This Day In History
Kent being the center of a spreading revolt against Parliament, sparked by the banning of Christmas celebrations in December 1647, that became known as the Second English Civil War; on the afternoon of June 1, 1648, the New Model Army under Sir Thomas Fairfax fronted up at the bridges over the Medway at Maidstone.
Fairfax, with his force of about 8,000, seeing the bridges heavily fortified by as many as 7,000 Royalist insurgents raised by the Earl of Norwich, turned south to flank them via the 14th-century arched stone bridge at East Farleigh, which was guarded by a company of fusiliers.
Reports indicate this force was easily brushed aside, though reports also indicate a lot of cannon balls and bodies have been excavated in the vicinity.
As it happens, the ancestral Crittenden pub, the appropriately named Bull Inn, a 15th-century half-timbered affair that burned around 1900 and was replaced by a brick pub, fronts on Farleigh bridge, hence my interest in this particular engagement. (Crittenden ownership is documented in the 1800s but it is unclear where and in what capacity my forebears were employed and engaged on the date in question. Presumeably in the neighborhood, as the area is rotten with Crittendens, and the pre-Norman Saxon place name from which the name is derived is thought to be about 10 miles southwest.)
Unclear who was pulling the taps, but what can be fairly assumed is that Royalists were drinking in the pub in the morning, and Roundheads were drinking there in the afternoon.
Fairfax’s force then marched up the road on the south bank of the Medway to Maidstone, arriving there around 7 p.m. Fairfax did not intend to engage that night, but apparently there was an atypical lack of discipline in his force, allowed itself to be drawn into heavy hand-to-hand fighting. Fairfax, seeing confusion in his ranks, is reported to have personally led a charge, initiating a full assault on the town around 9 p.m., which included more hand-to-hand between pikemen and cannon being fired up Maidstone’s main drag. By midnight, the Royalists had been pushed back into a churchyard, where they surrendered. It is said to have been one of the bloodiest engagements of the English Civil War, with an estimated 300 Royalists dead and more than a thousand captured, to about 80 dead parliamentarians. Fairfax, by the way, is an interesting character who opposed the execution of Charles I and later supported the Restoration in what was a highly complex period in English history.
An English Civil War bookshelf, kicks off with what it has to do with us Yanks. Short answer, a lot:Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America David Hackett Fischer
OK, English Civil War proper:
God’s Fury, England’s Fire: A New History of the English Civil Wars Michael Braddock
The English Civil Wars: 1640-1660 Blair Worden
CROMWELL’S WAR MACHINE: The New Model Army 1645 - 1660 Keith Roberts
Cavaliers and Roundheads: The English Civil War, 1642-1649 Christopher HIbbert
Royalists and Roundheads: Or, The days of Charles the First E.M. Stewart
The King and the Gentleman: Charles Stuart and Oliver Cromwell, 1599-1649 Derek A. Wilson
A Life Of The Great Lord Fairfax, Commander-In-Chief Of The Army Of The Parliament Of England (1870) Clements Robert Markham
The Cromwellian Gazetteer: An Illustrated Guide to Britain in the Civil War and Commonwealth Peter Gaunt
Oliver Cromwell: Politics and Religion in the English Revolution 1640-1658 David L. Smith
God’s Executioner: Oliver Cromwell and the Conquest of Ireland Michael O’Siochru
Cromwell Antonia Fraser
Oliver Cromwell (1906) Theodore Roosevelt
Oliver Cromwell John Buchan
Battle of Maidstone links:
http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/military/1648-maidstone-colchester.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_English_Civil_War#Revolt_against_Parliament_in_Kent
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Maidstone
http://www.eastfarleigh.net/History-Society/East-Farleigh-History.php
http://www.canterbury.ac.uk/education/departments/client/services/publications/docs/the-leaflet.pdf
The above link, with some information on armaments and tactics of the time, includes this great Ben Jonson quote:
“From the Devil’s arse did guns beget.”
And with that, I’m out of here for the summer. Best to all. You may want to check in, I’ll be posting sporadically. Many thanks for your readership.
Topics: Britain, ancient mysteries, history, military
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 12:01 pm on Monday, June 1, 2009
4 Responses to “This Day In History”
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May 31st, 2009 at 10:35 am
Well, then,
A happy summer to you and yours. If you head up to Maine, give me a shout and I’ll buy a pint or three.. :)
Respects,
June 1st, 2009 at 11:43 am
Have a great summer off, Jules.
June 1st, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Have a great summer, Jules!
[Whaddya give 'im, Grimmy, a week?]
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Jules –
Have some great family time. To a corruption-free summer!