Battle of Middleton Cheney, 6th May 1643

-

The battlefield at Middleton Cheney has recently been surveyed and an interpretation board installed by the Battlefields' Trust. So it would seem impolite if the ECWtravelogue didn't make a visit...

A newly unveiled memorial in the churchyard

This night late came a messenger with an Expresse from Banbury to Oxford, declaring what an absolute victory it pleased God to grant the Earle of Northampton over the Rebels at Middleton Cheney, not farre from Banbury

Mercurius Aulicus, 6th May 1643 

Garrisoned at Banbury the Earl of Northampton received intelligence of  a Parliamentarian force advancing towards Banbury from Northampton. He deployed with his own Regiment of Horse and the Prince of Wales’ Regiment of Horse,  initially to monitor the advance. To avoid the well defended bridge at Banbury, the parliamentarians cross the River Cherwell at a ford close to Bodicote. As they neared the ford they saw the Royalists deployed on the opposite side of the river with a detachment moving toward them. The Parliamentarian commander ordered a retreat, and was pursued by a Royalist detachment under a Captain Trist. In the ‘Towne Field’, to the south of the village of Middleton Cheney, the Parliamentarians made their stand.

The newly installed interpretation board

Northampton brought up the rest of his force, dividing his cavalry into three divisions under the command of Major Daniel, Captain Trist and himself. They  charged the Parliamentarians who opened fire with their six pounder drake. The Parliamentarian horse were quickly routed. Rather than pursuing the Parliamentarian horse, they returned and charged the infantry remaining on the field who promptly  fled back through Middleton Cheney towards Northampton.

the 'likely' battlefield, the view from the interpretation board

What's there now?
The Battlefields' Trust, Middleton Cheney Parish Council and the Northamptonshire Battlefields' Society  have created a Battlefield trail leaflet, available to download here.

The February 2023 Battlefields' Trust survey of the 'likely' battlefield site found little evidence of the battle. The precise location of the battlefield is still unknown but it is likely to be in the vicinity of Astrop Road, either under land now developed into a housing estate (The Moor's Drive) or close to the new information board to the south of the A422. To visit either location I would recommend parking adjacent to the children's play park located on Astrop Road in the village. The Moors' Drive is located here.

As you head out of Middleton Cheney keep a look out for this fingerpost. Somewhat unhelpfully I took this photo looking towards the village rather than the view from the village (where I recommend that you park)

To access the information board carry on, on foot. Cross over the bridge spanning the A422, keep a look out for the finger post pictured above. The information board is located a few metres along the footpath, and is visible from the road.


A newly dedicated memorial (June 2023) is located in the churchyard of All Saints, Middleton Cheney. It commemorates the 46 soldiers killed in the battle and recorded as being buried in the churchyard in the parish register.

Not directly connected to the battle, but to the northern end of the village, is the curiously named road  'Kings Stile'. Local tradition claims that the on the 28th June, 1644 King Charles rode from Wardington and rested on a stile before joining his army which was marching from Edgcote to Grimsbury (hence the curious road name). Following  the victory at Cropredy Bridge, he would lead his victorious army through the village to Deddington on the 1st July.


A newly installed plaque, located on Chacombe Road (to the side of 1 Kings Stile) marks these events.

Postcodes for SatNavs
All Saint's, Middleton Cheney OX17 2NR
Battlefield interpretation board, Astrop Road OX17 2PQ
Kings Stile, Middleton Cheney OX17 2QZ


If you enjoyed reading this, or any of the other posts, please consider supporting the blog. 
Thanks.

