English Heritage Battlefield Report: Nantwich 1644 Nantwich (25 January 1644) Parishes:Henhull; Acton; Nantwich; Hurleston, Worleston District: Crewe and Nantwich County: Cheshire Grid Ref: SJ 632531 (centred on Acton Church) Historical Context The defeat of the Northern Royalists at Winceby and the raising of the siege of Hull in October 1643 made it unlikely that the Marquis of Newcastle would be able to intervene in the war further south, as the Royalist High Command in Oxford had hoped. In compensation, the Royalist strategists set about raising a second army in the North of England. During September 1643 the Marquis of Ormonde, the English Lieutenant-General in Ireland, had negotiated a cessation of hostilities with the Roman Catholic Confederacy which controlled most of the country. The Cessation freed troops to return to England and in October five regiments sailed to Chester to provide the bulk of a new Royalist army, 5,000 strong, under the command of Lord John Byron. With the help of these troops, Byron got the better of the local Parliamentarian forces under Sir William Brereton. The Royalists eventually controlled all Cheshire, except for the town of Nantwich, a siege of which began on 13 December 1643. On 18 January Byron's attempt to storm the town was repulsed. The Royalists suffered 400 casualties, a severe loss for an army that had experienced steady wastage since the beginning of its Cheshire campaign. Byron by now possibly had only 2,500 infantry and 1,000 cavalry left. Parliament was anxious to save Nantwich but had no troops readily available. Recourse was therefore made to the services of Sir Thomas Fairfax's army in Lincolnshire. On 29 December, accompanied by a force of 1800 horse and 500 dragoons, Fairfax proceeded via Derbyshire and Staffordshire to Manchester. Here he gathered together 2,500-3,000 infantry from Cheshire and Lancashire. On 21 January, his force augmented, Fairfax left for Nantwich. Lord Byron, who because of the antipathy of the local population had difficulty securing information, first heard of Fairfax's approach on 24 January. Fairfax was marching along the Chester road and so Byron, in response, switched part of the forces besieging the eastern side of Nantwich to the high ground around the village of Acton a mile west of the town. Subsequently, however, a sudden thaw filled the River Weaver, which flows through the western side of Nantwich, so full of melted snow that it burst its banks, sweeping away overnight the temporary bridge used by Byron to maintain communications between his forces besieging the town. A large part of Byron's army was caught on the wrong side of the river and it was only by making a six mile detour to cross by another bridge that it was able to arrive in time to fight the next day. If, as seems likely, Byron had nurtured hopes of blocking Fairfax's progress at Barbridge, three and a half miles northwest of Nantwich, these had by now been completely dashed. The 200 troops already in position at Barbridge were brushed aside by the Parliamentarians during the morning of 25 January. Soon after, Fairfax and his men reached the top of the modest slope above Hurleston and caught their first sight of the main force of the enemy, drawn up nearly a mile away in front of Acton Church. Description of the Battlefield Nantwich battlefield, which lies to the west of the town, is without dominating features. The ground rises little more than 75 feet in the course of the mile that separates the River Weaver, in the east, from the elevated © English Heritage 1995 1 English Heritage Battlefield Report: Nantwich 1644 ground at Acton, at just over 200 feet, to the west. To the north of Acton the ground falls away some 30-35 feet towards the crossroads of the A51(T) and A534 at Burford but returns to its original height nearer Hurleston. It was across this shallow dip in the landscape that the Royalist and Parliamentarian armies first viewed one another. The Shropshire Union canal, which runs across the battlefield from the north-west to the south-east, lies 175 feet above sea-level. Only in the south-east, as the land continues to slope away towards the River Weaver, does it require an embankment. Land use is agricultural. The fields are mostly given over to pasture. Landscape Evolution The various contemporary accounts of the battle show that the action took place in a relatively flat pastoral landscape of hedgerows and lanes. Some of the hedgerows present today were probably present in the landscape at the time of the battle. Just outside of the southern boundary of the battlefield area is Dorfold Hall, one of the Royalist camps. Records suggest that the Hall was connected to a deer park which probably extended north into the battlefield area just as, in the later 18th century, parkland was to do. There was a substantial settlement at Acton with its church and moat but the old village of Henhull was by that time deserted. Earthworks and some ridge and furrow in the large field between Henhull Hall Farm and Acton indicate its general location. There is a noticeable hollow way which could indicate a lane from the Farm (and village?) to Acton church. The road to Nantwich from Chester (now the A51), along which Fairfax advanced, is marked on the earliest maps of Cheshire that feature major highways. It is, for example, clearly shown on Moll's map of 17241, curving north at Acton, just as it does today. The remainder of the existing road system was in place by at least c.1840, when the 1 inch Ordnance Survey map of the area first appeared. In the late 18th century the Shropshire Union Canal was built through the middle of the battlefield area causing a major change to the landscape pattern. In the same period a lesser impact was caused by the creation of new parkland around Dorfold Hall which extended into the southern part of the battlefield area. Map evidence suggests that the landscape became more enclosed in the 18th and 19th centuries building on the earlier hedgerow and enclosure pattern. In recent years a number of these hedgerows have been removed. Nantwich has, over the years, continued to grow on the west bank of the Weaver (as it has in other directions), but almost all the development has occurred to the south of the Welsh Row (the road to Chester), so the battlefield remains largely unaffected. In Acton, the most significant expansion has taken place to the east of the Chester Road, opposite the church. The housing on Wilbraham Road is all relatively recent and since the Ordnance Survey map was last updated (in 1986) more houses have been added to the estate. The Sources There are some useful sources for the Battle of Nantwich. Amongst them are reports written by the opposing commanders, Fairfax and Byron. Sir Thomas Fairfax in fact wrote two accounts of the battle, the first in a despatch to the Earl of Essex, dated 29 January 16442, and the second in his A Short Memorial of Northern Actions, written some years after3. His report to Essex mentions the skirmish at Barbridge, which lasted half an hour. Then: Having advanced two miles further, we found a good body of them [the enemy] planted about Acton Church, a mile from Nantwich: we drew up within cannon shot, which sometimes played upon us, but without hurt, God be thanked. We then understood, that the Lord Byron, who © English Heritage 1995 2 English Heritage Battlefield Report: Nantwich 1644 had besieged the town on both sides of the river, was prevented, by overflowing of the water, from joining with that part at Acton Church; but heard he was taking a compass to get over the river, to join with it. We resolved to fall upon that party at the church, before he should get up to it; but staying to bring up our rear and carriages, we gave him time to obtain that he fought for. Then we resolved to make way with pioneers through the hedges, and so to march to the town, to relieve it; and by it to add some more force to ourselves, to enable us better to fight with them: but being a little advanced in our march, they told me the enemy was close upon the rear. So having about two regiments, being Colonel Holland's and Colonel Booth's, I marched not far before we came to be engaged with the greatest part of their army. The other part presently after assaulted our front: there Sir William Brereton and Colonel Ashton did very good service; and so did Colonel Lambert and Major Copley, with the Horse. They were once in great danger, but that they being next to the town, were assisted by forces which came to their succour in due time. We in the other wing were in as great distress, but that the Horse commanded by Sir William Fairfax did expose themselves to great danger, to encourage the Foot, though capable of little service in those narrow lanes: yet it pleased God, after two hours of hot fighting, they were forced by both wings to retreat to the church; where they were caught, as in a trap. According to this account the Parliamentarian commanders, understanding that Byron's army was divided, intended attacking the Royalists at Acton Church. The delays attendant on waiting for the rear of their army to come up, however, meant that the opportunity was lost: Byron's forces were able to unite ('we gave him time to obtain that he fought for').