- Battle of Winceby
The Battle of Winceby took place on
11 October ,1643 during theEnglish Civil War near the village ofWinceby ,Lincolnshire about 6 km east of Horncastle.Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Winceby [ [http://www.battlefieldstrust.com/resource-centre/civil-war/battleview.asp?BattleFieldId=48 UK Battlefields Resource Centre - The Civil Wars - Lincolnshire Campaign 1643 - The Battle of Battle of Winceby ] ]
partof=theFirst English Civil War
date=October 11 1643
place=Winceby ,Lincolnshire
result=Decisive Parliamentarian victory
combatant1=Royalists
combatant2=Parliamentarians
commander1=Sir William Widdrington
commander2=Earl of Manchester,Oliver Cromwell
strength1=c. 2500-3000 horse
strength2=c. 3000 horse, c. 2000 foot
casualties1= 200-300 killed on the field, more in the pursuit; 800 prisoners
casualties2= c. 20 killedPrelude
During the summer of 1643, the Royalists laid plans to win the war by marching on London. However, before this could be contemplated, it would be necessary for them to defeat the Parliamentarian forces holding
Kingston upon Hull andPlymouth ; otherwise, as the Royalist forces moved on London, the garrisons of those two towns couldsortie out and attack the Royalist rear areas.While these sieges were underway,
Charles I of England decided to make the best use of his time by reducing Gloucester, the one great fortress of Parliament in the west. Parliamentary forces relievedGloucester on5 September . The relieving army was bought to battle by Royalist forces in theFirst Battle of Newbury ; it was a tactical draw but a strategic victory for the Parliamentarians as it reduced the likelihood of a Royalist attack on London.Meanwhile, the second Royalist siege of Hull had commenced. The
Eastern Association forces under the Earl of Manchester promptly moved up intoLincolnshire , the foot besiegingKing's Lynn (which surrendered on16 September ) while the horse rode into the northern part of the county to give a hand to the Fairfaxes. Fortunately for the Parliamentary Forces, the sea communications ofKingston upon Hull were open.On
18 September , part of the cavalry in Hull was ferried over toBarton , and the rest under SirThomas Fairfax went by sea toSaltfleet a few days later, the whole joiningOliver Cromwell nearSpilsby . In return, the old Lord Fairfax, who remained in Hull, received infantry reinforcements and a quantity of ammunition and stores from the Eastern Association. On9 October Parliamentary forces under Manchester laid siege toBolingbroke Castle .The battle
On
9 October , SirJohn Henderson , the Royalist governor ofNewark-on-Trent , took a large body of 1,500 men, consisting predominantly of cavalry in 8 troops, with somedragoon s and infantry, to relieve the garrison at Bolingbroke. After a sharp skirmish they took Horncastle from a small outlying detachment of Fairfax's force. The Parliamentary detachment reported back to the main army that the Royalists were moving towards them. The next morning leaving enough men to stop the Bolingbroke garrison from launching a sortie, Manchester arrayed his army on Kirkby Hill, overlooking Bolingbroke. Sometime between 12:00 and 14:00 hours he ordered a general advance towards Horncastle. The Parliamentary horse which moved faster than the infantry met the Royalists advancing in the opposite direction at Winceby. The field of battle was not ideal as the land falls away into sharp gullies on one side, but it was not bad enough to prohibit a battle. The two forces were roughly the same size and composition because, as with the Parliamentarians, the Royalist infantry was not present.The ensuing battle lasted about half an hour. Cromwell feigned a retreat and lured the Royalists from a good defensive position onto flat ground. A small party of Parliamentarians advanced on the Royalists who discharged their weapons at them. Cromwell then led his main body of horse in a charge hoping to press home his charge before the Royalists had time to reload. But dismounted Royalist dragoons managed to fire a second volley, hitting several of the Ironsides. Cromwell had his horse shot from under him and was only able to rejoin the battle after he had secured another mount. Royalist cavalry under
William Saville counter attacked hitting Cromwell's right flank. They in turn were attacked in the flank by Fairfax's horse. In the resulting melee, the Royalists lost cohesion when the command by Saville to about face was taken to be an order to retreat and Saville's horse fled the battle. On the Roundhead's left wing the Cavaliers enjoyed greater initial success, but the collapse of the Royalist left and centre meant that Henderson had to retreat or face envelopment. A flanking attack by Cromwell's reformed cavalry was enough to cause the Royalists to flee the field in confusion back towards Newark.In Horncastle, at a place now known as "slash hollow", some Royalists were killed or captured when they became trapped against a parish boundary gate that only opened one way (against them) and in their panic the press of men jammed it shut. For the remainder of the day the Roundheads hunted down Cavalier stragglers not stopping until dusk, which in October occurs in early evening, when they were recalled by Manchester. The Royalists lost about 300 men and the Parliamentarians about 20 with a further 60 wounded ref|casualties.
On the same day, Newcastle's army around Hull, which had suffered terribly from the hardships of continuous siege work, was attacked by the garrison. They were so severely handled that the siege of Hull was given up the next day.
Conclusion
Manchester left Bolingbroke Castle under siege and proceeded to retake Lincoln and Gainsborough. With all hope of relief gone the garrison of Bolingbroke Castle surrendered on
14 November . Thus Lincolnshire, which had been almost entirely in the Royalist Earl of Newcastle's hands before he was compelled to undertake the siege of Hull, was added, in fact as well as in name, to the Eastern Association.References
* "The text is based on the article GREAT REBELLION."
* [http://www.magweb.com/sample/sced/5winceby.htm Battle of Winceby overview]Notes
# [http://www.bolingbrokecastle.com/Siege.htm The Battle of Winceby, and The Siege of ] [http://www.bolingbrokecastle.com/ Bolingbroke Castle 1643]
External links
* [http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/%7Ecrossby/ECW/battles/winceby.html battle of Winceby]
* [http://www.eventplan.co.uk/photopages/Bol03%20winceby%201.htm Battle of Winceby Commemoration]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.