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Council City Winchester © Winchester Castle ruins Castle Winchester visitwinchester.co.uk or e-mail [email protected] e-mail or contact the tourist information centre on 01962 840 500 500 840 01962 on centre information tourist the contact If you would like this leaflet in a larger format please please format larger a in leaflet this like would you If who shaped our nation. our shaped who www.battlefieldstrust.com the Cheriton Battlefield, tracing the movements of the soldiers soldiers the of movements the tracing Battlefield, Cheriton the www.visitwinchester.co.uk embark on the walk taken by the troops on 29 March 1644 to to 1644 March 29 on troops the by taken walk the on embark onto log information further For made unusable. made sets out from the Parliamentarian camp at Hinton Ampner and and Ampner Hinton at camp Parliamentarian the from out sets 1644. in War Civil English the during on 5 October 1645 and soon after was blown up and and up blown was after soon and 1645 October 5 on that helped shape the future of England. Follow this trail that that trail this Follow England. of future the shape helped that battlefield and of the events that unfolded across Hampshire Hampshire across unfolded that events the of and battlefield Royalist hands. The castle was taken by Oliver Cromwell Cromwell Oliver by taken was castle The hands. Royalist Civil War and resulted in an important Parliamentarian victory victory Parliamentarian important an in resulted and War Civil of a programme of activities explaining the importance of this this of importance the explaining activities of programme a of River Itchen River and sacked the city, although the castle remained in in remained castle the although city, the sacked and The Battle of Cheriton was a major turning point in the English English the in point turning major a was Cheriton of Battle The Originally produced by the Battle of Cheriton Project Ltd as part part as Ltd Project Cheriton of Battle the by produced Originally the Parliamentarians under Waller once again captured captured again once Waller under Parliamentarians the Hampshire County Council Countryside Service. Countryside Council County Hampshire were strengthened. In 1644, after the Battle of Cheriton, Cheriton, of Battle the after 1644, In strengthened. were Cultural Trust, Richard and Anne Mattia at the Hinton Arms and and Arms Hinton the at Mattia Anne and Richard Trust, Cultural Gillian Gray Knight, Richard Pearce and the Sealed Knot, Hampshire Hampshire Knot, Sealed the and Pearce Richard Knight, Gray Gillian were retaken by the Royalists and the defences of both both of defences the and Royalists the by retaken were Acknowledgements Royalists surrendered the castle. In 1643 the city and castle castle and city the 1643 In castle. the surrendered Royalists M275 River Test River 2 A3 A323 and ransacked the city. The next day the ill-prepared ill-prepared the day next The city. the ransacked and A326 always follow the Countryside Code. Countryside the follow always Castle, closely pursued by Parliamentarians who captured captured who Parliamentarians by pursued closely Castle, 12 7 A2 to tarmac road. Remember to wear appropriate footwear and and footwear appropriate wear to Remember road. tarmac to price. In December 1642 the Royalists entered Winchester Winchester entered Royalists the 1642 December In price. M27 11 A3 are some gentle inclines with surfaces ranging from dirt tracks tracks dirt from ranging surfaces with inclines gentle some are from Portsmouth. As a result, the city was to pay a heavy heavy a pay to was city the result, a As Portsmouth. from 10 9 can create shorter circular routes using the map overleaf. There There overleaf. map the using routes circular shorter create can from Southampton to the north, and the western road road western the and north, the to Southampton from you but hours 3½ – 3 taking long, kms 8¾ is walk full The sat in a major strategic position, controlling the road road the controlling position, strategic major a in sat 2 A3 ) (M A3 A3025 8 A3051 supported parliament and the other the king. The city city The king. the other the and parliament supported Nearest stop New Cheriton Crossroads. Cheriton New stop Nearest A334 A3024 of Winchester were divided. Of the city’s two MPs, one one MPs, two city’s the Of divided. were Winchester of 3 A3 A336 Petersfield. to Winchester 67 service Stagecoach : Buses 7 As in most places in Britain, the loyalties of the people people the of loyalties the Britain, in places most in As 7 A2 M271 5 A3 3 A3 M27 park considerately. park M27 1 Winchester in the Civil War Civil the in Winchester 2 3 please but pub the at car your leave can You A272. the on 5 