On This Day 1645

The Battle of Naseby - 14 June 1645

Naseby. Considered one of the most important battle in the English Civil War. Two armies meet on a foggy June morning on open farmland in Northamptonshire. The King's 9,000 strong forces commanded by his nephew, the highly-skilled but arrogant Prince Rupert. Parliament's 14,000 New Model Army is under the command of the Northern cavalry officer Sir Thomas Fairfax. After almost three years of fighting, the scene was set for the battle. 

I knew very little about the English Civil War until I studied at College. I didn't watch the early 80s costime drama 'By The Sword Divided' even though it was set in the nearby Lilford Hall and Rockingham Castle. Although I had been to the Pub in the village of Naseby, I'd paid little attention to the neighbouring battlefield. A period of history that had a major impact within this country, and the county in which I used to live, yet I knew virtually nothing about it, However, once I started reading about the ECW I became fascinated that this was history all around us, that affected families and friends across the nation, but few folk knew much about it.

I have been following the Naseby Battlefield project on fb and had hoped that I would be able to attend their plans for the commemorative activities but alas, any plans were cancelled due to the pandemic. However, the comprehensive posts issued by the group have been fascinating and enabled a wider audience to understand the build-up to this decisive battle. Highlighting where the armies assembled and what happened next, in this most well-documented of battles, has given a real sense of the intensity of the day:

'The Royalist army initially formed up in a strong position on a ridge between the villages of Little Oxendon and East Farndon about 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Market Harborough. The Parliamentarian army assembled on the northern slopes of Naseby ridge,. Cromwell believed that this position was too strong, and that the Royalists would refuse battle rather than attack it, and said to Fairfax, “I beseech you, withdraw to yonder hill, which may provoke the enemy to charge us“. Fairfax agreed, and moved his army across to the ridge behind the modern Cromwell monument on the Naseby to Sibbertoft Road. The Royalists’ thinking that the New Model was retreating, followed and formed up on the opposite ridge. Over 20,000 men were facing each other across Broadmoor, when at 10:00am around 1,000 of Cromwell’s dragoons (mounted infantry) under Colonel John Oakey began pouring fire into the Royalist flank from Sulby Hedge. The whole Royalist army began their advance across the valley towards their enemy. The two sides met on the top of the ridge, and to start with the Royalists had the upper hand. Prince Rupert’s cavalry chased a number of Parliamentarian cavalry off the field, some running all the way back to Northampton. Soon the Parliamentarian advantage in numbers began to tell and the Royalists were pushed back. Cromwell’s cavalry swept into the Royalist flank. Their line collapsed and were soon in full flight.'

In around three hours the battle was over and history was changed forever.  The King fled the battlefield but the Royalist army was decimated and unable to raise an army of any significance again. The King eventually gave himself up to the Scots who handed him over to Parliament.nine months later. Realising that whilst he lived there would never be peace, the King was charged with high treason and executed in January 1649.

One of the interesting and horrific facts of the day was what happened to the camp followers of the Royalist baggage train. Historians note that over 100 women were killed, and many mutilated, when the Parliamentarian cavalry attacked them possibly under the assumption that they were Irish catholics due to their unfamiliar language, although this was more likely to be welsh.

Many Royalist prisoners  were held in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Northampton. But there is also a tale that a paddock next to the World’s End Pub at Ecton was used to hold prisoners, a number of which died from their wounds - hence the name of the Pub!

Naseby was the most important battle in British history after Hastings. Not only did it decide the war, but it also established Parliament’s right to a permanent role in the government of the kingdom. But we must also remember that although more Britons died in the First World War than any other conflict, the bloodiest war in our history relative to population size is the Civil War.