Cromwell Hath the Honour, but . . .: Major-General Lambert's Campaigns in the North 1648

By P. R. Hill, J. M. Watkinson and David Breeze

Cromwell hath the honor, but Lamberts discreet, humble, ingenious, sweet and civil deportment gains him more hugs and ingenious respect.Much has been written about the first Civil War and the triumphs of Oliver Cromwell. Less is known, however, of the skirmishes of the second Civil War, especially in the north, or of the role and military prowess of the excellent young Parliamentarian commander Major-General John Lambert. Not only was Lambert a brilliant general who demonstrated exceptional tactical skills but he was also a brave and humane leader who was well liked by his men and merciful to his captured enemies, refusing to undertake the harsh actions indulged in by Cromwell.This carefully researched and highly readable new account reexamines contemporary sources to shed new light on Lamberts decisive northern campaign of 16481649. Remarkably detailed and supported by maps and photographs, this is an important source for the general reader and military historian alike.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jul 19, 2012
• ISBN: 9781781599044

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Significant places in the second Civil War

Cromwell Hath the Honour, but...

Major-General Lambert's Campaigns in the North, 1648

P. R. Hill

e9781844685530_i0003.jpg

Cromwell Hath the Honour, but . . .

Major-General Lambert’s Campaigns in the North, 1648

This edition published in 2012 by Frontline Books,

an imprint of Pen & Sword Books Ltd,

47 Church Street, Barnsley, S. Yorkshire, S70 2AS

www.frontline-books.com

Copyright © P. R. Hill, J. M. Watkinson, 2012

Foreword copyright © D. J. Breeze, 2012

The right of Hill and Watkinson to be identified as Authors of this Work has been asserted

in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

9781844685530

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Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

ILLUSTRATIONS

Table of Figures

TIMELINE

GLOSSARY

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

FOREWORD

INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1 - LAMBERT AND HIS ARMY

Chapter 2 - THE CONDITION OF ENGLAND BEFORE THE SECOND CIVIL WAR

Chapter 3 - ESCALATION TO WAR

Chapter 4 - GATHERLEY MOOR TO CARLISLE AND PENRITH

Chapter 5 - ACTIONS AROUND PONTEFRACT

Chapter 6 - APPLEBY, STAINMORE AND BOWES

Chapter 7 - TO PRESTON AND BACK

Chapter 8 - TO SCOTLAND AND PONTEFRACT

Chapter 9 - THE SIEGE OF PONTEFRACT

Appendices

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

ILLUSTRATIONS

(between pages 76 and 77)

Major-General John Lambert

Title page of a newsbook Packets of Letters No. 19

Barnard Castle above the river Tees

Bowes Castle from the east

The river at Greta Bridge following a spell of dry weather

View from the east of the Maiden Castle area, showing the bleak nature of the countryside on Stainmore

The modern road approaching the head of the Stainmore pass from the west

Second World War type FW3/24 pill box

The stream draining Beldoo Moss after a spell of dry weather, as it approaches the modern road 700 yards from Maiden Castle

Brough Castle from the south

Brougham Castle from the north

The ancient pele tower, Greystoke Castle

Penrith Castle, a view of part of the interior

Rose Castle, the seat of the bishops of Carlisle

The bridge at Warwick Bridge, built 1833-5

The Priestbeck and Eden bridges in 1790, looking south-west towards Carlisle Castle

Scaleby Castle from the air

Eighteenth-century entrance to the Crofton Hall estate

The bridge at Ferrybridge built in 1797

Appleby Bridge from the north, showing the river Eden at a low level

Appleby from the hill to the southeast

The ford at Appleby, still in occasional use

View over Appleby town and castle from Gallows Hill

The clear route of the Roman road just under three miles northwest of Appleby

‘The Quartermasters’ Map’

Cockermouth Castle from across the river Derwent

Pontefract Castle seen from Baghill where Lambert had his main command post

The base of the keep, Pontefract Castle, from the site of the west gate

Baghill, Pontefract, viewed across the valley from the castle keep

All Saints Church, Pontefract, from the castle

Table of Figures

FIG. 1

FIG. 2

FIG. 3

FIG. 4

FIG. 5

FIG. 6

TIMELINE

GLOSSARY

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

THANKS ARE DUE TO Dr C. D. Watkinson who, while consistently claiming that the seventeenth century was ‘not his period’, frequently pointed the authors in the direction of useful material. We would also like to thank Mr Martin Sowerby of Cumbria Archaeology, Long Marton, Appleby, who provided information on the river Eden at Appleby, and Mr Neill Croll who advised on the elucidation of some place names. Particular thanks are due to Mr Rollo Bruce who read the text in draft and made a number of very useful suggestions, leaving any errors, repetitions and infelicities the responsibility of the authors.

Material has been consulted in several institutions including the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, the Library of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne, and the Special Collections Departments of Durham University Library and of the Library of the University of St Andrews. Thanks are extended to staff in all these libraries but particularly to those in the last named for their forbearance. The staff of Leicester Archives were very helpful in giving access to the Hesilrige Letters, and the authors are grateful to His Grace the Duke of Northumberland for permission to consult the Archives in Alnwick Castle, and to the Archivist, Mr Christopher Hunwick, for his assistance.

The cover drawing is from the title page of Bloody Nevves rom [sic] the Scottish Army . . . (RB m. 307(19)) by permission of the Trustees of the National Library of Scotland.

