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Summary

Documented attack by the Royalists on departing Parliamentarians on 21st September 1643, but exact place disputed

Monument Type(s):

• BATTLEFIELD (17th century - 1643 AD to 1643 AD)

Full Description

Following the stalemate of the First Battle of Newbury on the 20th September 1643, Essex and his troops marched towards London, probably via Greenham Common, Brimpton and Aldermaston. The rearguard of the Parliamentary troops was attacked by Royalist troops under Prince Rupert, and there were losses on both sides. Again, there was no clear victor, and the Parliamentarians continued on to Theale.

Money <1><2><3> located this skirmish on a deep lane between Aldermaston and Padworth, based largely on a detailed report published in the contemporary newsheet Mercurius Britanicus <4> which said that the lane was near Sir Humphrey Forster's house. Forster lived in Aldermaston Park; however, Day <5> has reexamined the evidence and considered it more likely that the attack occcurred near the eastern end of Crookham Common, in Brimpton. Most descriptions of the event agree that the Royalists attacked at the end of a heath or common, and Greenham and Crookham Commons were the most significant areas of unenclosed land to the east of Newbury at the end of the 17th century.

A suggested location for this attack could therefore be between Crookham at SU 5464 and Shalford (where a bridge crosses the Enborne) at SU 5765. However, no GIS point has been entered due to a lack of definitive evidence.

Some 'indiscriminately mixed' human bones found very near the surface in Padworth churchyard in the late 19th century were suggested to be the remains of the soldiers 'killed in a skirmish in the lane hard by' <7>. They were re-buried beneath the church porch and a memorial to them was put up in 1894.

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

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