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HER Number	MWB16595
Record Type	Monument
Name	Site of Parliamentarian night camp, 26th October 1644 - approximate location

Grid Reference	SU 456 743
Map Sheet	SU47SE
Parish	Chieveley, West Berkshire
	Winterbourne, West Berkshire
Map:	Show location on Streetmap

Summary

Documentary reference to Parliamentary forces halting during a flanking march prior to the Second Battle of Newbury, probably at North Heath

Monument Type(s):

MILITARY CAMP (17th century - 1644 AD to 1644 AD)

Full Description

Prior to the Second Battle of Newbury, Parliamentary troops were initially positioned to the east of Shaw House and Donnington. A strategic decision was taken to attack the enemy simultaneously from the front and rear by dividing the Parliamentary army, with one wing marching north and west of Newbury to come at Speen from the west. Sir William Waller therefore led some 12,000 men on an anticlockwise circular route likely to have been from Clay Hill through Hermitage, Chieveley, North Heath, Winterbourne, Boxford, Wickham Heath and round to Speen Hill <1b><2><3><4>. The length of this journey was about 13 miles, and the troops stopped for the night in open fields near Chieveley, most likely on the large expanse of North Heath.

The location for this camp is unknown, but might have been on the flat hill top of North Heath, centred on SU457744.

Sources and further reading

<01a>	Money, W. 1881. The First and Second Battles of Newbury (1st ed). [Monograph / SWB11644] https://archive.org/details/firstsecondbattl00monerich (Accessed on 02/08/2022)
<01b>	Money, W. 1884. The First and Second Battles of Newbury (2nd ed). p162-4, Plan. [Monograph / SWB12745] http://openlibrary.org/books/OL14008014M/The_first_and_second_battles_of_Newbury_and_the_siege_of_Donnington_Castle_during_the_Civil_War_1643 (Accessed 23/09/2013)
<02>	Money, W. 1905 & 1972. A Popular History of Newbury (also Walter Money's History of Newbury). p56-60 The famous Flank March. [Monograph / SWB11278]
<03>	Burne, Lt Col A H and Young, Lt Col P. 1959. The Great Civil War - A Military History of the First Civil War 1642-1646. p184-5. [Monograph / SWB146726]
<04>	Rogers, Col H C B. 1968. Battles and Generals of the Civil Wars 1642-1651. p169-172. [Monograph / SWB146743]
<05>	Ash, S. 1644. A True Relation of the most chiefe Occurrences at, and since the late Battell at Newbery.... [Unpublished document / SWB146746]
<06>	Scott, C L. 2008. The Battles of Newbury - Crossroads of the English Civil War. p83-5. [Monograph / SWB147462]

Related Monuments

MWB12065	NORTH HEATH FARM (Find Spot)
MWB15775	Newbury II Battlefield, 1644 (Landscape)
MWB19427	Plum Tree Cottage, North Heath (Building)
MWB18806	The Crab and Boar (formerly The Blue Boar Inn), North Heath (Building)

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

None recorded

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