The Battle of Winceby, 11 October 1643
A Roundhead Victory over the Royalists in Lincolnshire
Aug 18, 2009
Lincolnshire saw a great deal of action during the English Civil War as both the Roundheads and Cavaliers fought over the region and saw control of it as vital to their cause. At the beginning of the war it was largely sympathetic towards Parliament and formed part of the Eastern Association, a Parliamentary alliance that also included the counties of Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire. However there were Royalist strongholds on the western border of the region at Newark on Trent and Belvoir Castle, while Crowland to the south was also fortified for the King. In the early months of the war Lincolnshire was the scene of raid and counter-raid as both sides strove for dominance, the decisive encounter occurring at Winceby on 11 October 1643.
Capture of Grantham and Rout at Ancaster Heath
Led by the Earl of Newcastle, the Royalists began their advance into Lincolnshire in early 1643, capturing Grantham in March and on 11 April routing a Parliamentary army at Ancaster Heath that had assembled to block their march towards Boston. Alarmed by the Royalist successes Parliament ordered another attack to be made on Newark, but the force dispatched for this purpose was ambushed by the Royalists at Grantham. Only the prompt action of a certain Colonel Oliver Cromwell, fighting in his first independent action, saved Parliament’s army from destruction as he led a charge that put the Royalists to flight. However, the attack on Newark was abandoned.
After another battle and Royalist defeat at Gainsborough on 28 July 1643, in which the Royalist commander Charles Cavendish was killed and Cromwell again distinguished himself, Parliament was forced to abandon Gainsborough and Lincoln and withdraw in the face of the main northern Royalist army led by the Earl of Newcastle. The Royalists advanced and laid siege to Hull, valuable for its magazine and access to the sea. In response Parliament rushed another army into Lincolnshire under the command of the Earl of Manchester, capturing King’s Lynn and laying siege to Bolingbroke Castle. The Royalist governor of Newark, Sir John Henderson, mustered some 1500 men, most of them cavalry, and hastened to relieve Bolingbroke.
Oliver Cromwell and ‘Black Tom’ Fairfax
After some skirmishing Henderson managed to capture Horncastle on 9 October, and Manchester immediately advanced to recapture the place. The Parliament cavalry led by Cromwell and Sir Thomas Fairfax, known as ‘Black Tom’ for his dark looks, raced ahead of the foot and met the Royalist cavalry galloping in the opposite direction at Winceby. The land here was far from ideal for a battle, falling away into sharp gullies on one side, but nevertheless both sides prepared to fight.
The battle that followed was savage and brief, lasting no more than half an hour. It began in desultory fashion with an exchange of fire between Royalist and Roundhead dragoons, and then Cromwell, impulsive as ever, led the two regiments under his command in a full-blooded charge. The Royalists had time to fire off another volley before the Roundheads made contact and Cromwell had his horse shot from under him. The horse fell heavily, rolling on top of its rider as it did so, but Cromwell managed to extricate himself and struggle to his feet.
Flight of the Royalists
Meanwhile his regiments were doing well enough without him, driving into the Royalist cavalry and forcing them back onto their reserves. Sheer weight of numbers meant that the Roundheads could not break their line and a detachment of Royalist cavalry under Sir William Saville counter-attacked, smashing into Cromwell’s right flank and threatening to roll it up. They were rescued by Fairfax, who led his own regiment against the flank of Saville’s cavalry. Saville’s men promptly turned and fled the battle, causing the entire Royalist left and centre to collapse.
This left one wing of Royalist cavalry to fight on alone and for a while they did so, but they were hopelessly outnumbered and quickly surrounded as Cromwell and Fairfax reformed their men and hit the Royalists on both flanks. Under the weight of unbearable pressure the Royalist line disintegrated and they fled in utter confusion back towards Newark.
Raising of the Siege of Hull
The Roundheads continued to hunt down Royalist fugitives throughout the grim October evening, until the pursuit was called off by Manchester. Some 300 Royalists are thought to have died in the battle and its bloody aftermath, and another 2000 were taken prisoner. Parliament lost about 20 men with 60 wounded. At the same time that the Royalist cavalry were being routed at Winceby the main Royalist army besieging Hull was attacked by the garrison, suffering such severe casualties that the siege was raised the following day.
Retaking of Lincoln and Gainsborough
The Earl of Manchester, with a free hand now the Royalists had retired to lick their wounds at Newark, left Bolingbroke Castle under siege and marched to retake Lincoln and Gainsborough. This he successfully accomplished and on 14 November the garrison at Bolingbroke surrendered, meaning that, apart from the isolated Royalist stronghold at Newark, the whole of Lincolnshire was in the hands of Parliament and the Eastern Association. It remained largely under the control of Parliament for the rest of the war.
Sources:
C. Hill, “God's Englishman” (1970) published by Penguin Books Ltd.
John Morill, “Oliver Cromwell and the English Revolution” (1990) published by Longman.
Malcolm Wanklyn, “Decisive Battles of the English Civil War” (2006) published by Pen & Sword Military.
