Battle of Stow (-on-the-Wold) 1646
Who Fought
Royalists approximately 3,000 foot and 500 horse under Sir Jacob Astley; Parliamentarian New Model Army detachments (under Sir William Brereton and Colonel Thomas Morgan) of approximately 2,500 foot and 600 horse.
History & Significance
The Battle of Stow-on-the-Wold (21 March 1646) took place near Stow-on-the-Wold in Gloucestershire during the First English Civil War. It was a Parliamentarian victory by detachments of the New Model Army over the last Royalist field army.
In the spring of 1646, King Charles I of England was getting ever more desperate to hold the Royalist cause together whilst waiting for the long promised relief forces from Ireland, Scotland and France. Sir Jacob Astley took command of the Royalist forces in the west and began to gather up the remnants from the handful of Royalist garrisons still left in the West Midlands to create a new field army. At this point in the war, Royalist morale was low. However, Astley, a stalwart of the Royalist commanders and an experienced soldier, was able to cobble together a force of 3,000. While returning to Oxford he was intercepted and defeated at Stow-on-the-Wold.
The year of 1646 began badly for Charles I. On no side was there the smallest break in the gloom that surrounded him. He had no army, and there was but small chance of his being able to raise one. All his resources were exhausted. Without money, without arms, without supplies, his fate was clear but, what was still worse, if possible, was the disunion among the Royalists: Charles' quarrel with his nephews, although patched up, might break out again at any minute.
It was obvious to all, Royalists or Parliamentarians, that whatever the rights or wrongs of the struggle might originally have been, its continuance could do no good to either party, and only aggravated the prevailing discontent.
Lord Astley left Oxford on 22 December 1645, to go round the different garrisons in the West Midlands, trying to raise an army. His task was a difficult one, and not the less so by his extreme want of money. Had Astley a good supply of this, he might have raised a fairly formidable force, without it he could do nothing with the drunken dissolute bands of robbers who formed the bulk of the soldiers in the Royalist garrisons. Astley arrived at Worcester early in 1646. One of his first acts was to march out to Madresfield. The Royalist garrison there had been besieged since October, by men from the Gloucester and Evesham Parliamentary garrisons, but it had held out, and Astley was now able, with a party from the Worcester garrison, to drive off the besiegers and raise the siege.
Astley went from Worcester to Ludlow, intending to unite with Sir William Vaughan, but the presence of Parliamentarian troops and the floods arising from the breaking up of the great frost and the thaw made movement impossible, and prevented Astley from attempting anything. He fell back towards Bewdley. On 5 February 1646, the besieged royalist city of Chester surrendered. Lord Byron had held out to the last and had to yield from want of fuel and of food. Horses, dogs, and cats had been eaten, and Byron was unable to do more. He had held the place for sixteen weeks, and there was no hope of relief.
The ground they fought on
The site of Battle of Stow (-on-the-Wold) 1646 lies on Lias Group, bedrock that formed in the Aalenian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone, limestone and sandstone.
- Royalists: fewer than 1,000 killed and around 1,000 captured. Parliamentarian casualties recorded as light.
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 1000037.
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything a full report reveals about Battle of Stow (-on-the-Wold) 1646
This page covers Battle of Stow (-on-the-Wold) 1646. 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 Stow (-on-the-Wold) 1646
Other English Civil War Battles
Battles near Battle of Stow (-on-the-Wold) 1646
Explore the landscape around Gloucestershire
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 Stow (-on-the-Wold) 1646 · Historic England
- Battle of Stow-on-the-Wold · Wikidata
- Battle_of_Stow-on-the-Wold · Wikipedia
- Battle of Stow on the Wold · Battlefields Trust