CIVIL WAR IN CHESHIRE. III
THE PROTECTORATE AND THE RESTORATION
The story is told that a schoolboy, wandering among the tombstones in
the churchyard of Macclesfield, scratched these strange lines on one of
the grave-slabs:
My brother Harry must heir the land;
My brother Frank must be at his command;
While I, poor Jack, shall do that
Which all the world will wonder at.
'Poor Jack' was John Bradshaw, whose name is the first on the list of
those who signed the warrant for the execution of the king. On January
1, 1649, Parliament decided that Charles should be tried before a High
Court of Justice, and on the twenty-seventh of the same month, Bradshaw,
the president of the Court, pronounced the death sentence in Westminster
Hall.
John Bradshaw, the 'regicide', was born at Wibbersley Hall, near Disley.
In the register of the Parish Church of Stockport is the record of his
baptism: 'December, 1602, John, the son of Henry Bradshaw, of Marple,
baptised the tenth. Traitor.' The word 'Traitor' has been added by
another hand, no doubt that of some ardent Royalist.
He was educated at Bunbury School by Edward Burghall, a notable
Cheshire Puritan, who was afterwards made vicar of Acton, and wrote a
Diary (or copied someone else's Diary) of the Civil War in Cheshire.
Bradshaw also probably spent a short time at the Grammar School at
Macclesfield. He became Mayor of Congleton and Chief Justice of
Cheshire.
The name of Major-General Thomas Harrison, a native of Nantwich, also
appears on the list of those who signed the death-warrant of the king.
Memorials of the ill-fated monarch were eagerly sought for by the most
devoted of his followers. In the Stag Parlour at Lyme Hall are some
chairs, said to be covered with portions of the cloak that Charles wore
at the time of his death. Here also are a pair of embroidered gloves
that belonged to the king, and a dagger with his name 'Carolus' engraved
upon it.
The war was continued by his son, Charles the Second. James Stanley,
Earl of Derby, was made commander of the Royalist forces in Cheshire. In
the year 1651 Knutsford Heath was a scene of bustling activity. Here
were encamped the forces of General Lambert, one of Cromwell's most
trusted lieutenants, consisting of 9,000 horse and 4,000 foot. He was
waiting for the Royalist army, which was marching southwards from
Scotland under the command of Charles himself and General Leslie.
Lambert was ordered to cut down the bridge at Warrington to prevent the
passage of the king's army, but arrived too late. Skirmishes took place
at Budworth and High Legh, and Lambert was compelled to retreat to
Knutsford, while the Royalist army passed on its way to the fatal field
of Worcester.
A few days later, the people of Sandbach were setting up the stalls and
spreading their wares in the market-place for the September Fair. A cry
was suddenly raised that soldiers were entering the town. They were all
that was left of Leslie's Scottish Cavaliers. Weary of war, their horses
jaded and lame, they were anxious only to be allowed to reach their
homes again in safety. But the townspeople, remembering perhaps the
massacre of Barthomley, were not minded to let them off easily. The
foremost troopers, who alone were armed, were allowed to pass through
the town. Then with sticks and staves they fell upon the rearguard and
cudgelled them. Many were wounded and captured, and placed in the town
prison, where perhaps they were not sorry to rest. Others escaped into
the open fields. 'Scotch Commons', as the scene of the encounter is
still called, reminds us of this last event of the Civil War in
Cheshire. The struggle was ended. Charles was an exile, and Cromwell
ruled over the land.
One of Cromwell's Acts decreed that all who had any communication with
Charles the Second should be held guilty of conspiracy against the
State. The Earl of Derby, who escaped from the rout at Worcester, but
was captured at Nantwich, was tried under this Act and condemned to
death. He escaped from his prison in the castle at Chester, and lay
concealed for a time, it is said, in a secret chamber in the Stanley
Palace near the Water Gate. The 'Martyr Earl' was, however, recaptured
on the banks of the Dee, and beheaded at Bolton.
Brereton was rewarded for his devotion to the Parliamentary cause with
the chief forestership of Macclesfield forest. Soon afterwards, however,
he left the county of his birth and lived in London until his death in
1661. His body was brought to Cheadle for burial in the Handforth
Chapel. There is, however, no note of his burial in the parish
registers, and tradition says that during the journey the coffin in
which his body was placed was swept away by the swollen waters of a
river over which it was being carried.
The Puritans determined to put an end to the government of the Church by
bishops, and abolished the Book of Common Prayer from the Church
services, putting in its place a new form of public worship. About
thirty of the clergy in Cheshire who refused to perform the new services
of the Church were turned out of their livings. Children were no longer
to be baptized in fonts but from a basin. Hour-glasses were set up in
the pulpits, from which long political sermons were preached to the
people.
The Puritan mayor of Chester would not permit Christmas and other
time-honoured festivals of the Church to be kept, and music, dancing,
and games were rigidly put down.
In 1659 an attempt was made by a number of Cheshire gentry to restore
Charles to the throne. Oliver Cromwell was now dead, and had been
succeeded by his son Richard. But the real power was in the hands of the
soldiers, and many people soon became disgusted with military rule. The
leader of the revolt in Cheshire was Sir George Booth, of Dunham Massey.
He had fought on the side of Parliament in the early years of the war,
and was one of the Presbyterian members of Parliament who were turned
out of the House by 'Pride's Purge,' just before the execution of the
king.
Sir George Booth collected a Royalist force on Rowton Moor, and prepared
to attack Chester. He captured the city and the walls, but failed to
take the castle, whose governor was Colonel Croxton, of Ravenscroft Hall
near Middlewich. Colonel Lambert, however, was summoned with two
regiments from Ireland, and he compelled Booth to retire towards
Northwich. The Royalist force was overtaken at Hartford, and in the
battle which took place near Winnington Bridge on the river Weaver, was
completely routed.
But the return of the exiled king was not long delayed. Among the
Royalists captured at Nantwich in 1644 was George Monk. After his
release he entered the service of Parliament, and won the esteem of
Cromwell. General Monk now succeeded in persuading Parliament to recall
Charles. Nowhere was the event welcomed more gladly than in Cheshire.
Church bells rang merrily, maypoles were set up again upon the village
greens, and bonfires lighted on the hill-tops. The long quarrel that had
separated father from son and brother from brother was at an end, and
many a Cheshire home was gladdened by the return of wearied soldiers.
The king had come into his own again.