4 6 A3 4 Winchester of east kms 10 , 2785 5906 SU reference grid A3 14 A3090 Arms, Hinton the of park car the from starts walk The 13 Cromwell’s artillery train approaching Winchester approaching train artillery Cromwell’s A detail of Arnald’s painting, c1810, showing showing c1810, painting, Arnald’s of detail A M3 7 A2 How to get there get to How A3057 11 A272 WALK Cheriton A31 BATTLE FIELD BATTLE Winchester 10 9 Alresford CHERITON M3 A3 0 A3057 A313 The Battle of became close friends and together rescued King Charles I’s Weapons and war sister from the besieged city of Prague. On their return to Cheriton England, Hopton went home to Somerset and Waller moved Civil War foot regiments consisted of pikemen and musketeers to his residence in Winchester Castle. Both became Members formed of companies of 100 to 140 men each. The pikemen, Between 1642 and 1649 of Parliament, but Waller became increasingly unhappy with whose main weapon was a 16 foot ash pike tipped with steel, Britain was divided by bloody Charles I’s unconstitutional rule, while Hopton’s support for stood in blocks eight ranks deep with the pikes of the front civil war. On one side stood the king grew. Although they were to retain good relations, three ranks levelled at the enemy. When two blocks of pike King Charles I, a believer in the subsequent Civil War shattered their friendship. met, the rear ranks pushed those in front forward driving the Divine Right of Kings, and through the opposition. his supporters called Royalists. On the other were those who King Charles I Musketeers could either be used en masse to deliver a supported the rights of the House of devastating volley or, as in Cheriton Wood, tactically in small Commons, called Parliamentarians. The groups. They wore the distinctive bandolier, a leather belt country was divided – son fought father and brother slung across the chest, from which hung containers with a fought brother. On 29 March 1644 the Battle of measured charge of powder. The front-loading matchlock Cheriton was fought, and it proved to be a turning musket was fired by a slow-burning taper setting off the main point in the war. Within five years King Charles I was charge, firing a lead ball the size of a marble with a range of to lose his head and the country entered a period of 100m. It took an experienced musketeer 30–60 seconds to republican rule known as the Commonwealth. reload, but with the gun weighing up to 6kg, it could also be Ralph Hopton Sir William Waller used as a club in hand-to hand combat. The road to Cheriton 1st Baron Hopton of Stratton © National Portrait © National Portrait Gallery, London Gallery, London The campaign season of 1643 started in the south- The basic unit of cavalry was a troop of between west, where Hopton, the commander of the Royalist 25 and 80 men under the command of a captain. forces, drove Waller and his Parliamentarians out of ANDOVER A regiment could consist of three to ten troops. There FARNHAM Somerset, Dorset, and Wiltshire. Hampshire was now BASING HOUSE were two types of cavalry. The cuirassiers were heavily in the front line. armoured and carried pistols, carbine and sword. The ALTON harquebusiers, who formed the bulk of the cavalry at Cheriton, Early March 1644 saw the Royalist and used similar weapons, but were less heavily armoured and Parliamentarian armies marching and therefore more manoeuvrable. countermarching to gain control of the eastern WINCHESTER CHERITON approach roads to Winchester. On 25 March the Artillery consisted of a range of guns of different sizes two armies were within two miles of each other and design. The pieces at Cheriton had a range of and skirmished throughout the next two days. ROMSEY 650m with ball and up to 200m with canister-style shot. The Royalist army gained Alresford and set up camp on the high ground of Tichborne Down. The Parliamentarians camped across the valley on a lower SOUTHAMPTON ridge at Hinton Ampner. The scene was set for an epic showdown, the result of which was to influence the character of the Civil War south of the Thames. PORTSMOUTH The opposing commanders CHRISTCHURCH In the 1620s two young men, William Waller and Ralph Hopton, served together on the continent This map shows the Royalists contolled centres (blue) and those under Two blocks of pikemen engage on the battlefield in a conflict known as The Thirty Years’ War. They the control of Parliamentarians (red) at the time of the battle TICHBORNE DOWN 1 This walk begins in the car park of The 6 After you reach the end of the lane, Hinton Arms public house. The landscape continue on a short distance along the of hedgerows, lanes, and woods has hardly road which will then bear right taking you ROYALISTS changed since the day of the battle.