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Civil War - Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell - by Samuel Cooper
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Civil War - Thomas Fairfax
General Thomas Fairfax - by Robert Walker
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Civil War - Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell - by Samuel Cooper
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Civil War - map
English civil war map 1642 to 1645
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Civil War - King Charles I
King Charles I - by Antoon van Dyck
Dartmouth won the Civil War
Dartmouth was at the centre of the titanic struggle for the South West during the Civil War – and the town, its topography and the weather combined to significantly change the direction of this War.
In late 1642 King Charles I had burnt all his bridges and almost single-handedly brought the country to the edge of conflict.
He had dismissed Parliament a number of times because it failed to support his belief that he had a God given right to take money for whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. For eleven years he had refused to call a Parliament under a tyranny known as the ‘Personal Rule’.
In 1640, however, Charles needed cash to subdue the Scots, and called a Parliament to ask for money for a campaign. They had no interest in wars with the Scots and berated the king for his rule.
Angered by their nerve, Charles dissolved Parliament and attempted to beat the Scots without the extra funds he really needed.
It was a bit of a disaster.
After two attempts to beat them Charles found that the Scots were occupying most of Northern England and Parliament was recalled. He had his commander from the Scotland campaign arrested and executed in 1641.
At this point the Irish Catholics revolted and the country seemed on the verge of chaos. Charles panicked and took a subtle group of 400 soldiers to Parliament to arrest the men he thought were to blame for all his problems. The men had been forewarned and had slipped away. The Speaker of the House informed Charles, in chilly terms, that he served Parliament, not the King. The Country was poised for War.
Charles moved his court to Nottingham and raised his standard above its Castle, and started to raise an army – the Battle of Edgehill in October 1642 marked the start of a war everyone knew was coming.
Now all there was to do was choose sides.
Dartmouth was definitely on the side of Parliament - it had two members who attended the last Parliament before the war and many of the town’s rich men raised cash, men and arms to fight the Royalists.
But in the early days the Royalists seemed to be doing well – and especially in the West Country. The Cornish strongly supported the King and helped the Royalists take town after town.
A large group of men, some led by Nicholas Roope, marched away to fight for Parliament and were involved in skirmishes and full-on battles before falling back to help defend Plymouth.
In July 1643 Exeter fell. The Royalist commander in the South West, Charles’ nephew Maurice, turned his attention south.
The people of the town heard he had decided to take Dartmouth to secure the harbour as a base for operations.
Totnes fell not soon after.
It was clear he meant to ‘take’ Dartmouth and then move swiftly on to Plymouth.
It is difficult to imagine how it must have felt to have a Royalist army marching towards your little town. Although there was obviously fighting within some families, the majority supported Parliament and a course of action was soon decided upon.
The town was fortified - at the time there were few ways in to the town, only tracks and narrow lanes, which were quickly blockaded.
Guns were placed in every available high place, including both St Clements and St Saviours bell towers and Mount Boone was heavily fortified as the northernmost entry into the town at the time. Crowthers Hill was also barred and armed with large guns, as was the northern end of the Foss - now at the junction of Foss Street and Broadstone. The old chain across the river mouth was even repaired in case of a sea attack, the last record of it ever being used.
Meanwhile Thomas Newcomen, grandfather of the famous steam engineer, went to London to plead for funds to support the defence effort, to no avail.
After all had been done to make the town safe, the defenders settled down to wait.
In late August Maurice and his troops arrived. Maurice offered generous terms if the town were to surrender, but they stoutly refused.
Then the rain began.
Maurice, in a delay which was to prove crucial, camped for a month before attempting a serious assault.
The Royalists attacked on October 4 1643 from the Warfleet valley. They quickly took Paradise Fort giving them the ability to fire artillery at the town and the Castle.
Dartmouth quickly surrendered rather than be bombarded and decimated. The defence and short sharp battle had cost the lives of 17 Dartmouth men.
An occupation began which was to last three years.
Prince Maurice, after a month of virtual inaction, tried to quickly move on to Plymouth to consolidate Charles’ grip on the South West. But a month camping in miserable wet conditions, added to the fact the winter was now drawing in, hurt his campaign badly. Nicholas Roope along with all the other defenders at Plymouth had made good use of the delay and were ready for them. The town was never taken, despite the Royalists trying to do so for three long years.
Dartmouth’s brave but brief resistance was certainly not in vain – in fact the continued defence of Plymouth was one of the major factors in Charles’ eventual defeat.
The plan had been to take Dartmouth then Plymouth and use their two harbours to secure a safe supply route from Charles’ supporters in France. Without Plymouth, holding Dartmouth was next to useless because it was incredibly dangerous for ships to cross the channel, and Dartmouth was virtually cut off.
The three years of occupation were hard on Dartmouth and its parliamentary supporters, many of whom were left almost bankrupt by the Royalists.
Dartmouth was recaptured by Sir Thomas Fairfax in early 1646 after a decisive assault. They quickly took all the enemy positions including the decisive Paradise Fort. The Royalists retreated to Gallants Bower and Kingswear Fort too. But the fight was lost, and they soon fled or surrendered.
Dartmouth’s resistance played a huge part in the war – ironically if Maurice had marched straight from Exeter to Plymouth he almost certainly would have captured it, and then could have subdued the rest of the county at his leisure, having secured a line of supply from the continent.
First published March/April 2012 By the Dart