} Company at a little place
called Sutton." Halliwell gives the following rhyme in his nursery series:

  "King's Sutton is a pretty town,
    And lies all in a valley:
  There is a pretty ring of bells,
    Besides a bowling-alley:
  Wine and liquor in good store,
    Pretty maidens plenty:
  Can a man desire more?
    There aint such a town in twenty."


[Illustration: KING'S SUTTON CHURCH.]


KING'S SUTTON CHURCH is dedicated to St. Peter. The chancel is principally
Norman work, and has along each side a continuous stone bench under an
arcade, exhibiting the characteristic zigzag moulding. The piers and
arches on the south side of the nave are also Norman; those on the north
side are early English. The rood loft turret and staircase remain in the
south abutment of the chancel arch. The appearance of the tower from the
north and south-west is very beautiful. Crocketed pinnacles, connected by
flying buttresses with the face of the spire, are arranged around the
junction of the spire and tower, and the spire itself is boldly crocketed
from base to apex. It is of the early perpendicular period. The deeply
recessed doorway of the western entrance may be of somewhat later date,
and contains the original west door. Separating the chancel from the nave
is a beautiful oak screen, which was designed by Sir Gilbert Scott.

A well-known local rhyme, referring to the spires of the three famous
churches of the neighbourhood, says:--

  Bloxham for length,
  Adderbury for strength,
    And King's Sutton for beauty.

A hill side coppice bearing the name of Rosamunds Bower and the Moate
House are within easy walking distance. The pathway near the bog (mineral)
spring is the shorter and pleasanter route to Banbury, leading near to the
calcining furnaces and ironstone quarries of the Astrop Ironstone Company.

COMPTON WYNYATES, the residence of The Marquis of Northampton, is distant
about nine miles to the south-west of Banbury, and is a beautiful example
of a brick castellated house of Tudor date. It stands in a prettily
wooded hollow at the foot of the hills which skirt the south-east border
of Warwickshire. The building surrounds a quadrangle, and was formerly
encircled by a moat, which has now been filled in on the west, south, and
east sides; its erection began about 1519. The woodwork of the gables and
the doorway of the entrance front, with the shields bearing the Tudor
roses and the emblems of Castile and Arragon, are good instances of the
work of the time. On the right of the quadrangle is the rich bay window of
the hall, and in the hall itself is a finely carved wood screen, coeval
with the building. The tower, and particularly the highly ornamented brick
chimneys, are worth detailed attention. Adjoining the tower is the chapel,
the window of which looks out upon the lawn; a secret passage and Roman
Catholic chapel also testify to the troubled transition times of the early
households. There is but space to note two incidents in the long history
of the house,--the visit of King Henry VIII., and in later years the
fierce little fight when the place, garrisoned by the Puritan troops, was
attacked by Sir Charles and Sir Wm. Compton with a party of Royalists from
Banbury. The Comptons failed to regain their home.


[Illustration: COMPTON WYNYATES, HALL WINDOW.]


HORLEY.--Altitudes, 500-400; population, 247; is 4 miles north-west of
Banbury, and may be reached by a pleasant footpath passing over Ruscot
Hill and through Drayton fields. The village stands at the neck dividing
two of the high vales of North Oxon, the Lias ironstone covering all the
high lands thereabouts. St. Ethelreda's Church, plain, square towered and
full of good old Early English work, is in mid village; the two pointed
arches between chancel and nave, the old glass of the north aisle and the
great mural painting of Saint Christopher, the Christ bearer, with the
legend:

  "What are thou; and art so yying
  Bar I never so heavy a thinge."

  "Yey, I be hevy, no wunther nys
  For I am the Kynge of blys."

All these, and the organ (1765), are worth the passing hour of the
wayfarer. Many of the houses, for instance that of Mr. B. Hirons, are of
good proportion and build. At the north-west end of the village, Clump
Lane leads to some beautifully terraced fields known as Steps Meadow and
Hadsham Hollow, and the footway along the high bank to the near village of
Hornton is also one of the pleasant ways of the countryside. At the Yellow
Well beyond the Horley House a dole of bread was wont to be made on St.
Thomas's day.

RADWAY.--Altitude, 400; population, 216; 9 miles north-west of Banbury; is
pleasantly reached by the pathway below the Tower at Ratley Grange. Radway
Grange by alteration about 1735 lost most of its good features as a
building--it stands on the slopes of its park land at the foot of the
hill. The farm pool runs close to the road side, and a pleasant prospect
of the hill side is got through its foliage. The church is more noticeable
for its enclosure of the Kingsmill monument, one of the burials of the
Edge Hill fight, than for its architectural style. The wide openings of
the village and the high wooded lanes of the Edge are diversified with
many a pleasant path and resting place.


