Battle of Winwick (also known as Battle of Red Bank) 1648
Who Fought
Royalist army under Lieutenant General William Baillie (infantry with cavalry waiting at Warrington); Parliamentarian army under Lieutenant General Oliver Cromwell, largely New Model Army veterans
History & Significance
The Battle of Winwick (also known as the Battle of Red Bank) was fought on 19 August 1648 near the Lancashire village of Winwick between part of a Royalist army under Lieutenant General William Baillie and a Parliamentarian army commanded by Lieutenant General Oliver Cromwell. The Royalists were defeated with all of those who took part in the fighting, their army's entire infantry force, either killed or captured. The Royalist mounted component fled but surrendered five days after the battle. Winwick was the last battle of the Second English Civil War.
The First English Civil War between Royalist supporters of Charles I and an alliance of Parliamentarian and Scottish forces ended in 1646 with Charles defeated and a prisoner. He continued to negotiate with several factions among his opponents and this sparked the Second English Civil War in 1648: a series of mutinies and Royalist uprisings in England and Wales, and a Scottish Royalist invasion of north-west England. The invading army was attacked and defeated by a smaller Parliamentarian army at the battle of Preston on 17 August. The majority of the Royalists, mostly Scots, had not been engaged but they fled south, closely pursued by the Parliamentarians, mostly of the New Model Army. On 19 August, hungry, cold, soaking wet, exhausted and short of dry powder, the Scottish infantry turned to fight at Winwick. Their cavalry waited 3 miles (5 km) away at Warrington.
The Parliamentarian advance guard was put to flight with heavy casualties. After a lengthy pause, Parliamentarian infantry arrived: they attempted to storm the Scottish position and were thrown back. A full-scale assault was then launched which resulted in more than three hours of furious but indecisive close-quarters fighting. The Parliamentarians fell back again, pinned the Scots in place with their cavalry and sent their infantry on a circuitous flank march. As soon as the Scots saw this force appear on their right flank they broke and fled. Parliamentarian cavalry pursued, killing many. All of the surviving Scots surrendered: their infantry either at Winwick church or in Warrington, their cavalry on 24 August at Uttoxeter. Winwick was the final battle of the war. In its aftermath Charles was beheaded on 30 January 1649 and England became a republic on 19 May.
The three most useful accounts of the short campaign which included the battles of Preston and Winwick were written by Oliver Cromwell, commander of the Parliamentarian army; Marmaduke Langdale, commander of the English Royalists who bore the brunt of the fighting at Preston; and John Hodgson, a lieutenant in a Parliamentarian infantry regiment. The first two accounts were written shortly after the campaign; Hodgson wrote his memoirs in 1683. Cromwell was the only one of the three present at Winwick. There is also a letter by the Parliamentarian cavalry officer Major John Sanderson giving details of his participation in the battle and an account of it written by the Royalist James Heath in 1661. Two partial accounts of the campaign were written by senior Scottish commanders in the 1670s.
The ground they fought on
The site of Battle of Winwick (also known as Battle of Red Bank) 1648 lies on Triassic Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Triassic. The rock here is sandstone and conglomerate, interbedded.
The condition of the Scottish infantry before the battle speaks to the desperate circumstances in which they found themselves. Hungry, cold, soaking wet, exhausted and short of dry powder following their flight from Preston, they nonetheless turned to fight at Winwick rather than continue their retreat. Despite repulsing the Parliamentarian advance guard with heavy casualties and throwing back a subsequent assault, more than three hours of furious close-quarters fighting ended without a decisive result, and it was only a flanking manoeuvre by Parliamentarian infantry that finally broke them. The pursuing Parliamentarian cavalry killed many of those who fled, and all who survived eventually surrendered, the last of them on 24 August at Uttoxeter.
- All Royalist infantry either killed or captured; Parliamentarian advance guard suffered heavy casualties in the opening exchange
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 1412878.
Frequently Asked Questions
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- Battle of Winwick · Wikipedia
- Battle of Preston (1648) · Wikipedia