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Site of Second Battle of Newbury, 1644 - listed in the English Heritage Appendix of Battle Sites, although its extent is difficult to define
The Second Battle of Newbury was fought on October 27th 1644, although preparations had been made the night before by both sides, including a long flanking march to the north and west of Newbury by part of the Parliamentary army. Most of the fighting occurred in an area north of Newbury around and between the Royalist strongholds of Donnington Castle, Shaw House (where King Charles apparently was) and Speen Hill (the latter a temporary position) . The larger Parliamentary forces aimed to combine attacks on the Royalists from both the east on the slopes of Clay Hill (the Earl of Manchester) and the west at Speen (Sir William Waller), but there appears to have been a lack of coordination between the two wings. The Royalist army managed to defend Shaw House and make some gains before fading light brought an end to the fighting , but realising the weakness of their position they slipped away overnight to Oxford.
As with the First Battle of Newbury, there was no clear victor, and the inability of the Parliamentarians to defeat the King was a missed opportunity, the reverse of the situation at the First Battle. One consequence of this failure was a public quarrel between Cromwell and the Earl of Manchester, which acted as a catalyst to the War Party in Parliament to attempt radical change in the way that the war was conducted. This led to the introduction of the Self-Denying Ordinance, a bill that prevented members of the House of Commons or House or Lords from holding military command, and ultimately to the creation of the New Model Army in 1645.
English Heritage's Battlefields Register <1> contains an appendix of 'military actions which were considered to be battles for the purpose of the Register but (in Newbury II's case) the battlefield no longer survives sufficiently to warrant conservation measures, even where potential remains for interpretation and presentation.' The extent of the battlefield landscape site has therefore not been geographically defined, but the Ordnance Survey has marked an area centred at c SU4640 6845 for this battle since the First Edition Ordnance Survey mapping <28>. This is located within the 18th century designed landscape of Donnington Grove, although outside the area designated as a Registered Park. Since the 1990s, Donnington Grove has been used as a golf course.
Little fieldwork has been carried out to determine the archaeological evidence of the conflict, although limited metal detecting work during the construction of the Donnington Golf Course <30> did recover musket shot as well as some 17th century buckles and buttons.
A metal detector survey conducted as part of an archaeological evaluation to the south of Lambourn road in Speen identified four musket balls and a copper alloy buckle. The musket balls showed some evidence of having been fired and were of a size and shape consistent with 17th century musket balls. The buckle was also of a style used broadly at the time of the Civil War <38>.
| <01> | Historic England (previously English Heritage). 1995. Battlefields Register. In Appendix. [Website / SWB12742]
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/what-is-designation/registered-battlefields/ (Since 2014 no separate register, is incorporated into NHLE) |
| <02> | Ash, S. 1644. A True Relation of the most chiefe Occurrences at, and since the late Battell at Newbery.... [Unpublished document / SWB146746] |
| <03> | 1644. A Letter sent to the Honourable William Lenthall, Esquire...wherein is truly related the great Victory... [Unpublished document / SWB146747] |
| <04> | Plan of the Battle of Newbury 1644. Ref Add 16370 f.60. [Map / SWB13536] |
| <05> | Blundell, B. 1859. The Two Battles of Newbury 1643-1644. [Unpublished document / SWB146742] |
| <06> | Lawson, E. 1860-1870. The History of the Two Battles of Newbury and of Donnington Castle. [Monograph / SWB13463] |
| <07> | Money, W. 1881. The First and Second Battles of Newbury (1st ed). [Monograph / SWB11644]
https://archive.org/details/firstsecondbattl00monerich (Accessed on 02/08/2022) |
| <08> | Money, W. 1884. The First and Second Battles of Newbury (2nd ed). [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) |
