Relief of Newark
Who Fought
History & Significance
The Relief of Newark (21 March 1644) was a Royalist victory during the First English Civil War. It was a personal victory for Prince Rupert and it resulted in the Royalists holding Newark-on-Trent until almost the end of the war.
At the start of 1644, King Charles aimed to build an army in the northwest of England, built around regiments which he had brought back from Ireland after a treaty (or "cessation") was signed with the Catholic Confederates. John Byron, 1st Baron Byron who commanded this army, was heavily defeated at the Battle of Nantwich on 26 January, resulting in considerable casualties to the first regiments of foot landed from Ireland. Charles therefore ordered his nephew, Prince Rupert, to take command of the army and Rupert set up his headquarters in Shrewsbury on 21 February.
Meanwhile, the Parliamentarian forces in the Midlands advanced to besiege the Royalist stronghold of Newark-on-Trent (known as The Second Siege of Newark, following the brief 1643 siege). Newark was a vital garrison that dominated the River Trent and also posed a threat to Parliamentary forces in the East of England. The town was highly defensible, as The Trent forms a natural moat around much of the town, it had been further fortified with earthworks and batteries by Richard Byron (brother of Lord John Byron), and it had a well-built, stone castle overlooking the Trent.
The Parliamentarians were led by an experienced professional soldier, Sir John Meldrum. On 6 March, his forces crossed the eastern branch of the River Trent, but were repelled when they tried to attack the town on 8 March. Following this failed attack, the Parliamentarians began constructing siege works and entrenchments.
On 12 March, the king ordered Rupert to relieve Newark. Hastily returning to Shrewsbury from Chester, where he had been conferring with Lord John Byron, Rupert collected a force based around his own regiment of horse, and musketeers detached mainly from two regiments from Ireland (Tillier's and Broughton's) which had recently landed in North Wales and which had therefore not been involved in the defeat at Nantwich. He marched towards Newark via the Royalist-held towns of Wolverhampton, Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Bingham, augmenting his force with troops drawn from their garrisons.
Although Meldrum had been warned of Rupert's approach, Rupert arrived too quickly for him to withdraw. Instead, Meldrum drew up his forces around the "Spittal" (the ruins of St Leonard's Hospice, which had been destroyed by fighting the previous year) on the east side of the Trent. Fearing that Meldrum might still withdraw, Rupert's cavalry advanced by moonlight and attacked in the early morning of 21 March.
The ground they fought on
The site of Relief of Newark lies on Kellaways Formation And Oxford Clay Formation (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Oxfordian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.
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