[Illustration: COMPTON WYNYATES, ANGLE AND CHIMNEYS.]


WARMINGTON.--Altitudes: high town, 600; low town, 409; population, 269.
The village is within the Warwickshire border, 5-1/2 miles to the north of
Banbury, and is built on the slopes of a continuation of the Edge Hill
escarpment. From the south side it is hidden from view by the woods of
Deddington Hill. The church stands on a bold mass of Lias rock jutting
into the roadway, and with the old homesteads surrounding the green and
pool and the high banks clothed with wood and orchard, have given
Warmington a high reputation for beauty even amongst the many beautiful
villages near it. St. Nicholas' Church is known to antiquarians more by
the plain solidity of its work than by any richness of ornamentation. It
has heavy Norman and early English piers, and sedilia and piscina in the
chancel with Norman enrichment. The priest's house, one of the best of the
countryside, is on the north side. It has done service as vestry also, and
in the window embrasure in the upper room is a stone altar table. There is
the ancient stone fireplace also, and a window from which the altar could
be watched. The headstone in the churchyard to Captain Gourdin stands by
the path to the Banbury road. The Manor House facing the pool dates from
the later days of Henry VIII.'s reign. Though now in use as two homes, its
hall and oak stairway retain their old style. Of the usual type with
projecting wings and recessed entrance, it looks over the pool and wide
green to the Dassett hills in front. A pathway from the south-west corner
of the churchyard passes through the woods of Deddington Hill and commands
good views of the dale.

RATLEY.--Altitudes, high town, 680; low town, 593; 8 miles north-west of
Banbury. At the point of the long vale, beginning a little south of Ratley
Grange, is Ratley, built in terraces on the hill slope. The red rock of
the Lias covers the brow and high slope; the low town is on the yellow
marls. If it were not for Warmington, it might be said to be the prettiest
village in the district. Descending springs make at their several
outbursts the Bachelor's Trough and the Gogswell. The temperature of the
Bachelor's Trough would seem to be low enough for the humane purposes of
past days. The Church of St. Peter ad Vincula at the hill foot, with a
plain and square tower, bears good appearance from the height and beauty
of the windows (15th century) and the spacious porch of the north side. In
the churchyard on the same side is a cross with steps, plinth and head in
far better preservation than others of the countryside. A curious hummock
at the south-west end of the village is known as the Castle Mound, but it
is probably but a terraced bank naturally formed. Near by is the old manor
house, in bad repair. Beautiful field-ways bear to Arlescot, Warmington,
Hornton, and Horley. The Arlescot path is known as the Tryst-path.

WORMLEIGHTON.--Altitude, 431; population, 191. The village, a few houses
between the mansion and the highway, is on the ridge of the water parting
between the Cherwell and the Avon. The three shire stone is near by.
Hidden by trees from the main road the older settlement is not seen until
quite near, where ampler width of roadway brings tower, house and church
into view. The gateway tower, as the dated shields (1613) tell, is of
later building than the house. It is a plain square tower with connected
side buildings all of the local (Hornton) stone. The archway of the tower
is of good proportions, bearing on the west and south fronts in stone
entablature shields and coats of arms of the Spencers, the latter with the
motto "Dieu defende droit." Inside the archway are warder's doors on
either side, though the approach to the turret is now by an adjoining
building. The ancient turret clock tells time only by its bell.

The manor was bought by John Spencer, Esq., of Sir Wm. Cope, of Hanwell,
in Henry VII.'s days, and the house was built then. It is of the usual
flat red brick of the time, with stone quoins; such as we see of it on the
north and east sides, of handsome proportions and style, and embattled. It
was entered in the inquisition of the time as having sixty persons in
residence, and was then of ampler state and extent. The Tudor brickwork,
though not so elaborated as Compton Wynyates, makes, with that of Hanwell
Castle, good local study. On the south side, a postern leads to the hall,
and of the old front the brickwork and crenellations of the angle remain.
The north entrance, though with no porch now, is at once seen to be the
main way by the proportions of the lobby and its panelled ceiling. On the
right and the left in the lobby are doorways, the one bearing corner
shields and the other triple shields of the house (fret d'or and escallops
of the field).[i] The left doorway opens to the hall, a fine plain room
with large oriel window with bold stone mullions. Above is the star
chamber: the gilt stars remain here and there on the timber work. It is of
like size to the hall, with similar east windows and west side windows,
nearly all bricked up, and a good fireplace with corner shields. It is
coloured to resemble Purbeck marble. Leads and battlements above with
covered niches show the semi-defensive house type of Tudor time. It is
said to have been garrisoned by the Parliamentarians on the evening of the
Edge Hill fight, and that the garrison was captured or driven out by
Prince Rupert. But as to the burning of the house, it is not clear whether
it was then partly destroyed or late in the year after. The Lord Spencer,
a King's man, though at first Parliamentarian, had little liking for Court
ways, and lost his life at the battle of Newbury. Whether the house at
Watergall, two miles to the North-west, of which the foundations only
remain, was of the Spencer holding, and of its fate there is no evidence.
The escallops of the field of the Spencer arms probably find their origin
in the fossil escallops of the Wormleighton stone.

