Cornwall in the English Civil War

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Cornwall played a significant role in the English Civil War, as it was a Royalist enclave in the generally Parliamentarian south-west. The reason for this was that Cornwall's rights and privileges were tied up with the royal Duchy and Stannaries and the Cornish saw the Civil War as a fight between England and Cornwall as much as a conflict between King and Parliament.

Civil War Military actions in Cornwall

The English civil war lasted nearly nine years, having commenced with the battle of Edgehill, in Warwickshire, Sunday, the October 23, 1642, and ended with the battle of Worcester, the September 3, 1651. The principal events in Cornwall happened in the following order.

1642

In 1642 Cornwall and Wales were Royalist strongholds whilst South East England was held by Parliament, and the remainders of the country were in dispute. The Cornish-Royalist Army was formed by Ralph Hopton, 1st Baron Hopton in 1642 and although their first invasion of Devon in November - December 1642 ended in failure the army secured the Cornish side of Plymouth Sound which marked a serious reverse for Parliamentarian forces.

1643

The Battle of Braddock Down

The Battle of Braddock Down near Boconnoc on 19th January 1643 resulted from a parliamentarian counter-invasion of Cornwall. It ended in defeat for Col. Ruthin's Parliamentarian troops by Sir Ralph Hopton. Hopton's victory secured Cornwall for the King and the Royalists resumed the siege of Plymouth with their forces occupying surrounding towns to seal off the city by land.

The Battle of Stratton

The Battle of Stratton occurred on 15th May 1643. The Earl of Stamford's Parliamentarian force was repelled by Hopton's men after day-long fighting, with 300 men killed and 1700 captured, and retreated to Bideford. The victories for Hopton with the Cornish militia provided the impetus for campaigns in Devon and Somerset. Taunton and Bridgwater were taken by the Cornish army, but Sir Bevil Grenville was killed in the moment of victory at the Battle of Lansdown in Somerset and Hopton was seriously wounded. Bristol fell to Hopton's Royalist troops, followed by Exeter.

On December 13th, the Royalists began a heavy bombardment of the northern defences of Plymouth but with little effect. Sir Richard Grenville, 1st Baronet, having previously declared for Parliament, invited his troops to follow him into the King's service and parliament proclaimed him a traitor.

1644

Siege of Plymouth

Sir Richard Grenville arrived in Plymouth in March 1644 to maintain a blockade, but it resulted in a stalemate as the inhabitants obtained enough provisions to survive. Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, arrived in command of the Roundhead army of 8000 men and forced Grenville to retreat to Cornwall across the River Tamar.

The Battle of Lostwithiel

see main article Battle of Lostwithiel

After relieving Plymouth, Essex advanced into Cornwall, reaching Bodmin on 28th July. King Charles meanwhile led the main Royalist army against him, blocking his line of retreat. Caught between Charles and Grenville, Essex took up positions at Lostwithiel and Fowey, hoping for support or evacuation by the Parliamentarian fleet. The Royalists cut off his escape routes by land and on 13th August Charles began his attack. On 21st August, the Royalists took Restormel Castle and Beacon Hill, Lostwithiel. After further sporadic fighting they pushed the Parliamentarians back to Castle Dore above the Fowey river on 31st August. That night the Parliamentarian cavalry broke through the encircling Royalists and escaped to Plymouth. On 1st September the Royalists took Castle Dore and Essex escaped by sea, leaving his 6000 infantry, artillery and baggage train under the command of Sir Philip Skippon, who surrendered the following day. The Royalists confiscated the Parliamentarians' weapons and then allowed them to return to Portsmouth. Afflicted by bad weather, hunger, disease and attacks from local people, 1000 of the disarmed soldiers died along the way. Their time in Lostwithiel saw the vandalism of Lostwithiel Stannary Palace, Jonathan Rashleigh's Menabilly house, the destruction of all the constitutional Charters and Stannary records placed in Luxulyan church for safety. The ensuing debate in London about the unsatisfactory manner of the war led to the passage of the Self-Denying Ordinance. This was the prompt for a professional English army with a unified command, the New Model Army.[1]

