TO COMMEMORATE THAT GREAT AND DECISIVE BATTLE FOUGHT IN THIS FIELD .
ON THE DAY OF XIV DAY OF JUNE MDCXLV,
COMMANDED BY HIS MAJESTY
KING CHARLES THE FIRST,
AND THE PARLIAMENT FORCES
HE ADED BY THE GENERALS’ FAIRFAX AND CROMWELL.
WHICH TERMINATED FATALLY
FOR THE ROYAL CAUSE, LED TO THE THR ONE,
THE ALTAR, AND THE CONSTITUTION,
AND FOR YEARS PLUNGED THIS NATION
INTO THE HORRORS OF ANARCHY
AND CIVIL WAR:
LEAVING A USEFUL LESSON TO BRITISH KINGS:
NEVER TO EXCEED THE BOUNDS
OF THEIR JUST PREROGATIVE,
AND TO BRITISH SUBJECTS.
NEVER TO SWERVE FROM THE ALLEGIENCE
DUE TO THEIR LEGITIMATE MONARCH.
THIS PILLAR WAS ERECTED
BY JOHN AND MARY FRANCES FITZGERALD.
LORD AND LADY OF THE MANOR OF NASEBY
AD MDCCCXXIII

The decisive battle of the English Civil War was fought in the fields of Naseby, Sulby, Sibbertoft and Clipstone parishes on Saturday 14 June, 1645. The Parliamentarian New Model Army, under the command of Sir Thomas Fairfax, defeated the Royalist army, commanded by King Charles I and Prince Rupert of the Rhine.

Patrols clashed on the evening of 13 June in Naseby village. Early on Saturday 14 June Fairfax marche the New Model Army north from Guilsborough towards Naseby to meet here, at Naseby windmill. The wheeled transport, the baggage and artillery trains, had to stay on the primitive road to avoid getting stuck in the mud. The foot and horse would have chosen their own routes. The regiments were then organised into ‘battalia’, their fighting formation. No one knew if they were going into battle or if they were to continue their pursuit of the Royalist army through Market Harborough and beyond. Would King Charles stand and fight?

By 8.00am King Charles and Rupert had moved the royal army to a ridge between East Farndon and Little Oxendon. From there this position cannot be seen. Similarly the view north from the windmill is limited by the rising ground, so Fairfax and his commander of horse, Oliver Cromwell, had to ride to the edge of the steep hill overlooking Clipston to look for their enemies. **

Both sides wished to fight and Fairfax ordered his army to a position on the ridge to the south of this place. Rupert saw the movement and brought the Royalist to Dust Hill, across the valley to the north.
This area was mostly open ground, but contained by an ancient boundary hedge around Sulby to the west and a rabbit warren (on today’s Lodge Hill) and boggy ground to the east. Lieutenant General of Horse Oliver Cromwell put dragoons behind Sulby Hedges. Their musket fire caused the royalist cavalry on the western flank to charge, forcing many of parliament’s horses to flee. The Royalist foot attacked and almost broke Fairfax’s line but it stubbornly resisted. Cromwells trouper routed the horse opposing them and fell on the left flank of the royalist foot. Despite Rupert’s Bluecoat Regiment ’standing like a wall of brass’ on the slope just to the west of the road to the north, Fairfax’s counter-attacks succeeded in driving the royalists back. Part of the royalist army went on fighting, all the way they had come that morning, in a battle reaching a climax at Wadborough Hill

*From a signboard next to the Windmill Obelisk
**From a signboard next to Cromwell’s position on the day of the battle

Robert A. Heinlein

Synopsys (from book cover):

In the breadth of bitter-sweet Scottish history there is not more poignant, nor more important, battle than Flodden.  Before Flodden a proud country under its dynamic Stewart king James IV was emerging as a distinct and flourishing nation within Europe.  With defeat the inevitability of Scotland’s reformation and union with England is hard to deny.  Flodden was an ignominious and disastrous moment for the Scots, all the more so for being a largely unnecessary encounter, fought with superior numbers and arms, which left the country weak, exposed and leaderless.

Review:

I picked up this book during my visits to the places that were significant in the Flodden campaign.  It looked interesting and I thought it would give a more in depth background than could be gained from the various guide books.