Popular posts from this blog

Newark's Defences - a town under siege

-
Image
The ECWtravelogue has visited Newark many times. The King, Queen Henrietta Maria, Prince Rupert all visited; it is home to the National Civil War Centre ; and is the location of possibly the best preserved Civil War earthwork - The Queen's Sconce . So why does it deserve another blog entry? In a word: Clampe's Plan ( but that's two! ). Clampe drew a plan of the Royalist defences of Newark and the Parliamentarian, and Scots siege lines. There's also another, slightly different, later version of the map: Buck's Map, which is held in the Royal Collection and can be viewed online here . The Queen's Sconce survived, did anything else? Clampe's Plan  I've seen photographs of other earthworks in Newark, but no locations for them. A little sleuthery comparing Nottingham's register of ancient monuments, and Historic England's records has resulted in an extensive list of sites. Unfortunately, the locations are so complex that they don't fit my normal
Read more

Trees

-
Image
It has been said of wargamers that they spend all their time painstakingly painting figures and then ignore the terrain. A trend that I feel is changing for the better with printed game mats and 'teddy bear fur'.   Today's post looks at trees: more specifically, Woodland Scenics deciduous Realistic Tree Kits. 2"-3" trees, light green foliage, PP and SF figures for comparison Warning: great trees, messy process. The trees come in several different sizes. Packaging varies, sample kits consisting of armatures and foliage are available, or alternatively elements can be bought separately. They all 'work' the same regardless of 'version'. 2"-3" on the left, 3"-5" on the right I've gone for the 2"-3" armatures and 3" - 5" armatures. Armatures are tree trunk brown plastic and look very uninspiring when you first encounter them., as they are 2 dimensional. But do not be put off, the 2D branches can be bent and the
Read more

Houses of Interest: West Yorkshire

-
Image
For more Yorkshire 'related stuff' you can find North Yorkshire here ,  South Yorkshire here ,   East Riding here . See also the Rupert Travelogue  entry for Yorkshire, and the entry for Adwalton Moor Oakwell Hall    was the inspiration for Charlotte Brontë's Fieldhead in "Shirley". More recently it has been used a number of times as a film set, including "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell". Located close to the M62 and the Leeds branch of purgatory on Earth (aka Ikea), this Tudor manor house is beautifully maintained by Kirklees Borough Council. The hall is presented as a seventeenth century home. I really like this approach, as so often historic houses have different rooms decorated for different eras, so it is really nice to see a house presented from one era in it's entirety. Oakwell was in the ownership of the Batt family, who supported the King; John Batt was a captain and most probably fought at Adwalton Moor. The retreating Parli
Read more

My Kingdom For A Horse (1991)

-
Image
Civil War films are, to say the least, thin on the ground. So, forgive me for scraping the bottom of the barrel. My Kingdom For A Horse was a BBC made for TV play written by John Godber. The protagonist, 31 year old, still living with his parents, history teacher Steve is played by Sean Bean.  Steve and his best friend Pud, are pikemen in the Sealed Knot. Unfortunately for Steve, his head of department is also a member of the Sealed Knot, even more unfortunately he's the 'muster master general'. With the backdrop of the Sealed Knot, Airfix 54mm ECW miniatures, and frequent references to Marston Moor, Cromwell, and the New Model Army, the dour Steve plods through life in a dilapidated Yorkshire secondary school. No spoilers, but everyone who has ever taught in a secondary school will do an internal cheer when Steve has a showdown with the school bully. There's some seriously big hair, floppy fringes, brown suits, a school held up by ACRO props (nothing changed there then
Read more

Comments. Again (!)

-
Image
Sorry regular readers, once again comments and the contact form have temporarily been turned off. Why? Someone on Twitter has got their knickers in a twist about an information panel at Newark Castle.  Why has she done that? Because the information board features an image of a man of African descent.  The man pictured is an actor, portraying a man called John Americanus, who fought for the King at Newark. John's role in the defence of Newark is well documented. And yes, John was of African descent. The National Civil War Centre created a Civil War Trail around the town, information panels are located at points of interest. These panels feature QR codes which accessed features on a now defunct smartphone app. Each location also featured an eye witness account - stories from real people who witnessed the events in Newark. Each information panel has a photographic representation of the person whose story was told in the app. The Castle's eyewitness account was John Americanus. Unf
Read more