ST. PETER'S CHURCH near by, though plain in all its external decoration,
retains in the interior some work typical of the district. The enamelled
tiles with figures and geometric ornament, the panelling of the chancel
and the carved grotesques of the bench ends are good early work. The
handsome chancel screen removed from the hall, though large for its place,
is of skilled later workmanship; especially rich are the spandrils and
ornament on the inner side of the screen. On the west chancel wall is a
mural tablet to Robert E. Spencer, of date 1610, and an empty tomb is in
an inlet in the north wall of the aisle. Arms of the Spencer family are on
the wall above the belfry arch. A south doorway in the tower and the
carved heads of the tower moulding are worth notice.

SHUTFORD.--Altitudes: high level, 485; low level, 400; population, 283; is
on the inner fringe of hills of the west Oxfordshire border. It rests
mainly on the red rock of the Middle Lias, there as much as 20 to 25 feet
thick. Though mainly of plain agricultural homesteads, it supports a small
community of plush weavers who settled there many generations since, and
who weave a fabric of good repute. The Manor House at the east entrance to
the village is by its height a conspicuous landmark. In the excellence and
strength of its masonry it stands amongst the best of our good houses. On
the south front are porch and square-headed doorway with plain good
moulding and a smaller (postern) door of similar type opening to one of
the south-west rooms. The house appears to be of the style of Broughton,
but of later date, and it is part of the Castle estate. It is not
crenellated, but has similar stone gabling and somewhat smaller windows.
The north front, with projecting wing and entrance, presents a solid wall
of stone covered with fine flint concrete. In its upper storey an angled
fire place and room point to the place of a recluse. The long room of the
upper storey is large enough for the "the stowering of a troop"--if time
allowed the quartering of King Charles or Oliver Cromwell in a new place a
legend might be found--it must suffice to know that it was probably the
home of the famous Puritan soldier Nathaniel Fiennes. The hall, well
lighted and with good panelling, is at the north-east of the building, the
further extent of the house on the west side of the court yard is shown by
the old foundation. The kitchen yet keeps its recessed fireplace of ample
space. In the south room there is a chimney piece of Hornton stone with
lozenge-shaped ornament, and the floor stone of the same kind is unusually
good. The Diary of Celia Fiennes, in the time of William and Mary,
mentions "a neate little house and gardens" at Shuttford.

ST. MARTIN'S CHURCH, in close touch with the Manor, is of plain early
English work, with a buttressed and pinnacled tower of small proportions.
The nave is on the south side with north chapelry or Lady aisle, heavy
Norman pillars and plain chancel screen. A garden facing the west front
has a stone sun-dial, its plinth covered with ivy, and near by a low stone
building known as the Monastery, said to have been a foundation of the
Knights of St. John. The stonework of the doorway, windows, and stone
bench in the interior are parts of the early work of the house.



A List of Books and Pamphlets relating to Edge Hill and the Battle.


A Nalson, J.--Imp. Coll. of Great Affairs of State. London, 1633.

B Clarendon History of Great Rebellion, pp. 379-384. Oxford, 1842.

C Dugdale.--A Short View of the late Troubles of England. Oxford, 1641.

D Carte.--Original Letters and Papers, 1641-1660. London, 1739.

E Rushworth, J.--Historical Collections. London, 1692.

F Warburton.--Miscellanies.

G May, T.--History of the Parliament of England. Oxford, 1854.

H Gibson's Camden's Britannia. Vol. II. London, 1772.

I Memoirs of Denzil. Lord Holles, p. 17. London, 1699.

J Lee, W.--A Brief Chronicle of All the Chief Actions ... from 1640-1661.
London, 1662.

