Battle of Cropredy Bridge

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The Battle of Cropredy Bridge was the last battle won on English soil under the command of an English King. It was a battle of the English Civil Wars fought on 29 June 1644 by a detachment of the Parliamentarian army under Sir William Waller and the Royalist army of King Charles.

First English Civil War
Powick Bridge - Edgehill - Aylesbury - Brentford - Hopton Heath - Chalgrove Field - Bradock Down - Boldon Hill - Lansdowne - Roundway Down - Sourton Down - Adwalton Moor - Gainsborough - Hull - Winceby - Reading - Gloucester - 1st Newbury - Alton - Cheriton - Nantwich - Newark - York - Cropredy Bridge - Marston Moor - 1st & 2nd Lostwithiel - 2nd Newbury - Taunton - Naseby - Langport - Rowton Heath

1 Background
2 Battle
3 Aftermath
4 Further reading
5 Music

[edit] Background

At this stage in the long conflict it seemed as though a decisive Parliamentary victory was near at hand. The combined Parliamentarian armies of Waller and the Earl of Essex had forced the King to abandon Oxford, his wartime capital, and march westward in search of safety. Then on June 7, Essex and Waller conferred, and agreed that Essex would march westward to relieve the siege of Lyme Regis, while Waller shadowed the King.

This allowed the King to return to Oxford and collect reinforcements. Waller, having failed to intercept the King, went to Gloucester for provisions. On June 24 he marched from Gloucester to Stow on the Wold where he received intelligence that the King was marching eastward and soon received orders to pursue him. By June 27 Waller had reached Hanwell Castle on high ground to the west of the River Cherwell, the King being just five miles away in Edgecote. It was nightfall by the time the King had resolved to offer battle, giving orders to march in Waller's direction.

[edit] Battle

It was on a Saturday, June 29, and Waller's forces proceeded to shadow the king's movements on the other side of the river Cherwell, the two armies facing one other across the river, neither committing to cross under the fire of enemy guns. They marched on, little more than a mile apart.

The king received a warning that 300 additional horsemen were approaching from the north to join Waller's army, so Charles ordered a small detachment of dragoons, under Lord Brentford, the Royalist Commander in Chief, forward to hold the bridge at Cropredy against Waller's reinforcements. This movement caused a clear gap in the column to develop ahead of the King's straggling rearguard.

About a mile to the South lay the river crossing of Slat Mill Ford. Waller, seeing his opportunity, sent Lieutenant General John Middleton to cross the bridge with two regiments of horse and nine companies of foot. Waller himself commanded 1000 men and crossed the ford intending to catch the Royalist rear in a pincer movement.

Cropredy Bridge was held by the king's dragoons, but these were soon overpowered by Middleton's dragoons who collided with the main body of the Royalist force, during which time the King became alerted to the fact that he had left his rearguard exposed.

Waller's initiative met with some success until the young Earl of Northampton forced the Parliamentary troops back across the ford, but the dragoons guarding the bridge had to concede control of the bridge to the Roundheads.

Charles was most fortunate in having two highly capable commanders at the rear of his army. At Slat Mill, the young Earl of Northampton, not twenty years of age, reacted with a swift charge, driving Waller's force back across the river Cherwell.

Col. Ralph Weldon's Kentish Regiment of foot and Tower Hamlets regiments managed to secure the bridge, keeping the Royalist army clear of it for the rest of the day.

Waller's artillery continued to fire from their vantage point on Bourton hill, forcing the Cavaliers to retreat further away from the river.

Nevertheless, the King's hundred loyal Lifeguards, under Lord Bernard, drove the Parliamentary forces back a second time and proceeded to clear the Roundheads back over Cropredy Bridge, and in so doing were able to capture Waller's entire battery of eleven guns. Waller retreated in the face of this misfortune.

[edit] Aftermath

By the following evening, the two armies still faced each other across the River Cherwell. Charles took opportunity in the lull to dispatch his Secretary of War, being Sir Edward Walker, to parley with Waller, sending a message of grace and pardon, but the Parliamentarian replied that he had no power to treaty.

At length, after receiving further intelligence of additional Parliamentarians nearby, and as the king's train was low in food and supplies the Royalists slipped away under the cover of night, taking Waller's guns with them. While the Royalists had suffered casualties, Waller had lost 700 men, many having deserted after the battle.

Although Sir William Waller had lost the initiative, the King was unwilling to risk forcing a passage across the river and the affray ended in a something of a stalemate.