The book is written in a very sympathetic way and the style is more that of a novel than a history book which makes it very readable.  It covers the political, military and historical background that led up to the battle taking place.  It describes the two opposing forces in detail, the commanders that led each army, the weapons and tactics involved and describes their relative strengths and weaknesses.  The book explains the routes that the two armies took to arrive in their eventual battle positions, which gives insight on how the English army had managed to cut the Scottish army off from it’s homeland.

There are plenty of maps to show the relative positions in the build up to the battle and the positions during the battle.

The book is well researched and you can almost feel yourself on the battlefield alongside the two armies.  I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who has an interest history, military history or battlefields of England or Britain.

***Index to my posts on Flodden.***

FLODDEN
1513
TO THE BRAVE OF BOTH NATIONS
ERECTED 1910

Ceremonies take place each year to commemorate the fallen:

Since 1951 the people of Coldstream have been annually holding a Civic Week where the highlight is a pilgrimage to Branxton Hill where they remember the fallen of both nations.

The highlight of the week is the mass mounted cavalcade, which sets off from the town on the Thursday to Branxton Hill. Here the Coldstreamer and the other Border principals pay homage to the brave of both nations who fell at the battle of Flodden in 1513.

At noon on Thursday, in the first full week of August, this battle of Flodden is commemorated by a ride out led by the ‘Coldstreamer’, a young man who is elected to carry the town standard for the week’s festivities.

The Flodden 1531 Club commemorate the fallen of the Scottish Army annually by holding a ceremony on the anniversary of the battle.

The club carries out a short ceremony at the Battle of Flodden War Memorial, near Branxton Village, in North Northumberland at 7pm on 9 September each year. Club officials commemorate James IV & the Scots who died with him on that bloody battlefield when the Scots army was completely overwhelmed and most of the Scots nobility and youth of the country was wiped out in a few hours. A wreath is laid and a local piper, normally Pipe Major Robert Bell or his son, Piper Duncan Bell, play the bagpipes. Members of the public are made welcome at this ceremony.

***Index to my posts on Flodden.***

***Index to my posts on Flodden.***

Guest post by Armchair General

The Scots launched their first attack against the English when troops under the command of Home and Huntley attacked the relatively weak English right  which was commanded by Edmund Howard. The English were heavily pressed by this attack and held their line only when  cavalry under command of Lord Dacre joined the melee and halted the Scots.

At this point, the Scots centre, commanded by Errol, Crawford and Montrose, advanced in an attempt to reassert pressure on the English and to regain the initiative. These forces were not armed with the Scots’ traditional weapons of swords and polearms but, having recently been trained in modern French tactics, carried (30-foot) long pikes instead. Tactically, pikes require a densely packed close order formation so that the points of the pikes are impenetrable to the enemy whilst keeping opponents at bay so that the pikemen are out of reach of the enemy’s weapons whilst still being able to inflict casualties. Unfortunately, the battlefield was both muddy and slippery. Therefore, under deadly fire from English longbowmen and not fully accustomed to the maintaining the kind of tight formation needed to use pikes effectively, the Scottish pike formations lost cohesion as men struggled to keep their footing. The Earl of Sussex, commanding the English, saw his opportunity and unleashed his soldiers against the now disorganised and vulnerable Scots.

Unable to capitalise on the longer reach of their pikes, the Scots were soon in difficulty at which point King James IV committed his troops in a desperate last effort to defeat the English and secure victory. The English overcame this new threat and somewhere in the melee King James was cut down. Circumstances meant that the Scottish pikemen were unable to withstand the English attacks and a great many were slaughtered in the mud alongside their King.

***Index to my posts on Flodden.***

View from where the Scottish army was positioned at Branxton:

The view from the English position can be seen on a previous post.

***Index to my posts on Flodden.***

The English army originally mustered at Newcastle, but this location was found to be unsuitable so they moved to Bolton.  From there they started their march towards the Flodden battlefield.  The English commanders realised that the Scots were in a very strong position and decided to outflank it.  They split the army in two and giving the Scottish army a wide berth, one half crossed the river Till at Heaton Ford whilst the other half carried on to cross the river by Twizel bridge.  The English formed their own battle lines on Piper Hill, putting themselves between the Scottish army and their homeland.

Coincidentally JHL has posted wonderful picture of this bridge today.

***Index to my posts on Flodden.***

These days the castle mainly operates as a residential field study outdoor centre for young people and is not normally open to the general public.  Although I did notice it has rooms available as holiday lets.

***Index to my posts on Flodden.***