Pictures John Hopkins
WARRINGTON’S historic links with the English Civil War came back to life at the weekend thanks to the Sealed Knot Civil re-enactment group.
Following on from the fantastic response to their first event in 2024, the Earl of Manchester’s Regiment of Foote once again brought the sights, sounds and smells of the English Civil Wars to the close-knit community in the rolling fields of Culcheth.
Visitors were transported back in time with a tented encampment, displays of pike, musket and cannon action and demonstrations of traditional skills, discovering what life was like in the age of Roundheads and Cavaliers!
Over Saturday and Sunday, history was recreated outside the historic The Raven Inn on Warrington Road where Parliamentarians and Royalists once clashed in 1651!
The history:
In September 1651, two thousand defeated Scots from the Battle of Worcester were escaping north, harassed and picked-off along the way. Five hundred Scots crossed the River Mersey at Hollin Ferry and, following the track just west of the Glaze Brook, traversed the next obstacle – Jibcroft Brook, five miles north at The Raven Inn. The Scots were now deep in enemy territory. Alerted to the troop movements, Lord John Holcroft and his men ambushed them from land adjacent to The Raven. Given the difference in troop numbers, the ambush was probably little more than musket and small cannon fire. In 1905 a ‘Minion’ canon ball was found at nearby Moss House Farm (which must have been fired at point blank range) and in 2019 several musket balls were detected opposite the Raven by detectorist Sean Holcroft. The 3” diameter ball is on display in Warrington Museum.
One historical character associated with the site is Captain Thomas Blood who married one of the Holcroft daughters. Because the Raven Inn was later described in 1770 as ‘ancient’, it is more than likely that John Holcroft and Thomas
Blood frequented The Raven for their ale. But that wasn’t the end of Blood’s story: he remained a military man, rising to the rank of Colonel and later hatched ‘a dashing plan’ to steal the Crown Jewels in 1671, which ended in abject
failure. Surprisingly, he was not hanged for his crime but gained a good deal of notoriety.
For More pictures CLICK on the banner image