| <09> | Money, W. 1905 & 1972. A Popular History of Newbury (also Walter Money's History of Newbury). p53-60. [Monograph / SWB11278] |
| <10> | Burne, A H. 1951. The Battlefields of England. P230-38; 306-7. [Monograph / SWB11266] |
| <11> | 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. p180-190, Map p184. [Monograph / SWB146726] |
| <12> | Rogers, Col H C B. 1968. Battles and Generals of the Civil Wars 1642-1651. [Monograph / SWB146743] |
| <13> | Morris, W A D. 1969. A History of the Parish of Shaw-cum-Donnington. [Monograph / SWB12974] |
| <14> | Disbury, D. 1978. Berkshire in the Civil War. p94-7. [Unpublished document / SWB146749] |
| <15> | Smurthwaite, D. 1984. The Ordnance Survey Complete Guide to the Battlefields of Britain. p164-5. [Monograph / SWB13414] |
| <16> | Baker, A. 1986. A Battlefield Atlas of the English Civil War. p72-3. [Monograph / SWB146744] |
| <17> | Bennett, M. 1992. The English Civil War. p116-122. [Monograph / SWB146745] |
| <18> | Grimwood, T D. 1993. The Impact of the Civil War on Newbury and the Surrounding Area. p164-5. [Unpublished document / SWB146740] |
| <19> | Gaunt, P. 2003. The English Civil Wars. p44-45. [Monograph / SWB146739] |
| <20> | Emberton, W. 1997. The English Civil War Day by Day. p128-31. [Monograph / SWB146781] |
| <21> | Porter, S. 1994. Destruction in the English Civil Wars. [Monograph / SWB146782] |
| <22> | Ditchfield, Rev P H (ed). 1896. Bygone Berkshire. p204-210 The Second Battle of Newbury by Edward Lamplough. [Monograph / SWB146915] |
| <23> | Money, W. 1892. The History of Speen. p81-4. [Monograph / SWB11824] |
| <24> | Scott, C L. 2008. The Battles of Newbury - Crossroads of the English Civil War. [Monograph / SWB147462] |
| <25> | Richards, J. 1600s?. Treatise on Artillery in French, in the hand of Jacob Richards (and map of Newbury). [Unpublished document / SWB147732] |
| <26> | de Gomme, Sir Bernard. 1640s?. Plan of Battle of Newbury, Oct 1644 by ?Sir Bernard de Gomme. [Unpublished document / SWB147733] |
| <27> | West Berkshire Museum. 2006. Heritage Guide No 1 - The Civil War in Newbury. [Unpublished document / SWB148018] |
| <28> | Landmark. 1872-85. Digital Ordnance Survey Mapping Epoch 1, 1:2500 (25 inch). Digital. 1:2500. [Map / SWB14341] |
| <29> | Page and Ditchfield (eds). 1924. Victoria County History (VCH) Berks IV 1924. Vol 4. p88. [Monograph / SWB10281]
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/berks/vol4 (Accessed 24/09/2015) |
| <30> | Newbury Antiquaries. 1992. Donnington Grove Golf Course - Newbury Antiquaries Report. 2013 WBC Network. [Unpublished document / SWB147204] |
| <31> | 1640s. Mercurius Aulicus. Week ending 2 November, 1644. [Article in serial / SWB146751] |
| <32> | Young, P and Tucker, N (eds). 1967. The Military Memoirs of Richard Atkins and John Gwyn. [Monograph / SWB147239] |
| <33> | Robertson, A S. 1792. Topographical Survey of the Great West Road from London to Bath Vol I. I p141-145. [Unpublished document / SWB13306]
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=UwkQAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0 (Accessed 25/09/2015) |
| <34> | Barratt, J. 2013. The Second Battle of Newbury. [Monograph / SWB148642] |
| <35> | Wanklyn, M. 2006. Decisive Battles of the English Civil War. p136-158 Chaps 12 and 13 Newbury II. [Monograph / SWB147236] |
| <36> | Firth, C H (ed). 1894. The memoirs of Edmund Ludlow, lieutenant-general of the horse in the army of the commonwealth of England, 1625-1672. Vol I. p102-5. [Monograph / SWB148976]
https://archive.org/details/memoirsofedmundl01ludl (Accessed 29/02/2016) |
| <37> | Vincent, J E. 1906. Highways and Byways in Berkshire. p412-28. [Monograph / SWB146918]
https://archive.org/details/highwaysbywaysin00vinciala (Accessed 07/06/2016 [1919 edition]) |
| <38> | Thames Valley Archaeological Services. 2016. Land at Lambourn Road, Speen, West Berkshire - Archaeological Evaluation Report. 2017 WBC Network. p8-9. [Unpublished document / SWB149301] |
| <39> | Cotswold Archaeology. 2013. Land to the north of Newbury, West Berkshire - Heritage Desk-Based Assessment. CA Report: 13595. 2017 WBC Network. [Unpublished document / SWB148701] |
| <40> | Cotswold Archaeology. 2014. Land to the north of Newbury, West Berkshire - Fieldwalking and Archaeological Evaluation. CA Report: 14092. WBC Network.
