Battle of Lostwithiel
Who Fought
Royalists: 12,000 infantry and 7,000 cavalry; Parliamentarians: circa 6,500 infantry and circa 3,000 cavalry
History & Significance
The Battle of Lostwithiel took place over a 13-day period from 21 August to 2 September 1644, around the town of Lostwithiel and along the River Fowey valley in Cornwall during the First English Civil War. A Royalist army led by Charles I of England defeated a Parliamentarian force commanded by the Earl of Essex.
Although Essex and most of the cavalry escaped, between 5,000 and 6,000 Parliamentarian infantry were forced to surrender. Since the Royalists were unable to feed so many, they were given a pass back to their own territory, arriving in Southampton a month later having lost nearly half their number to disease and desertion.
Considered one of the worst defeats suffered by Parliament over the course of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, it secured South West England for the Royalists until early 1646.
During April and May 1644, Parliamentarian commanders Sir William Waller and the Earl of Essex combined their armies and carried out a campaign against King Charles and the Royalist garrisons surrounding Oxford. Trusting Waller to deal with the King in Oxfordshire, Essex divided the Parliamentarian army on 6 June and headed southwest to relieve the Royalist siege of Lyme in Dorset. Lyme had been under siege by King Charles' nephew, Prince Maurice, and the Royalists for nearly two months.
South-West England at that time was largely under the control of the Royalists. The town of Lyme, however, was a Parliamentarian stronghold and served as an important seaport for the Parliamentarian fleet of the Earl of Warwick. As Essex approached Lyme in mid-June Prince Maurice ended the siege and took his troops west to Exeter.
Essex then proceeded further southwest toward Cornwall with the intent to relieve the siege of Plymouth. Plymouth was the only other significant Parliamentarian stronghold in the South-West and it was under siege by Richard Grenville and Cornish Royalists. Essex had been told by Lord Robartes, a wealthy politician and merchant from Cornwall, that the Parliamentarians would gain considerable military support if he moved against Grenville and freed Plymouth. Given Lord Robartes' advice, Essex advanced toward Plymouth. His action caused Grenville to end the siege. Essex then advanced further west, believing that he could take full control of the South-West from the Royalists.
Meanwhile, in Oxfordshire, King Charles battled with the Parliamentarians and defeated Sir William Waller at the Battle of Cropredy Bridge on 29 June. On 12 July after a Royalist council of war recommended that Essex be dealt with before he could be reinforced, King Charles and his Oxford army departed Evesham. King Charles accepted the council's advice, not solely because it was good strategy, but more so because his Queen was in Exeter, where she had recently given birth to the Princess Henrietta and had been denied safe conduct to Bath by Essex.
The ground they fought on
The site of Battle of Lostwithiel lies on Lower Devonian Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Early Devonian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.
- Royalists: circa 500; Parliamentarians: circa 700 killed/wounded and circa 5,000 taken prisoner (as many as 3,000 of the prisoners later died of exposure and disease on the march to Southampton)
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything a full report reveals about Battle of Lostwithiel
This page covers Battle of Lostwithiel. 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 Lostwithiel
Explore the landscape around Cornwall
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 Lostwithiel · Wikidata
- Battle_of_Lostwithiel · Wikipedia
- Battle of Lostwithiel · BritishBattles.com
- Battle of Lostwithiel · Battlefields Trust