Battle of Muster Green
Who Fought
History & Significance
The Battle of Muster Green (also known as the Battle of Haywards Heath) was a minor battle of major significance that took place during the first week of December 1642 on and around the then much larger Muster Green in Haywards Heath during the first year of the First English Civil War. A Royalist army under Colonel Edward Ford, High Sheriff of Sussex, marching from Chichester to seize Lewes for the King encountered a smaller but more disciplined Parliamentarian army under Colonel Herbert Morley waiting for them on Muster Green.
After Royalist musketeers fired "some" volleys, Morley's cavalry broke through the Royalist's advanced guard and, with the Parliamentarian infantry charging simultaneously, fought hand-to-hand; at least an hour of fighting ensued in which 200 Royalists were killed, wounded, or captured, resulting in the surviving Royalist forces' routing and the Parliamentarians emerging victorious, saving Lewes from a Royalist assault, and pushing back Ford's 1642 Royalist invasion of Sussex. The battle site of the Battle of Muster Green became and remained the furthest any large Royalist force advanced through Sussex during the English Civil Wars.
At the beginning of the First English Civil War there was no obvious distinction by location, occupation, or social class that outlined who would declare their support for the Royalists and who would declare support for the Parliamentarians in Sussex. Although historians have tried to characterise the eastern half of the county as "staunchly Parliamentarian" and western parts as more sympathetic to the Royalist cause, this broad distinction obscures many localised variations, particularly in downland areas and some urban areas. For example, in Chichester, the church, gentry, and upper classes made clear their support was for Charles I while the rising merchant classes showed their sympathies lay with the Parliamentarians. The people of poorer standing, while making up the majority of the population, were much less eager to take up the cause of either side.
It was soon clear that neither Royalists nor Parliamentarians would have control of Sussex without the use of force via a military campaign through the county. Sussex was of strategic and industrial importance to both sides during the war due to the cannon foundries and ironworks making up the Wealden iron industry in the High Weald, controlling which would have given a logistical advantage to the side that controlled them, and also because the Sussex coastline was one of the shortest routes to France – potentially a source of smuggled arms, gunpowder, troops, and bullion, as well as other equipment and materials required to wage and win a civil war. The proximity to France also meant the county could be used as an escape route by the King – another factor which made Sussex "a region that Parliament needed to keep under firm control".
The ground they fought on
The site of Battle of Muster Green lies on Wealden Group, bedrock that formed in the Barremian. The rock here is sandstone and siltstone, interbedded.
- Royalists: 200 killed, wounded, or captured
Frequently Asked Questions
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- Battle of Muster Green · Wikipedia