https://doi.org/10.5284/1082380. [Unpublished document / SWB148706]
http://reports.cotswoldarchaeology.co.uk/report/land-north-newbury/?report_location=unitary_authority-123&period_type&site_type&artefact_type&report_number&form_submitted=true (Accessed 09/10/2017) |
| <41> | Cotswold Archaeology. 2018. Land to the North of Newbury (Western Site), Newbury, West Berkshire: Archaeological Metal Detector Survey. 18724a. 2019 WBC Network. https://doi.org/10.5284/1088850. [Unpublished document / SWB149736] |
| <42> | Cotswold Archaeology. 2018. Land to the North of Newbury (Western Site), Newbury, West Berkshire: Archaeological Evaluation. 18724b. WBC Network. https://doi.org/10.5284/1088850. [Unpublished document / SWB149738] |
| <43> | The Battlefields Trust. 2022. Newbury Garden Archaeology: Project Closure Report. 2022 WBC Network. [Unpublished document / SWB150368] |
| MWB5013 | 76 Pear Tree Lane, Newbury (Monument) |
| MWB16596 | Bank by Shaw House garden wall (Monument) |
| MWB16597 | Banks of Long Lane, near Shaw - general location (Find Spot) |
| MWB16295 | Battlefield areas around Newbury (temporary record) (Find Spot) |
| MWB16592 | Clay Hill (Monument) |
| MWB1545 | Donnington Castle (Monument) |
| MWB15906 | Ivy Cottage, Donnington (Building) |
| MWB16777 | Lanolee Farmhouse, Curridge (Building) |
| MWB16406 | Near River Lambourn, Shaw (Monument) |
| MWB12065 | NORTH HEATH FARM (Find Spot) |
| MWB9934 | North of 'Dolmans', Shaw (Monument) |
| MWB16297 | Northeast of Shaw House grounds (Monument) |
| MWB6371 | On land at Donnington Grove (Find Spot) |
| MWB19367 | Pens Cottage, Curridge (Building) |
| MWB16056 | Possible Civil War siege trenches, Snelsmore Heath (Monument) |
| MWB16594 | Possible Civil War trench, west of Speen Hill (Monument) |
| MWB5024 | Shaw House - Chalk Terrace (Monument) |
| MWB20016 | Shaw House - possible Civil War ditch, or garden feature (Monument) |
| MWB15683 | Shaw House - site of brick waterhouse (Monument) |
| MWB5023 | Shaw House (Building) |
| MWB5032 | Site of 'entrenched house' in Shaw Park (Monument) |
| MWB16595 | Site of Parliamentarian night camp, 26th October 1644 - approximate location (Monument) |
| MWB14270 | SPEEN - General location (Find Spot) |
| MWB16593 | Speen Hill (Monument) |
| MWB15762 | Newbury I Battlefield, 1643 (Landscape) |
| MWB21237 | Northern boundary wall, Shaw House (Building) |
| MWB19427 | Plum Tree Cottage, North Heath (Building) |
| MWB18806 | The Crab and Boar (formerly The Blue Boar Inn), North Heath (Building) |