Battle of Worcester 1651 with Powick Bridge 1642
Who Fought
Battle of Worcester 1651: Parliamentarians approximately 28,000 under Cromwell; Royalists approximately 16,000 under Charles II. Battle of Powick Bridge 1642: each side approximately 1,000 mounted troops (cavalry and dragoons).
History & Significance
The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 in and around the city of Worcester, England and was the last major battle of the 1642 to 1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A Parliamentarian army of around 28,000 under Oliver Cromwell defeated a largely Scottish Royalist force of 16,000 led by Charles II of England and Scotland.
The Royalists took up defensive positions in and around the city of Worcester. The area of the battle was bisected by the River Severn, with the River Teme forming an additional obstacle to the south-west of Worcester. Cromwell divided his army into two main sections, divided by the Severn, in order to attack from both the east and south-west. There was fierce fighting at river crossing points and two dangerous sorties by the Royalists against the eastern Parliamentary force were beaten back. Following the storming of a major redoubt to the east of the city, the Parliamentarians entered Worcester and organised Royalist resistance collapsed. Charles II was able to escape capture.
The King was aided by Scottish allies and was attempting to regain the throne that had been lost when his father Charles I was executed three years before. The commander of the Scots, David Leslie, supported the plan of fighting in Scotland, where royal support was strongest. Charles, however, insisted on making war in England. He calculated that Cromwell's campaign north of the River Forth would allow the main Scottish Royalist army which was south of the Forth to steal the march on the Roundhead New Model Army in a race to London. He hoped to rally not merely the old faithful Royalists, but also the overwhelming numerical strength of the English Presbyterians to his standard. He calculated that his alliance with the Scottish Presbyterian Covenanters and his signing of the Solemn League and Covenant would encourage English Presbyterians to support him against the English Independent faction which had grown in power over the last few years. The Royalist army was kept well in hand, no excesses were allowed, and in a week the Royalists covered 150 miles in marked contrast to the Duke of Hamilton's ill-fated expedition of 1648. On 8 August the troops were given a well-earned rest between Penrith and Kendal. The exact location is marked by a stone monument at Black Dub on Crosby Ravensworth Fell near Shap, Cumbria (OS Grid Ref : NY 604108). An inscription on the monument reads "Here at Black Dub; the source of the Livennet, King Charles II regaled his army and drank of the water on his march from Scotland. August 8th 1651"
However the Royalists were mistaken in supposing that the enemy was unaware. Everything had been foreseen both by Cromwell and by the Council of State in Westminster. The latter had called out the greater part of the militia on 7 August. Lieutenant-General Charles Fleetwood began to draw together the midland contingents at Banbury. The London trained-bands turned out for field service no fewer than 14,000 strong. Every suspected Royalist was closely watched, and the magazines of arms in the country-houses of the gentry were for the most part removed into the strong places. On his part Cromwell had quietly made his preparations. Perth passed into his hands on 2 August and he brought back his army to Leith by 5 August. Thence he dispatched Lieutenant-General John Lambert with a cavalry corps to harass the invaders. Major-General Thomas Harrison was already at Newcastle picking the best of the county mounted-troops to add to his own regulars. On 9 August, Charles was at Kendal, Lambert hovering in his rear, and Harrison marching swiftly to bar his way at the Mersey. Thomas Fairfax emerged for a moment from his retirement to organize the Yorkshire levies, and the best of these as well as of the Lancashire, Cheshire and Staffordshire militias were directed upon Warrington, which Harrison reached on 15 August, a few hours in front of Charles's advanced guard. Lambert too, slipping round the left flank of the enemy, joined Harrison, and the English fell back (16 August), slowly and without letting themselves be drawn into a fight, along the London road.
The ground they fought on
The site of Battle of Worcester 1651 with Powick Bridge 1642 lies on Triassic Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Triassic. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.
At the Battle of Worcester in 1651, Cromwell's methodical preparation proved decisive: having secured Perth on 2 August, he marched his regulars south at 20 miles a day in extreme heat, with country people carrying the soldiers' arms and equipment, reaching Ferrybridge on 19 August before converging on Worcester with Lambert, Harrison and Fleetwood to bring the Royalist army to its final reckoning. The storming of the eastern redoubt broke the last coherent Royalist defence, and although Charles II escaped, organised resistance dissolved entirely, ending the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
- Not specified in the sources.
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 1000042.
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- Battle of Worcester · Wikipedia
- Battle of Powick Bridge · Wikipedia