Houses of Interest: Staffordshire

-
Image
The  ECW Travelogue turns its attention on Staffordshire. For some reason, rather than starting the entry at the bit of Staffs that is 'next door' to  Château KeepYourPowderDry I started with the corner of Staffs that was furthest away. The first entries look at the escape of Charles II after the Battle of Worcester. Of course any post about Staffordshire requires, by law, pictures of Staffordshire slipware - this one by Thomas Toft; Potteries Museum, Hanley First up is Moseley Old Hall  on the outskirts of Wolverhampton, and is cared for by the National Trust. Moseley bills itself as "the home that saved a king" - considering the number of close calls that Charles had during his escape, this isn't really the unique selling point that you might expect it to be. I do wonder how many other houses, along the Monarch's Way could also make that claim? Built about 1600, the National Trust have recreated a seventeenth century garden on the estate. A rather s
Read more

Coat Colours Part 2: Royalist Regiments of Foot

-
Image
Continuing my therapeutic blogging (write rather than rant) antidote to incorrect English Civil War coat colour tables for wargamers, I give you the Royalist Regiments of Foot. For all of my coat colour articles see: Introduction   Part 1  Parliamentarian coat colours Part 3  Scots coat colours Part 3B  Montrose and the Irish Brigade Part 4  Dragoons, Horse and the New Model Army coat colours The Trained Bands London Trained Bands Auxiliary regiments Scarves   Same rules apply here, as they did with the Parliamentarian coat colours: Regiments often got renamed when command passed to a new colonel - these regiments are listed under their first name e.g. Jacob Astley's Regiment was originally Richard Fielding's Regiment. Coat colour notes refer to contemporaneous references and some of the deductions made by Reid, Spring,  Peachey and Prince. You will also notice that some regiments have several coat colours listed. Where there is some question around a coat colour I have t
Read more

Coat Colours Part 1: Parliamentarian Regiments of Foot

-
Image
When I first started my Civil War gaming project I relied upon the many ECW coat colour tables on wargaming websites. As my project has progressed, my library has got bigger, my research has gone back to primary sources rather than relying upon second and third hand sources; and I have noticed quite a few errors in these lists for wargamers. I have also noticed the same errors appearing in multiple lists.     As a result of continually seeing 'the London Trained Bands and their Auxiliaries wore red coats' (there is no evidence supporting this at all, the evidence, whilst not explicit suggests that the London Trained Bands wore civilian clothes - some of the Auxiliaries might have been issued with blue winter coats) I decided to write my own list.  So here it is. If your allegiance lies elsewhere you might want to look at  Introduction   Part 2  Royalist coat colours Part 3  Scots coat colours Part 3B  Montrose and the Irish Brigade Pa
Read more

Lurkio ECW Range

-
Image
Always on the look out for new toys, I spotted Lurkio have started releasing their new ECW range after a bit of a hiatus. Thank you to Lurkio for kindly sending me some figures for review. My favourite figure from the samples I was sent, not quite sure what has happened to his face though I'll be very straight here, these might not be to everybody's taste. Why? They are headless (yay!) and the pikemen are open handed (double yay!). Whilst that makes me very happy, I know that many baulk at the idea of having to assemble teeny bits on figures, and see any assembly on anything smaller than 28mm figures a complete no-no.  The return of the scale-o-matic, horizontal lines are at 5mm spacing For those of you new to this 'sticking things together' game it isn't a problem, in fact it is pretty straightforward*. I find putting a big blob of superglue onto a palette, then use a cocktail stick as a glue spreader, the best way to get superglue into the precise area that you wa
Read more

Pikes

-
Image
I must not write "don't tell him your name Pike".  I must not write "don't tell him your name Pike". Oh damn! Pikemen figures come in two varieties, with cast on pikes, and open handed. Having previously owned 6mm ECW pikemen armed with pikes which quickly turn to overcooked spaghetti, I went the open handed pikemen route.  For those of you who choose this path, open handed pikemen raises two questions: how long should a pike be?, and where can I buy pikes from?  All this gives me an excuse to have a closer look at the 'queen of weapons'. How long should a pike be? You'd think that this question would be fairly easy to answer, it is in fact more than a little problematical. Pikes were between 15' and 18' in length, which should be quite easy to scale down, or so you would think. Sir James Turner  (Pallas Armata p.176) and General Monck (Observations p.26) both stated that the proper length for a pike should be 18'.The 1639 Direction
Read more