K Memoirs of Edmund Ludlow, Esquire. Vol. I. Vivay, Switzerland, 1698.

L Wood, A.--Athenæ Oxonensis.

M Heath, J.--Brief Chronicle of Late Intestine War, pp 66-69. London,
1663.

N Wood, A.--Fasti Oxoniensis. London, 1815.

O England's Worthies. London, 1819.

P Dugdale, W.--The Antiquities of Warwickshire. p. 392. 1765.

Q Whitlock, B.--Memorials of English Affairs. Oxford, 1853.

R Warwick, Sir P.--Memoirs of Charles I., pp. 282-231. London, 1701.

S Sylvester, M.--Reliquæ Baxterianæ. Pt. 1, p. 43. London, 1696.

T Viccars' God in the Mount. London, 1644.

U Viccars' Parliamentary Chronicle, p. 198.

V Perfect Diurnal.

W Whyte Melville--Crisis of the Civil War.

X Manley's Itir Carolinum (Gutch's Collecteana).

PA A Relation of the Battaile lately fought between Keynton and Edge-hill
by His Majesties Army and that of the Rebels. Oxford, 1642.

PB A Most true and Exact Relation of both the Battels fought by his
Excellency and his Forces against the Bloudy Cavalliers, by N. Fiennes.
London, 1642.

PC A More True and Exacter Relation of the Battaile of Keynton, &c., by
T. C., one of the Chaplains of the Army. London, 1642.

PD A True Relation of a Great and Happy Victory ... Earl of Essex over
King's Army, &c. London, 1642.

PE A Most True Relation of the present state of H.M. Army also ... the
Battaile at Keynton, by J. E. London, 1642.

PF Three Speeches made by the King's Most Excellent Majestie ... before
battel at Keynton. London, N.D.

PG A Letter sent from a Worthy Divine to ... Lord Mayor of London, being a
true Relation of the Battaile fought between his Majestie and His
Excellencie the Earl of Essex. London, 1642.

PH An Exact and True Relation of the Dangerous and Bloody Fight ... sent
in a letter to John Pym, Esquire ... by Denzell, Holles, Ph. Stapleton,
Tho. Ballard, William Balfore, J. Meldrum, Charles Pym. London, 1642.

PI Exceeding Joyfull Newes from Lord Saye. &c., by N. Fiennes. London,
1612.

PJ The Two Speeches of the Lord Wharton, spoken in the Guild Hall, Oct.
27th, 1642, &c. London, 1642.

PK A copy of a Letter sent from a Gentlemen of quality dwelling in Banbury
to Mr. Jennings, of Fan Church Streete, &c. London, 1642.

PL Many Remarkable Passages ... concerning the Battell on Sunday, the 23rd
of October, 1642, with fearful observations upon the Dead Corpses, &c., by
T. Talbott. London, 1642.

PM A Declaration of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament
concerning the late Valorous and Acceptable Service of his Excellency
Robert, Earle of Essex. London, 1642.

PN Special Newes from the Army at Warwicke since the Fight; sent from a
Minister of good note to an Alderman, &c. London, 1642.

PO Speciall and Remarkable Passages informed to both Houses. 1642.

PQ His Majestie's Declaration to all his Loving Subjects after his late
Victory against the Rebels on Sunday, 23rd of October (with a Relation of
the Battell). Oxford, 1642.

PR A Declaration of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament in
answer to his Majestie's Declaration, &c. London, 1642.

PS The Last True intelligence from Warwick, being a certain Relation of
the death of the Earle of Lindsey. London.

PT Prince Rupert, his Declaration. Oxford, 1642.

PU "The Parliament's Vindication in answer to Prince Rupert's
Declaration," by S. W., Esquire (with Prince Rupert's Declaration).
London, 1642.

PV His Majestie's Declaration and Manifestation to all his Souldiers ...
at Southam, Oct. 21. London, 1642.

PX Eight Speeches spoken in Guild-Hall by Lord Wharton, Master Strode, &c.
London, 1642.

PY Three Speeches spoken in Guild-Hall concerning His Majestie's refusal
of a Treaty of Peace. London, 1642.

PZ A Collection of Speciall Passages ... from Monday, Oct. 17, till
Tuesday, Novemb. 1, 1642. London, 1642.

AP A Perfect Declaration of the Barbarous and Cruel practices committed
by Prince Robert, the Cavalliers, &c., by R. Andrewes, Chyrurgion. London,
1642.

BP Caleb's Integrity, a Sermon by Richard Vines. London, 1642.

