CROPREDY BRIDGE 29TH JUNE 1644
1ST STAND –THE BRIDGE
Up until the beginning of 1644 the war had generally been going the Royalists way. Apart from Cromwell’s victory at Hull at the end of 1643 the Royalists had enjoyed successes overall. The first real significant Parliamentarian victory occurred at Cheriton near Winchester on 29th March when Sir William Waller defeated his old friend and adversary, Sir Ralph Hopton. Afterwards Waller combined forces with the Earl of Essex to try and defeat the King’s Army in the area of Oxford, the Royalist HQ throughout the war. Essex you will remember was the Roundhead Commander at Edgehill, and who, three times in the Civil War fought his battles on the wrong side of his base with disastrous effects.
Neither Waller nor Essex had much time for each other and although they had jointly managed to take Reading in May, the Royalists somehow had skilfully outmanoeuvred their numerically superior opponents. Just as the trap was closing around the King’s army, he slipped between his two enemies with the bulk of his men on the night of the 3rd June, leaving Oxford with a thin guarding force and a number of artillery pieces. On June 6th Essex and Waller met up in Chipping Norton, 5 miles from our home, where they decided to divide their forces and their aims; Essex moving to the SW to relieve Lyme in Dorset, while Waller would continue to track and hopefully defeat the King. One has learnt many times in history that to divide your forces in face of the enemy is a distinctly risky business, although with boldness you can sometimes get away with it – viz General Lee at the Battle of Chancellorsville during the American Civil War, when he sent Jackson’s Corps on a wide flanking movement leaving himself in great danger. It was a complete success and the Federal Army was rolled up and destroyed. But this division of the Roundhead forces was to have disastrous effects as will be shown.
The armies of the King and Waller marched and counter-marched across the Cotswolds until finally they were both in the Banbury area on June 27th. Here I must point out that Prince Rupert was fighting his way up north to relieve the Royalist General, the Duke of Newcastle in York, who was being besieged by the main Roundhead Army under Fairfax and Cromwell. The King had about 4,000 cavalry, with around 5,000 infantry, divided up into 4 brigades and 10 cannon; the Roundhead Army was approximately the same strength as far as we know. By the morning of the 29th June Waller had taken possession of Crouch Hill to the north of Banbury, which persuaded the King to move north towards Daventry with this river – the Cherwell, between his forces and Waller’s, who followed him along the western bank.
At that time the river was deeper and much wider taking in what is now the canal and the river. When Waller reached Bourton Hill – point – he could plainly see that the King’s army, in column of march, was badly strung out to the East – point out –The rearguard under the Earl of Northampton was – there – over a mile from the van – over there, where King Charles had already crossed the River Cherwell at Hays Bridge to the north of Wardington.
The King had advanced smartly to head off a party of Roundhead cavalry from joining Waller and the centre of his army, under the Earl of Cleveland and Sir Jacob Astley of Edgehill fame (whom you will remember for his well known prayer (“Oh God if I forget thee this day do not thou please forget me!”), were strung out along the road from there to there – point.
You cannot physically see this road from the bridge and this explains why Waller threw 2 brigades across the bridge here under General Middleton, consisting of 9 companies of infantry, 2 regiments of cavalry and 11 cannon (approx 2,000 men) and easily drove in the small picquet of Royalist dragoons, who were guarding the bridge.
It also explains why the Roundheads became somewhat disorientated at this moment as they had lost sight of the main Royalist force over there. At the same time Waller led a smaller force of 1,000 men across the river by a ford at Slat Mill some 1000 yards or so down there.
As Waller’s men panted up the hill from Slat Mill they were met by Northampton’s brigade of 1,000 horsemen at Williamscot – here.
Meanwhile Middleton’s men became split up as his cavalry chased the Royalist Dragoons away from the bridge down there and towards the King’s vanguard to our right, leaving his infantry and cannon behind. This cavalry force was beaten away by a determined stand of Royalist infantry from the King’s vanguard from behind an overturned carriage near Hays Bridge over there. Meanwhile the Earl of Cleveland, whose brigade was on the road we have just come along, charged into this body of Roundhead horsemen and together with the King’s own cavalry regiment, under Lord Wilmot, whom the King had ordered forward, made for Cropredy Bridge. Here they were confronted by the infantry and cannon of Middleton’s force and some cavalry, which by this time were approx there. However the Royalist cavalry swept away all before them and captured the cannon intact, together with 14 colours, but they were prevented from crossing the bridge itself by some Roundhead Dragoons who, luckily for the Roundheads, just happened to be there.
Meanwhile you will remember that the Royalist rearguard under Northampton had met Waller’s puffing brigade trying to get up the hill from Slat Mill over there and with great élan charged down the slope forcing Waller’s men back across the river.
The final phase of the battle now took place with the Royalists trying to turn their victory into a more decisive one when they attacked both crossings at around 3 pm in the afternoon.
However a very stout defence by the Tower Hamlets Regiment, believe it or not, prevented the Royalists from crossing Cropredy Bridge, although they succeeded in capturing the Slat Mill ford and getting some of their men across.
The remainder of the day was spent skirmishing as Waller had withdrawn the bulk of what remained of his army to Bourton Hill. An Offer of Pardon was made by the King, which was rejected by Waller. The stand off continued throughout the night and the following day, June 30th until the Royalists moved off on their original course towards Daventry having heard of the approach of a sizeable Parliamentarian reinforcement force.
The battle, although a Royalist victory, was not a decisive one. It certainly went some way to improving the king’s reputation as a General, to be further enhanced later in the year by his stunning victory over Essex at Lostwithiel in Cornwall. Waller’s reputation suffered considerably and he soon disappeared from the scene, as Parliament realized that they couldn’t go on with the likes of him, Essex and indeed the Earl of Manchester as their main Generals. As a result, the New Model Army, the forerunner of our Regular Army of today, was formed under the joint command of Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell during the winter of 1644/45, which had a devastating effect on the Royalists at the Battle of Naseby in 1645 and beyond.