Keep Your Powder Dry

The #ECWtravelogue took the opportunity to have a sneaky look at places of interest in Cambridge under the pretence of taking offspring #3 to look around the University. August update: proud dad moment - he got in! Charles I Dominion of The Seas medal, Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge was very firmly in the area loyal to Parliament, it was in fact the heartland, and headquarters of the Eastern Association.  In 1643, Oliver Cromwell was made governor of the town. The town's existing castle was fortified and earthworks were thrown up around the town. The King's men came within a few miles but never threatened Cambridge. Other than being a garrison, and the inevitable rambunctious behaviour of the soldiers, the Wars passed the town peacefully by.  On 3 January, 1644 the iconoclast William Dowsing and his troops destroy fourteen ‘superstitious pictures’ in the  Round Church . However, the carved wooden angels on the ceiling survive the ordeal intact. What's There Now? The medieva...

And so the #ECWtravelogue turns it's attention to Lancashire. Hoghton (pronounced Horton) Tower  is an Elizabethan fortified manor house. Strong connections to James I who stayed for three days, bankrupting the owners and knighting a loin of beef. (Yes, the story of how sirloin got its name is apparently true and took place at Hoghton Tower.) The Hoghton family were Royalists (and Papists to boot) as was much of the County. The Tower had a small garrison of about 30 musketeers. Sir Gilbert de Hoghton had a larger force, with which he was causing a bit of a nuisance in the Blackburn Hundred.  So much so that in February 1643, Captain Nicholas Starky of Huntroyd led a 'small expedition of 300 men' from Blackburn to besiege Sir Gilbert's base. Sir Gilbert and his troops weren't at home, so the garrison capitulated after a very brief siege Starky's soldiers moved into the Tower, and in particular the peel tower which was home to the garrison's powder stor...