CP The Loyall Convert (According to the Oxford Copy), by W. Bridges.
London, 1642.

DP A Dialogue or rather a Parley between Prince Rupert's Dogge, whose name
is Puddle, and Tobie's Dog, whose name is Pepper. London, 1642.

EP Prince Rupert, his Reply to a Pamphlet entitled "The Parliament's
Vindication," &c. 1642.

FP A True Copy of a Letter to the Lord Maior of London, from a Friend in
the Army, after the Battel of Kineton, 1642.

GP A True Relation of the Fight betwixt his Majestie's Souldiers, and his
Excellence the Earle of Essex, his Forces, on the 24th of Oct., 1642.

HP Letter from a Worthy Divine (Byfield) to the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor
... fr. Warwick Castle, 24th Dec. 1642, at 2 o'clock in the morning.

IP Relation of the great Battle fought between the King's Army and the
Earle of Essex, near Kineton.

KP List of Army raised under Earle of Essex, with names of the severall
Officers. 1642.

LP King's Instructions to his Commissioners. 1642.

MP Speech (Lord Broke) at the Election of the Captains and Commanders at
Warwick Castle. 1642.

NP Most True Relation of the Present State of His Majestie's Army, &c., by
Miles Corbet. 1642.

a Nugent--Memorials of John Hampden. London, 1831.

b Beesley, A.--History of Banbury. Banbury, 1841.

c History, Gazetteer, and Directory of County of Oxford, pp. 396. Gardner,
Peterborough, 1852.

d Smith, W.--New History of County of Warwick. p. 73. Birmingham, 1830.

e Jago, R.--Edge Hill or the Rural Prospect delineated, &c. London, 1767.

f Beesley, P.--Japeth, Edge Hill, and other Poems. Banbury, 1834.

g Mavor, W.--The British Tourist. London, 1809.

h Dugdale, W.--Antiquities of Warwickshire, p. 392. 1765.

i Baker, G.--History ... of County of Northampton. Vol. I., p. 501.
1822-1830.

j Sanford, T. L.--Studies and Illus. of Great Rebellion. London, 1858.

k Walford, L. N.--The Parliamentary Generals. 1886.

l Rapin--History of England (Tindal's trans.) Vol. II., p. 461. 1783.

m Johnson, W. P.--History of Banbury and neighbourhood. Banbury, 1862.

n Johnson, W. P.--The Battle of Edge Hill. Banbury, 1863.

o Gleig, G. R.--Eminent British Military Commanders. Vol. I. London, 1831.

p Picton, J.--Oliver Cromwell, the man and his mission, pp. 107-118. 1883.

q Caryle, T.--Oliver Cromwell's Letters and Speeches. London, 1883.

r Whitlock, R. H.--Memoir of Bulstrode Whitlock. London, 1860.

s Craik, A. D.--Farleigh Hall. pp. 51-65. London, 1887.

t Miller, G.--Rambles round Edge Hill. London, 1900.

u Timmins, S.--History of Warwickshire. London, 1889.

v Miller, G.--Rambles round Edge Hill. Banbury, 1896.

w Macnamara, F. N.--Memorials of the Danver's Family. London, 1895.

x Baldock, T. S.--Cromwell as a Soldier. London, 1899.

y Scott, Eva--Rupert, Prince Palatine. London, 1900.

z Walford, Edwin A.--Edge Hill, the Battle and Battlefield. Banbury, 1886.

Mo Morley, John--Oliver Cromwell. London, 1900.

Gardiner, S. R.--History of Civil War. London, 1893.

Mu Murray's Hand-book of Warwickshire. London, 1899.

Memoirs of a Cavalier.

Ri Riblon-Turner. C. J.--Shakespeare's Land. Leamington, 1893.

Melville, Whyte--Crisis of Civil War.

No Notes and Queries. Ser. IV., Vol. X., p. 99. 1872. Vol. IV. Ser. IV.,
p. 329. 1869.

OP Vindication of Sir James Ramsay. Belamy, Nov. 9th (Broadsheet, Brit.
Mus.) London, 1642.

Vr Verney, Lady--Memoir of Verney Family. London, 19.

Whyte Melville--Cavaliers and Roundheads. Westminster Review.

History of Troubles, &c., in Scotland and England, 1624-1645. John
Spalding's Diary (Bannatyne Club). 1828.

Battle of Edge Hill.--T. Arnold. English History Revised, January, 1887.

Frith--Raising of the Ironsides.--Royal Hist. Rev., v. 19, p. 18. London,
1902.

