Page 4 - TIMES AND PLACES IN CONTEMPORARY PAPERS

Who misplaced Chalgrove’s Battle?

Past biographers have dismissed The Battle of Chalgrove as a minor unimportant skirmish. Lord Nugent, a great admirer of
John Hampden, wrote ‘Some Memorials of John Hampden…’ in 1832. Nugent’s research concerning Hampden’s exploits at
Chalgrove is a complete work of fiction. The writer has meticulously examined Nugent’s every reference concerning Hampden
and the Battle of Chalgrove and in every case Nugent has extracted facts that have little or no relation to the event in question!
Under is a classic example.
Nugent, having wrongly placed Hampden in Watlington writes, He instantly mounted, with a troop of Captain Sheffield’s
horse, who volunteered to follow him and being joined by some of Gunter’s dragoons…’. Gunter and Sheffield are at Aston
Rowant at the time Nugent has Hampden mounting his horse to ride off alone leaving his Regiment & Officers in their beds!?
By magic and clairvoyance and in an instant Hampden finds Sheffield 4 miles away at Aston Rowant. Our research shows that
Hampden was riding out from Thame probably to Watlington at this time. Contemporary documents state that Hampden put
himself in Captain Crosse’s troop at Chalgrove.
‘Some Memorials…’ is riddled with this nonsense, yet BT’s Resource Centre relies heavily on the facts (sic) it contains. OS
places the Battle site at OS SU644973 close to where Nugent had John Hampden’s Monument erected, as does BT.
Warpsgrove House, a feature of the landscape upon which the Battle pivots is not depicted on the Resource Centre’s map!! The
House’s location was a mystery to Nugent as the last vestiges of the building had disappeared beneath the earth. Later
historians have wrongly placed Warpsgrove House and in using this incorrect information the Resource Centre’s map has both
armies approaching their battlefield site through a bog, across a marsh.
William Webb’s map dated 1612 is drawn to precise scale in colour and shows Warpsgrove House at OS SU652982. It also
clearly depicts features that are mentioned in the ‘Late Beating Up’ that can be seen today. These features that place both
armies in a precise place and time are studiously ignored by the Resource Centre!!

The day after the Battle the Earl of Essex wrote to Parliament to explain the circumstances of such a disastrous loss. The Letter
was pure propaganda. It fooled Parliament and it has bemused historians to the present day. These brief extracts highlight
Essex’s manipulation of the truth. Quote, ‘And we having not above 300 Horse our men charged them very gallantly, and slew
divers of them; So Chalgrove was only a minor skirmish if this is to be believed! There was a skirmish, but at South Weston, a
little village 5 miles from Chalgrove. Essex cleverly interleaves this skirmish with the Battle. Quote, (*) ‘overborne with
multitude, they broke and fled, though not very far; For when I heard that our men marched in the Reere of the Enemy, (***) I
sent to Sir Philip Stapleton, who presently Marched toward them with his Regiment; & though he came somewhat short of the
Skirmish, yet seeing our men retreat in that disorder, he stopt them, caused them to draw into a Body with him, where they
stood about an hour:
’
From the (*) to (***) concerns South Weston, after the (***) relates to the rout at the end of the Battle at Chalgrove. Essex
airbrushed the Battle of Chalgrove out of the history books a slight on Chalgrove perpetuated by the Resource Centre. It is time
to let Chalgrove’s Custodians right a wrong.

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