Keep Your Powder Dry

For more Yorkshire 'related stuff' you can find  West Yorkshire  here ,  South Yorkshire  here , and  East Riding  here . For sites of interest in York, and the Marston Moor battlefield see here ; Skipton Castle see here , and Knaresborough Castle here . All Saints Church  in Ripley (Harrogate way, not the one in Derbyshire) was used by the Parliamentarians as a billet for their soldiers who were pursuing fleeing Royalists from Marston Moor. A number were captured and executed against the walls of the church which still bears the scars of musket balls. Inside the Church they added graffiti  "no pompe nor pride let God be honoured" to the tomb of Sir William Ingilby (1546-1618). Interestingly Sir William's children are both claimed to have fought at Marston Moor: Sir William (junior) was a Royalist cavalry officer, and his sister Jane is supposed to have disguised herself as a man wearing full armour in order to take the field. After the Battle Sir...

The ECWtravelogue is beginning to turn its attention to those counties further away from Château KeepYourPowderDry. Here begins the Herefordshire entry... Goodrich  Castle has long been on the ECW travelogue's 'to visit' list, why? Roaring Meg.  There appears to have been a tradition of gunners giving their 'pieces' nicknames. Roaring Meg appears more than once, but this Roaring Meg is the only known Civil War mortar still in existence. Be still my beating heart. Goodrich Castle was started in the twelfth century, before it was completed/modified/extended in the latter half of the thirteenth century. And very impressive it must have been too. Obligatory arty photo, showing how Goodrich commands the landscape Fast forward to the turbulent times of the seventeenth century. The castle was originally garrisoned by Parliament in 1642 with the consent of Richard Tyler, a local lawyer who was tenant and constable of the castle. The garrison fled to Gloucester when the Roya...

 Jings and crivens! Even more baggage? I'm afraid so. The last part of my Montrose/Solemn League/Irish Confederate baggage extension is complete. Erm... actually it isn't. Now that I have discovered that I can't actually see the figures properly when painting, and that 2.0 readers from the cheapy shop help enormously, I will be tidying these up. The strap work on those bags is shocking! The Irish Confederates have two pack horse trains. These are Chariot figures from Magister Militum. Magister Militum are in the process of shutting up shop, and these figures are now unavailable; MM are finding new homes for their ranges, to date I haven't heard any news about anyone talking the Chariot range on yet. Originally the pony handlers had Scots bonnets, they have been replaced with Peter Pig Irish heads. The Confederates also have two, two-wheeled carts added to their baggage train. Both from Museum Miniatures' extensive baggage range. Each cart has a Peter Pig dragoon ho...

So what were the Associations, and give me a reading list... During the Wars, Parliament devolved local government to local Associations of counties where it held sway. These local Associations raised money, provided supplies and men for Parliament's great field army, which was under the command of the Earl of Essex. Each Association also raised its own army, which was responsible for garrisoning towns, protecting the borders of their Association, and they were also called upon to augment Essex's force. Some also went about their own campaigning. The Association Armies were*: The Midlands Association,  covering predominantly Warwickshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Leicestershire. A slightly complicated affair, there were briefly two Midland Association armies. Initially commanded by Lord Brooke, then Sir John Gell took command after Brooke's death at Lichfield. Cheshire is a little different (it still is a little different, I can say that having been born in the county...