Firth--Cromwell's Army.

Miller, G.--Battle of Edge Hill account.--Naval and Millitary. Illus. Mag.

Beesley, T.--Excursion to Edge Hill. Banbury, 1882.



INDEX.


  A

  Adderbury, description of, 78

  Adderbury Church, 79

  Altitude Edge Hill, 1

  Arlescot, 3, 21, 91

  Arlescot Manor, 3

  Armament of Forces, 15

  Arms on Banbury Cross, 65

  Astley, Sir J., 21

  Aston, Sir A., 22

  Astrop Spa, 84, 86


  B

  Balfore, Sir Wm., 19, 25, 35, 47, 51

  Ballard, Col., 16, 19, 28

  Banbury, 1, 9, 10, 24, 39, 42, 50, 52
    Description of, 63, 74
    Back, Admiral Sir G., 68
    Back, Rev. Hy. (Vic.), 68
    Bars, The, 72
    Bridge, The, 72
    Castle, 8, 9, 11, 33
    Cross erection, 65
      "   dedication, 65
    Calthorpe House, 70
    Cole Bar, 72
    Danvers at Calthorpe, 71
    Danvers' Tomb, Banbury Church, 67
    Globe Room, Reindeer Inn, 71
    Mechanics' Institute, 72
    Municipal Schools, 64, 73
    North Bar, 72
    Old Cross, 66
    Old Houses, 69, 70, 71
    Old Inns, 71
    Old Pageant, 66
    Parish Church, 67
    Reindeer Inn, 71
    Samuelson, Sir B , portrait, 73
    Saye and Sele, Lord High Steward, portrait, 73
    South Bar, 72
    St John's Hospital, 71
     "    "    Bar, 72
    Sugarford Bar, 72
    Sun-dial, Old Houses, 69
    Unicorn Inn, 71
    Vicarage, 69
    West Bar, 72

  Battledon, 4, 19

  Battle Ground, 3

  Battle Relics, 5

  Beacon House, 2, 31

  Bitham Hill, 2

  Bloxham, description of, 82

     "     Church, 82

  Blue Regiment cut off, 28

  Bromsgrove, 5

  Brooke, Lord, 7, 9, 12, 16, 19, 28, 35, 52

  Broughton Castle, 9, 12, 33

  Broughton Castle, description of, 75

  Broughton Church, 76

  Broughton Horse, 19, 26

  Broughton, Tombs at, 76

  Bullet Hill, 3, 21, 29, 30

  Burton Dassett, 2, 31


  C

  Cade, Jack, painting, Broughton, 75

  Camp Lane, 2

  Carnarvon, Lord, 25, 26, 29

  Chadshunt, 24

  Chambers, Secretary, 27

  Charles I, Broughton Portrait of, 75

  Charles, King, 7, 8, 11, 17, 18, 20, 21, 23, 24, 30, 31, 33, 55, 56, 57,
                 78

  Cherwell Vale, 9, 10

  Chomley, Col., 20

  Cleaver, Robert, 10

  Clent and Clee Hills, 5

  Cobb, Sir W., of Adderbury, 33, 78

  Cotteswolds, 5

  Commonwealth Pamphlets, 98

  Commons, Policy of, 7

  Compton Wynyates, 32

  Compton Wynyates, description of, 86

  Compton Wynyates, fight at, 86

  Constable, Sir Wm., 19, 26, 27

  Cope, Sir A., 12, 81

  Cope, Sir A., Tomb at Hanwell, 81

  Copley, 26

  Country people hostile, 9

  Cromwell, Oliver, 7, 17, 19, 29, 34, 35, 39, 52

  Cromwell, Broughton Portrait of, 75

  Cropredy, 10

  Cropredy Bridge, 14, 15


  D

  Dassett Hills, 2, 4, 12, 31, 62

  Digby, 22

  Dod, John, 10

  Draper, Captain, 34, 52

  Dugdale, 5

  Duke of York, 8


  E

  Ebrington, 5

  Edge Hill House, 5

  Edge Hill, Royalist March, 13

  Edge Hill, Geology of, 59

  Edgecot, 8, 10

  Ennis, Col., 22, 56

  Essex, Col., 20, 51, 56

  Essex, Earl, 7, 8, 11, 15, 16, 22, 24, 32, 33, 34, 37, 38, 42, 45, 46,
              47, 48, 51, 53, 54


