The village of Bagworth, some nine miles west of Leicester, was garrisoned by both sides in the English Civil War. The fighting here in the early 1640s provides a useful case-study of how the Civil War in the North Midlands – while being fiercely contested in Leicesetershire - was won and lost by events in other parts of the country.
Half-a-mile to the north east of Bagworth village stood Bagworth House, later known as Bagworth Moats, a moated manor situated at the centre of a medieval deer park. From 1474 the house and park were the property of the Hastings family, who provided the impetus for Royalist support in Leicestershire in the Civil War.
Hastings versus Grey
Henry Hastings (c.1609-1667) was the second son of the Earl of Huntingdon. Although Hastings failed to gain substantial support for the Royalist cause in Leicester in the summer of 1642 he was nevertheless rewarded for his efforts with a commission as Colonel-General, granting him military command over royalist forces in Leicester, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Staffordshire.
Hastings' command placed him in direct opposition to the Parliamentarian Major-General for the North Midlands, Lord Grey of Groby. The contemporary commentator, Clarendon, viewed Leicestershire's Civil War as a personal contest between the two rival land-owning families of Grey and Hastings, “between whom the county was divided passionately enough without any other quarrel. And now the sons fought the public quarrel with their private spirit and indignation.” [1]
Hastings' command placed him in direct opposition to the Parliamentarian Major-General for the North Midlands, Lord Grey of Groby. The contemporary commentator, Clarendon, viewed Leicestershire's Civil War as a personal contest between the two rival land-owning families of Grey and Hastings, “between whom the county was divided passionately enough without any other quarrel. And now the sons fought the public quarrel with their private spirit and indignation.” [1]
Returning from the Edgehill campaign in late 1642, Henry Hastings established himself at his father's house in Ashby-de-la-Zouch and began to build a substantial military force in the area, including placing a small garrison into his family holdings at Bagworth. Together with other posts in the vicinity of Leicester – at Coleorton to the north west and Kirby Bellars to the north east – the satellite garrisons established from early 1643 served to cut-off Leicester from the other parliamentarian-controlled towns in the area, principally Derby and Nottingham. Together with outposts at crossing points along the river Trent, Hastings' garrisons successfully established a corridor along the Trent Valley, between Royalist-held Stafford and the stronghold at Newark, that not only split Lord Grey's Midlands territory in two, but helped maintain Royalist communications between Oxford and the North.
The Garrison
Garrisoning Bagworth House fell to the soldiers of Colonel Devereaux Wolesley, a Staffordshire royalist under Hastings' command. Bennett (1986) states that Wolesley's troops were in place by May 1643 [2]. It was probably towards the safety of Bagworth to which Hastings' cavalry were fleeing in August 1643 when they were caught and mauled in a skirmish three miles to the north (and where Hastings reputedly lost an eye) on an area of heathland thereafter known as Battle Flat.
The Royalists were firm in their dealings with the local parish, and Hastings showed willingness to use force. The Royalist news sheet 'Mensalia' took some relish in describing how horses were forcibly seized from the vicinity as part of the monthly 'contribution', a property tax which funded the King's war effort; and a reluctance of Bagworth's property owners to part with the monthly payment led to the parish constable (responsible for collecting the tax) to be taken into custody [3].
Bagworth House remained as a Royalist garrison for nearly six months, until October 1643, when the military situation outside the county changed. Hastings was requested to march into Lincolnshire to shore-up Royalist forces there following their defeat at Winceby. With few troops left to protect Hasting's rear, Parliament's Leicester garrison took the advantage and captured the satalite garrison “which had bothered them all year” [4]. Notable in the taking of Bagworth was Captain Francis Hacker, a future Regicide and victor of the earlier skirmish at Battle Flat. Colonel Wolesley's force was subsequently absorbed into the larger Royalist army at Ashby-de-la-Zouch.
An attempt to re-take the house in June 1644 by 400 Royalist troops from Ashby was countered by Lord Grey with an understrength regiment of 300 horse. The Royalists withdrew at Grey's approach and the enemy threat dissolved. As Lord Grey reported to his superiors in London:
Upon Saturday I marched out against them, but when I came within two miles of their rendezvous they all retired to Ashby, so that failing of my expectation I returned next morning to Leicester. [5]
Bagworth was regained for the Royalists in late May 1645, when Leicester was stormed by King Charles I and Prince Rupert and Hastings put in as governor. Again, the war in the North Midlands was being dictated by outside factors, in this case the entering of the Royalist field army from outside the county. But Bagworth appears not to have been given up without a figh and a Staffordshire Royalist, Edward Beck, was later charged, “that in June 1645, Beck was in arms for the King at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, and was in the attack on Bagworth House” [6].
