Pictures John Hopkins
Members of the public were taken back in time as part of Heritage Weekend events at St Oswald’s Church to relive the Battle of Winwick, a key turning point in the English Civil War, on August 19, 1648.
Musket shots and the smell of gunpowder filled the air as members of the Battle of Winwick Society and the Sealed Knot were on hand with living history displays, period uniforms, and weaponry demonstrations yesterday, Saturday, with further activity taking place today, Sunday.
The Battle of Winwick was a pivotal but often overlooked English Civil War engagement that occurred in the surrounding fields. The event, was part of the national Heritage Open Days initiative.
The Battle of Winwick, or Red Bank, was the final clash of the Second English Civil War. It saw Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army defeat a Scottish army that was retreating south after an initial loss at the Battle of Preston just two days earlier.
The pursuit: Having marched southwards, the exhausted Scottish royalist infantry made a desperate stand at Winwick against the pursuing Parliamentarians.
The outcome: The intense, close-quarters fighting lasted for hours. The Scottish force was ultimately overrun, with thousands killed or captured. This decisive victory for Cromwell led to the surrender of the remaining royalist forces and sealed the fate of King Charles I, who would be executed a few months later.
The battleground, which includes the fields near St Oswald’s Church, was added to the Register of Historic Battlefields in 2018. It is considered the best-preserved Second English Civil War battlefield.
St Oswald’s Church, a Grade I listed building with a history stretching back to Saxon times, played a direct role in the 1648 battle. During the conflict, the medieval church was used as a prison to hold hundreds of captured Scottish soldiers.
The church’s tower still bears scars, possibly from musket ball impacts, though these may date to an earlier 1643 skirmish.
While many hundreds died in the fighting, the only known battlefield casualty to be buried at St Oswald’s was Major John Cholmley, a Cromwellian soldier. A new memorial plaque was unveiled in his and other fallen soldiers honour.