  F

  Fairfax, Sir Wm., 20, 24

  Fairfax's Reserves, flight, 24

  Fawsley House, 12

  Fielding's Horse, 19, 23

  Fiennes, Capt. N., 21, 29, 37, 41, 52, 95

  Fiennes, Capt. N., Letter, 37

  Fiennes, Capt. John, 25, 37, 38, 79

  Fiennes, Celia, Diary, 84, 96

  Food scarcity, 9

  Fortescue, Sir F., 23


  G

  Gourdin, Capt., Tomb, 2, 90

  Grantham, Col., 13

  Grave Field, 33


  H

  Hadsham Hollow, 3, 88

  Hampden, Sir John, 7, 13, 16, 29, 32, 40, 49

  Hampden's force arrives, 29, 32

  Harbury, 4

  Harris, Robert, 10

  Hanwell Castle, 12, 80, 92

  Hanwell, description of, 79

  Haselrigge, Sir A., 28

  Hawtayne's Arms, Calthorpe, 70

  Hollis, Col., 9, 16, 19, 45

  Horley, description of, 87

  Hornton Vale, 3


  I

  Ilmington, 5

  Ironstone Mines, Astrop, 86


  K

  Kenilworth, 11

  Kineton, 4, 9, 19, 22, 33, 37, 38, 39, 42, 44, 49, 50, 59

  Kightley, Capt. E., Letter, 53

  King's Standard, 4, 7, 27, 45, 47, 48

  King's Pamphlets, 98, 99, 100

  King's Quarters, 8, 9, 10, 42

  King's Force, 16, 54

  King's Speech, 20, 21

  King's centre broken, 26, 47

  King escapes capture, 28

  King's Clump, 28

  King's Field, 44

  King's Sutton, 83

  King's Sutton Church, 85

  Knight banneret, last, 27

  Knightley, 12

  Knowle End, 1, 3, 17


  L

  Lathum, Letter to, 53

  Lindsay, Earl, 5, 8, 15, 17, 18, 28, 48, 51, 56

  Lindsay's regiment broken, 26, 48

  Lisle, Col., 22


  M

  Mandeville, Col., 16, 20, 24

  Meldrum, Sir John, 19, 25

  Milcombe Chapelry, Bloxham Church, 83

  Mineral Waters near King's Sutton, 84, 86

  Moate House, Astrop, 86

  Mural Paintings, 68, 82, 88


  N

  Nadbury Camp, 3

  Northampton, Lord, 12, 32

  North, Lord, Wroxton Abbey, 77


  P

  Paintings at Wroxton Abbey, 78

  Pamphlets, 98, 99, 100

  Parliamentary Army, strength of, 16

       "         "    rear, 13, 29, 32, 39, 40, 46, 50, 57

       "         "    position of, 19, 43, 44, 45

       "         "    seen at Kineton, 12

       "         "    holds field, 30, 49

       "        right wing, 19, 25, 44, 45

       "        centre, 20, 26, 28

       "        left wing, 19, 24, 29, 38, 45

       "        ruse, 26, 47

       "        left, defeat of, 23, 39, 45, 54

       "        losses, 30, 51, 56

  Parliamentary Headquarters, 9, 12, 38, 42, 49, 54, 57

  Pope, Sir W., Tomb, Wroxton Church, 78

  Portraits, etc., at Broughton, 75

  Prince of Wales, 8


  R

  Radway, 4, 17, 19, 21, 22, 29, 30, 89

  Radway, description of, 89

  Radway Grange, 4, 89

  Ramsey, Sir James, 20, 23, 24, 25, 45, 51, 75

    "     Court Martial, 25

    "     reported death of, 51

  Ratley Grange, 2, 89

    "    description of, 90

    "    Church, 91

  Red Horse Vale, 6, 22, 75

  Red regiment defeated, 26

  Roberts, Lord, 19

  Rochester's house at Adderbury, 78

  Rosamund's Bower, Astrop, 86

  Round House, 2, 3, 4, 17, 62

  Royalist March, 8, 13, 14, 43

     "     Army, strength of, 16, 54

     "      "    position of, 21, 44

     "     right wing, 21, 23, 29, 44, 46

     "     centre, 21, 25, 26, 28, 47

     "     left wing, 21, 22, 25

     "     cannon captured, 26, 47, 50

     "     Standard, fight for, 26, 48, 56

     "     losses, 31, 51, 56

     "     privation, 9, 31

  Ruins, Edge-Hill, 4

  Rupert, Prince, 10, 12, 14, 17, 18, 21, 23, 24, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 75

