Battle of Lansdown (Hill) 1643
Who Fought
Royalists under Lord Hopton including Cornish foot regiments; Parliamentarians under Sir William Waller holding a fortified hilltop position
History & Significance
The Battle of Roundway Down was fought on 13 July 1643 at Roundway Down near Devizes, in Wiltshire during the First English Civil War. Despite being outnumbered and exhausted after riding overnight from Oxford, a Royalist cavalry force under Lord Wilmot won a crushing victory over the Parliamentarian Army of the West under Sir William Waller.
Viewed as their most decisive victory of the war, the Royalists secured control of South West England which they held until late 1645. Two weeks later they captured the port of Bristol, allowing them to establish links with supporters in Ireland.
After the hard fought Battle of Lansdown, the Royalists withdrew from Lansdown to Marshfield, hoping to obtain reinforcements and supplies from their wartime capital of Oxford. They arrived in Chippenham on 7 July. Meanwhile, despite his retreat, Waller's army was largely intact after the battle and losses were quickly replaced by the Parliamentarian garrison in Bristol. Hopton's precarious position provided Waller an opportunity to crush him if he moved fast enough and Waller set out from Bath with 5,000 troops, reaching Chippenham on 9 July.
As the Parliamentarians approached, Hopton marched south to Devizes, followed by Waller who occupied Roundway Down, high ground approximately 2 kilometres north of the town. Short of materials and outnumbered, the Royalists agreed that Prince Maurice and 300 cavalry would break out and race to Oxford for reinforcements, leaving Hopton and the 3,000 Cornish foot to hold Devizes. Departing at midnight on 10 July, Maurice reached Oxford next morning; most of the Royalist field army was absent but Lord Wilmot assembled 1,500 cavalry, then set out for Devizes with Maurice and his men.
On 11 July, Waller brought his army down from Roundway Down and deployed them on the east side of Devizes. To support an attack, he set up an artillery battery within range of the town on Coatefield Hill. Stalling for time, Hopton asked for and received a truce to allow time for negotiations. Overnight as the Parliamentarians waited for Hopton's response, their cavalry intercepted and captured a Royalist convoy of gunpowder and ammunition that had previously been dispatched to resupply Hopton after the Battle at Lansdowne. Many of their escort escaped but 200 were captured along with the wagons.
On the morning of 12 July, Waller ended talks and began an assault, first bombarding the town with artillery before his infantry attacked the outworks and fortifications. Despite hours of fierce hand-to-hand combat, at the end of the day the Royalists remained in control of Devizes. Early next morning, Wilmot's relief force neared Roundway Down, and as they did so fired several cannon to warn Hopton of their approach. Waller now abandoned the siege and marched his force north to intercept them; reaching the high ground, the infantry and artillery were placed in the centre, with Waller commanding the cavalry on the left and Sir Arthur Haselrig the right.
The ground they fought on
The site of Battle of Lansdown (Hill) 1643 lies on Lias Group, bedrock that formed in the Aalenian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone, limestone and sandstone.
A Cornish officer who witnessed the fighting left a telling verdict on Waller's conduct of the battle, writing that he was "the best shifter and chooser of ground when he was not Master of the field that ever I saw"; the remark captures how skilfully Waller had selected and fortified the crest of Lansdowne Hill, compelling Hopton's men to charge up steep slopes into breastworks and flanking musket fire, a assault that cost the Royalist cavalry dear and saw Sir Bevil Grenville, who had led the Cornish pikemen over the parapet, mortally wounded in the hand-to-hand fighting at the summit.
- Heavy Royalist losses including up to 1,400 cavalry who fled; Sir Bevil Grenville mortally wounded; Royalist ammunition cart exploded the following day injuring Hopton
This battlefield is listed on the Register of Historic Battlefields — a national designation identifying Britain's most significant battle sites for protection and further research. Reference: NHLE 1000017.
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything a full report reveals about Battle of Lansdown (Hill) 1643
This page covers Battle of Lansdown (Hill) 1643. A full Aubrey report for the area pulls together this battle alongside scheduled monuments and everything else the record holds within a few miles:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Scheduled Monuments near Battle of Lansdown (Hill) 1643
Other English Civil War Battles
Battles near Battle of Lansdown (Hill) 1643
Explore the landscape around this battlefield
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any location in the UK — drawing on Domesday records, scheduled monuments, Victorian OS maps, geological data and archaeological archives to tell the full story of a place.
- Battle of Roundway Down · Wikipedia
- Battle of Lansdowne · Wikipedia