1645

In 1645 Sir Thomas Fairfax was appointed the commander of the New Model Army. The Royalist army was also reorganised with Prince Charles becoming the Commander-in-Chief. The Royalists suffered a notable loss at Naseby in Northamptonshire and there were further Parliamentarian gains in the south and west of England. Prince Charles, the war being mainly in the eastern counties, spent a great part of the autumn and winter in Cornwall, principally at Launceston and Truro. Sir Richard Grenville was committed by the Prince to Launceston prison, for refusing to obey Lord Hopton : he had before quarrelled with General George Goring.[2]

1646

In 1646 the Prince gave Lord Hopton command of the Royalist forces, with William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford to command the horse and Grenville the foot. Grenville refused and was imprisoned on St Michael's Mount. Hopton advanced from Stratton towards Exeter, reaching Torrington but was confronted by Fairfax's men, and fell back to Stratton. The Roundheads proceeded into Cornwall reaching Launceston on February 25 1646 and Bodmin on March 2. Hopton's army was in disarray but he refused to surrender. News at Bodmin of an imminent Irish invasion further damaged the Royalist cause locally and Fairfax offered Hopton terms. The surrender took place at Tresillian Bridge, Truro, on March 15 1646.

The siege of Pendennis Castle

Pendennis Castle, site of a 5-month Civil War siege.

The siege of Pendennis Castle began in 1646 and lasted for five months. Parliamentary forces attacked the castle from both land and sea. They cut the castle's lines of communication and supplies with trenches and gun positions. Cromwell's Roundheads set up headquarters in Falmouth at Arwenack House, the burnt out home of the Killigrew family. The Garrison at Pendennis under the command of the 80 year old Sir John Arundel and assisted by Sir Henry Killigrew (MP) was reduced to eating horse and dog meat before their final surrender to the Parliamentarian force. Pendennis had been the antepenultimate stronghold - after Raglan Castle and Harlech Castle - to hold out for the King, after earlier giving sanctuary to Queen Henrietta Maria, and the Prince of Wales (Charles II), before their escape to France.

1648

The Gear Rout

The Gear Rout was a Cornish insurrection of 1648 following the end of the First English Civil War. The killing of 70 Cornish Royalists in Penzance on May 16, 1648 prompted a failed rebellion by some 500 Cornish rebels who fought against the Parliamentarian forces of Sir Hardress Waller at a site near the Helford River.

Military figures

Further reading

  • Cornwall in the Great Civil War and Interregnum 1642 - 1660 Mary Coates
  • Battles Royal - Charles I and the Civil War in Cornwall and the West by H Miles Brown (Libra Books, 1982) ISBN 0950800902
  • The Civil War in the South-West England 1642-1646 by John Barratt ISBN 9781844151462
  • Civil War battles in Cornwall, 1642 to 1646 by Richard Holmes, (Mercia, 1989) ISBN 0948087323
  • Faction and faith: politics and religion of the Cornish gentry before the Civil War by Anne Duffin, (University of Exeter, 1996) ISBN 9780859894357
  • Carew: A Story of Civil War in the West Country by Dennis Russell, (Aidan Ellis Publishing, 2001). ISBN 0856282987
  • The Battle of Braddock Down 1643: by Stuart Peachey (Stuart Press, 1993). ISBN 1858040213
  • The Battles of Launceston and Sourton Down 1643 by Stuart Peachey (Stuart Press, 1993). ISBN 1858040191
  • The Battle of Stratton 1643 by Stuart Peachey (Stuart Press, 1993). ISBN 1858040183

Footnotes

  1. ^ The Lostwithiel Campaign of 1644 The English Civil War Society of America
  2. ^ The Cornwall Register: By John Wallis (1847)
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