  Rupert's headland, Prince, 29

    "      retreat, 29, 46, 49

  Ruthven, Earl, Commander, 18, 21


  S

  Saye and Sele, Lord William, 7, 9, 16, 33, 38

   "        "    Tomb, Broughton, 76

   "        "    Letter to, 37

  Scroop, Sir G., 31

  Shuckborough, 10, 11

  Shutford and Manor, description of, 94

  Southam, 8

  Spencer, Lord, 9, 11, 12, 93, 94

  Stapleton, Col., 19, 23, 25

  Stewart, Lord John, 27

  Stratford-on-Avon, 9, 29

  St. Rumbald's Well, Astrop, 84

  Sun Rising, 1, 5, 17, 19

  Sword, Lindsay, 5


  T

  Terraced Fields, 3, 60, 88

  Thistledon, 4, 33

  Turning movement, Puritan, 25

  Tysoe, 5, 13


  V

  Verney, Sir Ed., 26, 27, 48, 51


  W

  Warmington, 1, 2, 14, 89

  Warmington, description of, 89

  Warwick Castle, 4, 8, 12

  Warwick, Lord, 7

  Warwick, 8, 33, 50, 57

  Watergall, ruins at, 93

  Westcot, fight at, 25

  Wharton, Lord, 20, 24

  Wormleighton House, 9, 11, 91

       "       Church, 94

  Willoughby, Lord, 21, 26

  Wilmot, Lord, 22, 23, 25

  William of Wykeham, 79

  Wroxton Abbey, description of, 77



Index to Plates.


  The Tower, Edge Hill                           Frontispiece

  Plan of Battle--I.                          to face page 20

    "       "    II.                                "      29

  Banbury Cross                                     "      63

  Interior of St. Mary's Church, Banbury            "      68

  Courtyard, Rein Deer Inn, Banbury                 "      70

  Broughton Castle                                  "      74

  Hanwell Castle                                    "      80

  King's Sutton Church                              "      84

  Compton Wynyates, hall window                     "      86

    "        "      angle and chimneys              "      88



Corrigenda et Addenda.


p. 3, l. 5, _for_ "Adsum" _read_ "Hadsham."

p. 9, l. 20, _for_ "Holles" _read_ "Gantham."

p. 31, l. 16, _for_ "Clarenden" _read_ "Clarendon."

p. 40, l. 22, "think it" may have been omitted.

p. 45, l. 3, Fiennes means "left."

p. 48, l. 10, "or" of the original _should read_ "of."

p. 51, l. 9, the second comma is misplaced in the original,
and should follow _Verny_.

p. 78, l. 28, _for_ "Thos." _read_ "W."

In the Plans of the Battle, "Broke" _should read_ "Brooke."



Footnotes:

[1] Subsequently the scene of a fight between Waller's Puritans and the
Royalists under the Earl of Cleveland.

[2] The cottage at the foot of the hill near Radway, which tradition
pointed out as the one in which the King breakfasted, has been pulled
down.

[3] The word "cavalier"(PQ), like that of "roundhead," was used as a term
of ridicule or reproach.

[4] In an article by Dr. Rees upon Bannerets, and also in the last edition
of the Encyclopædia Britannica, we are told that Captain John Smith,
Lieutenant of Lord Stewart's troop, was the last banneret knighted upon
the field of battle. The order was conferred only for distinction in the
field of battle, and was a very high one, ranking above all other knights,
excepting the Knights of the Garter. The two tails of the pointed pennon
carried by ordinary knights were cut off, and the flag thus made square.
Hence they were called knights of the square flag.

[5] There is much confusion about the two Cromwell's; Captain Oliver
charged with the right wing, and the son is said to have been with
Ramsay's horse.

[6] Beesley seems to have been unacquainted both with Fiennes' Letter (PB)
as well as with Cromwell's own statement, for he says (b18) "In no account
I have yet met with is Cromwell recorded as being present."

[7] vide Rev. C. F. Wyatt (the rector) in Danvers, p. 326.



Transcriber's Notes:

The mismatched parenthesis on page 40 is presented as in the original
text. Otherwise, punctuation has been corrected without note.

The following misprints have been corrected:
  "10,00" corrected to "10,000" (page 15)
  "mnst" corrected to "must" (page 18)
  "fout" corrected to "four" (page 19)
  "hls" corrected to "his" (page 23)
  "npon" corrected to "upon" (page 24)
  "throught" corrected to "through" (page 49)
  "seige" corrected to "siege" (page 75)
  "1642. 1642." corrected to "1642." (page 100)

Other than the corrections listed above, printer's inconsistencies in
spelling and hyphenation usage have been retained.





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