CIVIL WAR IN CHESHIRE. I
THE BATTLES OF MIDDLEWICH AND NANTWICH
Charles proclaimed war on Parliament in the year 1642, and both sides
prepared at once for the struggle. Roughly speaking, London and the
south-eastern counties were on the side of Parliament, for they were the
chief centres of trade in the seventeenth century, and felt most keenly
the evils of bad government. The great modern industrial towns of the
northern counties of England were in most cases as yet mere villages.
[Illustration: THE CIVIL WAR IN CHESHIRE]
The king's supporters were drawn chiefly from the north and west. They
were called Royalists or Cavaliers, while the Parliamentarians were
nicknamed Roundheads because they wore their hair cut short, after the
manner of the Puritans, and disdained the flowing curls which were
fashionable at the time. But although the country was thus roughly
divided into two opposing factions, supporters both of king and of
parliament were to be found in nearly every town and village. Indeed it
sometimes happened that members of a single family found themselves on
different sides in the war. The Breretons of Brereton Hall were stout
royalists, but their cousins of Handforth were, as you will see, the
most determined opponents of the king.
The towns of Cheshire, with the exception of Chester, were largely on
the side of Parliament, while most, but not all, of the great landowners
and their numerous retainers fought for the king. The county was
represented in the Long Parliament by Sir William Brereton, the son of
William Brereton of Handforth Hall.
Brereton was an ardent Puritan, and at the first signs of approaching
war he put himself at the head of the Parliamentary party in Cheshire,
calling upon all able-bodied men between the ages of sixteen and sixty
to join him at Tarporley, and soon after was appointed by Parliament
itself as commander of the Cheshire forces. His career was very nearly
cut short at the very beginning of the struggle, for he brought about a
riot in Chester by causing the drum to be beaten publicly in the streets
for Parliament. He was brought to the Pentice but released, and with
difficulty saved from the fury of the citizens, who in later days
complained bitterly that the mayor had preserved the life of one who was
to be the author of so much disaster to themselves.
In Tarporley Church you may see a helmet and breastplate that were dug
up in the neighbourhood. They were probably worn by some soldier who
fought in one of the earliest battles of the civil war in Cheshire. The
first fighting took place in the southern parts of the county. In
February, 1642, Brereton was attacked at Tarporley by the king's troops
who had marched out from Chester. Entrenchments were thrown up near the
church, but the severest fighting was at the neighbouring hamlet of
Tiverton, where both sides lost heavily. The Royalist troops retired to
Chester and the Parliamentarians to Nantwich, which Brereton made his
head-quarters. From these two places the two parties 'contended which
should most prevail upon the affections of the county to declare for
them and join them'.
Brereton's task was the capture of the important city of Chester, in
order to prevent assistance reaching the king from Ireland. To this end
he placed troops on the principal roads leading to the city. The roads
from the south were watched by the Nantwich forces, who captured and
occupied Beeston Castle. On the north Warrington Bridge was seized to
prevent help coming from Lancashire or from Scotland, which remained
loyal to Charles. Norton Priory and the Norman castle of Halton, already
in ruins, were fortified and held by the Roundheads. A strong force was
posted at Northwich which commanded the main road through the forest of
Delamere, thus completing a chain of garrisons along the valley of the
Weaver from Nantwich to the Mersey. On the Welsh side the border castles
of Holt on the Dee and Hawarden in the county of Flint were attacked and
occupied by the Parliamentarians, who thus prevented the arrival of
reinforcements from the west.
In 1643 Brereton won his first great victory by defeating Sir Thomas
Aston, the Royalist leader, at Middlewich, capturing two cannon, four
barrels of powder, four hundred soldiers, and arms for five hundred men.
Sir Thomas Aston marched out from Chester with a strong force of
Royalists one Sunday morning in March. Brereton was at Northwich at the
time, and word was sent to him that the king's forces were at Middlewich
and taking up a strong position there. The Roundheads hurried
southwards, but had not sufficient ammunition to take the town. A fresh
supply was sent for, and on Monday afternoon Sir Thomas Aston found
himself between two fires, for troops from Nantwich also arrived on the
scene.
The Royalists were driven into the narrow streets of the town, where the
cavalry were penned like sheep and quite useless. The foot-soldiers fled
into the church, where they laid down their arms or were slain. The
church steeples, like the keeps of the Norman castles, were usually the
last places of refuge for the defenders of a town, and many of them
suffered great damage in consequence during the war. Aston escaped with
a remnant of his cavalry, leaving the infantry to their fate. He laid
the blame for his defeat upon his Welsh allies, who were sent to line
the hedges of the roads by which the Roundheads advanced, but who threw
away their arms and fled at the first approach of the enemy.
Brereton's victory at Middlewich was complete, but some months
afterwards Sir Thomas Aston had his revenge and turned the tables on his
enemy. He was reinforced by troops from Ireland, by whose aid he was
able to drive the Parliamentarian general out of Middlewich.
The Royalists now appeared to be getting the upper hand, and they
actually laid siege to Nantwich, which was defended by Sir George Booth
during the temporary absence of Brereton. The besiegers were commanded
by Sir Nicholas Byron, the governor of Chester, and an ancestor of the
poet Byron. Brereton returned with Sir Thomas Fairfax, one of the
greatest of Cromwell's lieutenants, and compelled the Royalists to raise
the siege. Thus the fortunes of war inclined now to one side, now to the
other, and the towns continually changed hands. The strong Parliamentary
garrison at Northwich was attacked by Aston, at first without success,
but later in the year Brereton was badly defeated here by his determined
enemy, and the town held by the Royalist troops.
The event which had most effect on the war in Cheshire was Brereton's
victory in August, 1644, at Tarvin on the road from Chester to
Northwich. Prince Rupert and Prince Maurice, nephews of the king, were
attempting to reach Chester with a relieving column. Brereton attacked
and routed them and posted himself astride the main road. Tarvin Church
still shows traces of the fighting here, for a bullet is buried deep in
a brass plate in the chancel. After this success Brereton advanced his
head-quarters to Christleton, only two miles from the gates of Chester.