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September 3rd 1651
At Powick Hams and Fort Royal
The Battle of Worcester signified,
at the end of the day, the final battle between the Parliament
armies and the Royalist armies led firstly by Charles I
against the Earl of Essex and then his son Charles II with
mostly Scottish regiments against Oliver Cromwell during
the nine years of a bloody and civil conflict.
August 30th:
Cromwell arrives at Spetchley, home to the Berkeley family,
to create line of attack which extends from Elbury Hill
(now Elbury park) to Bund,s Hill near the Ketch Inn. A distance
of some two and a half miles. Parliamentary troops already
established on Red Hill and in Perry Wood. Lieutenant General
Fleetwood positions at Powick near the Teme bridge. Meanwhile
General Lambert arrives up river to the Teme confluence
with the Severn with boats to build a bridge across the
Teme.
August 31st.
Cromwell orders guns to be placed on Red Hill and in Perry
Wood and to fire on Worcester as a distraction while boat
bridge is being constructed. Major Knox leads his Scots
regiment up Red Hill to try and quiet the guns and another
sortie is led to Bunds Hill. Knox runs into General Fairfaxs
regiment and falls into a trap. The sortie to Bunds Hill
is similarly indisposed. ` This was due to a Worcester spy
named Guise who learnt of the sorties and reported them
to Cromwells armies. He was later caught, tried and hung.
September 2nd.
Lambert finishes boat bridge across River Teme. Plans laid
to attack the Scots for the next day. Lambert returns to
regiment at Upton upon Severn.
September 3rd.
The Duke of Hamilton is in charge of Fort Royal with the
main body of Scots, Lord Rothes has a strong detachment
on the Castle Mound, the whole of the Scots Brigade of horse
is positioned on Pitchcroft under the command of General
Leslie. General Montgomery heads the Scots on the Powick
Hams with Keiths brigade on Powick Bridge where Prince Rupert
defeated Fiennes in 1642 (the first official civil war battle).
Piscottys Highlanders are stationed near the bridge of boats
at the Temes mouth with Dalziels brigade in reserve at Wickfield
on the high ground overlooking the Teme Bridge.
General Lambert, with Dean, marches
from Upton in the early morning to Powick. A small skirmish
takes place (see Powick church tower for evidence). The
Scots are driven back to the bridge which is held by Keith.
Lambert manages to cross the Teme via the boat bridge but
is repulsed by Piscotty and his Highlanders. Again Lambert
attacks and this time he is more successful driving the
driving the Scots slowly back towards Worcester. This, in
turn, forces Keith to abandon his Bridge stance or risk
being cut off on his left flank. Lambert and Dean owe their
success to Cromwell receiving news of the Royalist stance
and sending three Brigades across the boat bridge to attack
from the west side of the Teme. Leslie is still positioned
on Pichcroft with his Brigade of Horse refusing to budge
and go to the aid of Piscotty and Keith. Piscotty escapes
into Worcester through St.Johns but Keith is taken prisoner
by Dean.
Meanwhile, back in Worcester, Charles
is atop the cathedral tower watching progress. He then quickly
moves into evasive action and marches a troop of horse and
foot up the London Road towards Red Hill and the Parliamentary
positions. The Duke of Hamilton is similarly disposed but,
leading a column of his own regiment, goes up to Perry Wood,
disposes of some musketeers hiding behind hedge along the
lane, charges on the canon and captures them. Charles attack
to Red Hill was also successful in driving the Parliamentary
line further back up the hill. Again, if Leslie had moved
his horse and consolidated the general push by the Royalists
then history may well have been changed.
The Parliament troops rally again and
force another attack. Cromwell hears of the lack of support
and rushes his three brigades back from supporting Lambert
and inspires his men to fight on against the Scots. Hamilton
is running out of powder and shot. All along the Parliament
lines the Scots are falling back. One last attempt by Hamilton
results in own his fatal wounding. Cromwell advances quickly
taking the advantage. Sir Alexander Forbes is struck down
from his command of the Fort Royal and the Kings Standard
is torn down.
Meanwhile, the rest of Cromwells men
make good between Fort Royal and Sidbury Gate taking not
only the Scots flank but now their rear. Cromwell orders
the Fort Royal guns to be turned on Worcester while his
men fall on the easy prey of the now disordered Scots fugitives
who are struggling to get through the narrow Sidbury Gate.
Cut off, they are easily cut down in the mass slaughter
(to be compared with Charles father at Naseby and his great
Uncle at Culloden) which takes place around Sidbury and
up Red Hill.
Throughout all of this Charles is still
outside the city walls trying vainly to rally his troops
from the entrance to the Commandery. An attack from a Parliament
horseman almost altered the whole course of history but
misses in his attempt to cut Charles down. One, William
Bagnall, sees the Kings plight and drives an ox cart between
the Commandery entrance and the city walls stopping the
horseman and allowing Charles to affect an escape. He makes
for his quarters in the Corn Market but not before Fleetwood
attacks across the river bridge, up Broad Street into Mealcheapen
Street thus cutting off the Scots rear to the west and the
Bridge Gate. The Forgate to the north had been built up,
Cromwell is in control of Sidbury to the south and the Friars
Gate was already in control by the victorious Parliament
troop.
The only exit left now is St.Martins
Gate which adjoins Charles' quarters. The Lord Wilmott finds
a horse and brings it to the rear entrance of what is now
the Swan With Two Nicks Inn. Colonel Corbett with his troopers
affect entry though the front of the house leaving Charles
to only just make his escape through St.Martins Gate, along
a lane to Barbourne Bridge, across the river and onto the
Kidderminster Road heading north.
But that, my friend, is another story.
Footnotes:
William Guise, the man responsible for informing Cromwell
of the surprise attack to his RedHill position by 1500 Royalist
soldiers, was hanged from the sign of the Golden Cross Inn
along Broad Street the next day. However, Cromwell rewarded
his widow with the sum of £200, a large sum at the
time, with an annuity of the same amount. Seven years later
to the day, namely September 3rd 1658, Cromwell died leading
to the Royalist story and legend that Cromwell sold his
soul to the devil in Pirie Wood for a victory and seven
years of his life.
London Road was constructed in the
18th century as a turnpike road. The ancient medieval road
lays to the south and can be traced most of the way by a
line of two adjacent parallel lanes running from Cromwell
Avenue and into Blake Street and follows the natural gradient
of the hill. Two large cuttings were made to ease the hilly
gradient for the coaches to and from London. The first was
at Wheatsheaf Hill, so called after an inn of the same name
half way up the hill, and cut through part of the defences
of the old Fort Royal. The second is at Red Hill and cut
through the southern tip of Perry Wood. Pirie Brook flowed
down from the tip of Pirie Wood and because it once crossed
the road is now channelled below the road through a pipe.
The references to Pirie Wood suggest that Perry Wood is
a derivative name.
The Battle of Worcester : September
3rd 1651
at Powick Hams and Fort Royal
Alan James Magnus, Worcester
Militia & Earl of Loudoun’s
For further reading try 'Cromwell's Crowning Mercy', by
Malcolm Atkin
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