Battle of Aylesbury

Battle of Aylesbury
Part of the First English Civil War

Plaque commemorating the battle
Date1 November 1642
LocationHolman's Bridge near Aylesbury
Result Decisive Parliamentarian victory
Belligerents
Royalists Kingdom of EnglandParliamentarians
Commanders and leaders
Prince Rupert of the Rhine Kingdom of EnglandSir William Balfour
Strength
2,000[1] 1,500[1]
Casualties and losses
500 dead[1] 90 dead[1]

The Battle of Aylesbury was an engagement which took place on 1 November 1642 when Royalist forces, under the command of Prince Rupert, fought Aylesbury's Parliamentarian garrison at Holman's Bridge a few miles to the north of Aylesbury town. The Parliamentarian forces were victorious, despite being heavily outnumbered.

Background

Prince Rupert took possession of Aylesbury with a force of several thousand infantry and cavalry but subsequently received intelligence of the impending arrival of a brigade of Parliament's troops from Stony Stratford.[2]

The battle

Prince Rupert marched out with most of his force to confront the enemy at a site a few miles north of the town. He arrived at a ford and encountered a unit of 1,500 Parliamentarian troops under Sir William Balfour on the opposite bank.[1] Prince Rupert, supported by Sir Lewis Dyve in reserve, charged across the ford and engaged the enemy.[2] However Prince Rupert was driven back across the stream and was forced to retreat towards Thame.[2] Some 500 of Prince Rupert's men fell and over 90 of the Parliamentarian forces died.[1]

Legacy

In 1818 remains were discovered near to Holman's Bridge, outside Aylesbury, which were believed to belong to the fatalities from the battle. They were buried in a common grave in St Mary's churchyard in Hardwick. [3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hammond, John. "Was Cromwell present at the Battle of Aylesbury?" (PDF). Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 Quick, Kevin (2000-11-08). "Account of the Battle of Aylesbury by Lord Nugent". GENUKI. Archived from the original on 20 December 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-20.
  3. ↑ Quick, Kevin (2000-11-08). "The Battle of Aylesbury, 1642". Genuki. Archived from the original on 4 August 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-11.

Coordinates: 51°51′49″N 0°49′50″W / 51.863587°N 0.830623°W / 51.863587; -0.830623

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/27/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.