Lord Hastings (left) and Lord Grey, scions of two major Leicestershire landowners. "the sons fought the public quarrel with their private spirit and indignation", wrote Clarendon. [Ashby Museum/Athorp House]
It is unclear whether the house was re-garrisoned after the Parliamentarian victory of Naseby and Hastings' subsequent surrender of Leicester to Fairfax the following month, although Hastings held-out at Ashby until early 1646. As with many fortified places, Bagworth House seems to have been 'slighted' after the end of the first Civil War, its defences and medieval structures demolished, in part or in whole, so that they could not be used in any further uprising. The house that stands on the site today dates from the 18th century, and the remains of a moat and fish pond are all that survive of the medieval structure – hence the later name “Bagworth Moats”.
Documentary and archaeological Evidence
The forces that garrisoned Bagworth would appear to have been company or troop-sized: Colonel Henry Grey (Lord Grey's cousin) drew out thirty men from the garrison for an attack on Hinckley in March 1644, presumably leaving a small holding-force in place; Royalist trooper Richard Symonds noted a strength of 50 when the King's army entered Leicestershire in May 1645 [7]. As well as defending the house, troops appear to have occupied the nearby village: a recent archaeological report stated that there is documentary evidence that parliamentarian troops smashed the stained glass windows in the village church where they were billeted. The church itself was demolished in 1968 [8].
During the 20th century, during work to cultivate one of the moats of the house, an 8cm diameter iron shot was uncovered [9]. Weighing about 5 pounds, the ball would have been fired by a small “minion” field gun. It remains the only single piece of recorded archaeological evidence of the fighting at Bagworth of 1643-1645.
Robert Hodkinson
August, 2018
During the 20th century, during work to cultivate one of the moats of the house, an 8cm diameter iron shot was uncovered [9]. Weighing about 5 pounds, the ball would have been fired by a small “minion” field gun. It remains the only single piece of recorded archaeological evidence of the fighting at Bagworth of 1643-1645.
Robert Hodkinson
August, 2018
Sources:
1 Clarendon The History of the Rebellion, v. 417
2 Bennet, M. The Royalist War Effort in the North Midlands, 1642-1646. Unpublished PhD thesis (University of Loughborough, 1986), p.354
3 Osbourne, S. C. Popular Culture, Religion and Politics in the Midlands, c.1638- 1646. Unpublished PhD thesis (University of Warwick, 1993), p.204
4 Bennett, ibid., p.194
5 “Letter from Lord Grey to the Committee of Two Kingdoms, 3 June 1644”, in Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Charles I, 1644, ed. William Douglas Hamilton (London, 1888), pp. 189-295. British History Online [online] available: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/domestic/chas1/1644/pp189-295. accessed 9 August 2018.
6 “Cases brought before the committee: June 1649”, in Calendar, Committee For the Advance of Money: Part 2, 1645-50, ed. Mary Anne Everett Green (London, 1888), pp. 1091-1110 British History Online [online] available: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cttee-advance-money/pt2/pp1091-1110. accessed 9 August 2018.
7 Letter from an unknown inhabitant of Leicester, quoted in Hollings, J. F. The History of Leicester in the Great Civil War (Leicester, 1890), pp.32-33.
Long, C. E. (ed.) Richard Symonds's Diary of the Marches of the Royal Army (Cambridge University Press, 1997), p.178
8 Richards, G. An Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment of Manor Farm, Main Street Thornton, Leicestershire: ULAS Report 2009-144 (University of Leicester Archaeological Service, 2009)
9 ibid.
Ordnance Survey Map of Leicestershire, (Southampton, 1884-1892), British History Online [online] available:
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/os-1-to-10560/leicestershire. accessed 10 August 2018
1 Clarendon The History of the Rebellion, v. 417
2 Bennet, M. The Royalist War Effort in the North Midlands, 1642-1646. Unpublished PhD thesis (University of Loughborough, 1986), p.354
3 Osbourne, S. C. Popular Culture, Religion and Politics in the Midlands, c.1638- 1646. Unpublished PhD thesis (University of Warwick, 1993), p.204
4 Bennett, ibid., p.194
5 “Letter from Lord Grey to the Committee of Two Kingdoms, 3 June 1644”, in Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Charles I, 1644, ed. William Douglas Hamilton (London, 1888), pp. 189-295. British History Online [online] available: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/domestic/chas1/1644/pp189-295. accessed 9 August 2018.
6 “Cases brought before the committee: June 1649”, in Calendar, Committee For the Advance of Money: Part 2, 1645-50, ed. Mary Anne Everett Green (London, 1888), pp. 1091-1110 British History Online [online] available: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cttee-advance-money/pt2/pp1091-1110. accessed 9 August 2018.
7 Letter from an unknown inhabitant of Leicester, quoted in Hollings, J. F. The History of Leicester in the Great Civil War (Leicester, 1890), pp.32-33.
Long, C. E. (ed.) Richard Symonds's Diary of the Marches of the Royal Army (Cambridge University Press, 1997), p.178
8 Richards, G. An Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment of Manor Farm, Main Street Thornton, Leicestershire: ULAS Report 2009-144 (University of Leicester Archaeological Service, 2009)
9 ibid.
Ordnance Survey Map of Leicestershire, (Southampton, 1884-1892), British History Online [online] available:
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/os-1-to-10560/leicestershire. accessed 10 August 2018