Page 12 - TIMES AND PLACES IN CONTEMPORARY PAPERS

With Col Urry at the Prince’s side reportedly declaring that’s Hampden, that’s Gunter, the royalists took
out their enemy’s chief officers with their pistols and carbines at close range.
Col. Dulbier’s warning was now apparent parliament’s forces were hemmed in with not even the luxury

of being able to rout. With an unbreachable Great Hedge to the north, a bog to west or if it was avoided
into the dragoon’s ambush. The south or east had no clear run, for in either direction there were scabby

hedges and enclosures to frustrate their escape.

The royalists with extra numbers, for their reserves had joined the fray, could retire troops on a rolling

basis to rest and reload their pistols. Suitably refreshed they could return to the mêlée or stop
parliament’s reserve from assisting those who were being beaten. The Mercurius Aulicus reported the
following day, ‘with Prince CHARLES his Regiment and his own charged the Enemy so bravely that he slew above an
hundred dead in the place,’ which in the circumstance may not be an exaggeration. The ‘Parliament Scout’

later the same week reported 13 Captains, 3 by name, and a further 18 men of quality were murdered by

Marshall Smith. The plight of the other 50 prisoners from Chalgrove is not stated.
With his Foot and Dragoons approaching Chiselhampton Bridge and safety, Parliament’s forces broken,
his own men feeling very tired after the night’s exertions and fighting for nearly an hour Rupert decided

to finish the battle. The enemy who were desperate to find a way out were rounded up and chased to their
reserve. The reserve put up a token resistance before they to were routed. As the LBU states, ‘…were

pursued by ours a full mile and quarter (as the neighbours say) from the place of the first encounter. They
all fled back again over Golder hill to Esington:’

Sir Philip Stapleton who left Thame about 9.30am with his regiment arrived at around Clare Crossroads

around 10.00am. He met the fleeing parliamentarians and drew them up into a body. These timings show

that the Battle endured for an hour and that Essex in his Letter to Parliament was being economical with
the facts. It is the contents of Essex’s Letter that has duped historians through the ages and relegated the

Battle of Chalgrove to an insignificant skirmish.

A detailed analysis of the above scenario follows:-

‘His Highness was now making halt in Chalgrove cornfeild:’ 8.45 am. P. 5 (LBU )

‘... we discerned several great Bodyes of Rebells Horse and Dragooners 8.45am. P. 5 - 6 ( LBU )

coming down Golder Hill towards us: from Esington, and Tame: who

(together with those that had before skirmished with our Reere) drew down

to the bottom of a great Close, or Pasture: ordering themselves there among
the trees beyond a great hedge, which parted that Close from our field.’

Rupert’s narrator confirms that they are in the Parish of Chalgrove and at a credible time. He

corroborates the point at the Great Hedge to within a few yards of (OS SU656975) where Rupert turned
to face the enemy with the words, ‘coming down Golder Hill towards us: from Esington, and Tame:’. He
also substantiates that those who had been skirmishing (probably Gunter’s men) had not followed them

into Chalgrove and had returned to join the main army. The scratch force, who had left Clare Crossroads
about 5 minutes before and the timing of Gunter’s men rejoining them as they are coming down Golder
Hill and Round Hill (OS SU658975) limits where Parliament’s cavalry is in the terrain.

Both papers confirm that Parliament ordered their troops in a large pasture. More precisely the LBU
describes Parliament’s position as at the bottom of a Great Close, or pasture and beyond a Great Hedge.

The only pasture or Close that meets these criteria, within the time constraints, is Lewknor Meadow. It

stands at the bottom of Golder Hill adjacent to Easington and its southern boundary is part of a Great

Hedge which separates the two parishes. The other side of this hedge is Solinger Field, one of

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