FOREWORD

WAR IS A GREAT catalyst for change. It speeds social and economic evolution and encourages new inventions. It can lead to the creation of new military tactics and new weapons. It also throws up new generals. This occurs even in military societies such as the Roman Republic. A Scipio Africanus was needed to defeat Hannibal, a Pompey to deal with Mithridates while the empire was effectively founded by the most famous general (and politician) of the Republic, Julius Caesar.

Britain in the seventeenth century, however, was not a military society. It had no standing army, only a king’s bodyguard. James VI and I and his son Charles I had been careful to avoid war. England had lost Calais, her last toehold in France, in 1558 and had avoided continental adventures since, apart from supporting the Dutch in their struggle for independence, while the Union of the Crowns in 1603 had removed the necessity for military engagement on her northern frontier. Scotland’s militarily minded sons had gone abroad to fight. The eruption of the Civil War in 1642 brought several of them home, perhaps most notably David Leslie. Others came too, including the king’s nephew, Rupert of the Palatinate.

But war has its own dynamics and creates its own generals. Oliver Cromwell would have remained an obscure MP but for Charles I’s obduracy and lack of political nous. In Cromwell, however, England, indeed Britain, produced a general who was also a politician. Having defeated his Parliament’s enemies, he abolished the monarchy and executed the king. Having executed the king, he abolished the Parliament, or rather Parliaments, for those in Scotland and Ireland went too. And he ruled virtually as dictator, as had Caesar. However, Cromwell sought legitimacy. So he had himself declared as Lord Protector sitting on the Coronation Chair, which contained the Stone of Scone, in Westminster Hall.

Cromwell created the first united kingdom. From London he ruled all three kingdoms. He backed his rule by the construction of forts all of which embodied new military features and all carefully placed to control Scotland, as had the Romans over a thousand years before. Parts of some survive to this day, most notably Ayr Citadel, but also a gate at Leith. And he ruthlessly dealt with all opposition.

Cromwell did not achieve all this by himself. He was an astute politician certainly, a better politician than a general, but he also was supported by many good generals. One of these was John Lambert. A northerner, from Yorkshire, Lambert was successful in the first Civil War and started the second Civil War in 1648 commanding the forces in northern England. Here he faced the Scottish army and, if he had failed in his duty, the history of Britain would have been rather different. As it was, Cromwell was in the better position to take the glory of victory and even Lambert’s presence at the battle of Preston failed to receive mention in Cromwell’s dispatch.

In writing history, the greater men tend to receive the greater attention. Furthermore, the more political the general, the easier he can manipulate the reporting to his advantage. Blucher’s actions in 1815 were essential to the victory at Waterloo, but how much do we remember that in relation to Wellington’s glory? Worse, the activities of the ‘lesser’ men are seldom revisited by historians who–not least because time is short–so often repeat the judgements of their predecessors. Yet it is always worth the effort to revisit the original sources as the authors have done here, reconsider the evidence and offer a balanced view unclouded by the mask of time.

The story of the ‘lesser’ men can be as much if not more interesting as those of the great, and this is certainly true in the case of Lambert. His story is made even more attractive because he was his own man, refusing to bend the knee to Cromwell when the Lord Protector required total obedience and suffering for his conscience. He was also humane, refusing to undertake the harsh actions indulged in by Cromwell, which even today cast a long shadow. He is a man well worth studying and this twelve-month episode in his military life is well told by Peter Hill and Jane Watkinson. John Lambert could well earn the sobriquet of being a ‘man for all seasons’.

David J. Breeze, 2012

Honorary Professor of Archaeology, Durham, Edinburgh and Newcastle

INTRODUCTION

‘Cromwell hath the honor, but Lambert’s discreet, humble, ingenious, sweet and civil deportment gains him more hugs and ingenious respect . . . I could give you a large character of that man’s great wisdom and valour . . .’¹

This quotation refers specifically to the reception of Oliver Cromwell and John Lambert in Edinburgh in October 1648, but it seems to sum up very well the perceived relative importance of the two men in the second Civil War.

THE FIRST CIVIL WAR and its battles and skirmishes between 1642 and 1646 have received much detailed attention in print, but the second war tends to be treated in more cursory fashion. Those works that do consider the second Civil War (1648–1649) in detail have an emphasis on events in the south, and especially those close to London. The war in the north comes a poor second, to the point where the first full-length treatment of the Parliamentary victory at the battle of Preston was not published until 1998.²

This book sets out to give a detailed, factual explanation of the day-to-day military actions in the north of England conducted by Major-General John Lambert in 1648–1649. Military events in the south, and various political moves in both England and Scotland, are referred to in order to sketch in a background but no more. In general, speculation as to the political intentions of the participants has been avoided in favour of factual analysis of what was actually happening. It relies almost entirely on the examination of original sources rather than using more modern commentaries, except for the political and military events in the south.

The second Civil War was by no means merely a tidying-up of left-over business, but rather a serious and at times desperate series of campaigns: ‘. . . victory at Preston was neither guaranteed nor unnecessary. The future of the three kingdoms hung more in the balance than at any time since Marston Moor and perhaps since the 1st battle of Newbury.’³

Before the spring of 1648 there was always the possibility of some compromise and reconciliation, but what was seen at the time by many as the unnecessary bloodshed of the second Civil War led almost inevitably to the king’s execution in January 1649.

Binns points out that many historians ‘have followed Clarendon’s habit of confusing geographical remoteness with military and political significance. The further away from London and Oxford the less it matters.’⁴ One writer even refers to Sir Arthur Hesilrige’s service as governor of Newcastle upon Tyne, only 280 miles from London, as ‘in the far north’. Other writers seem to have a tenuous grasp of the geography: for example, it is not clear how troops sent to Coventry in May 1648 were of assistance in actions 200 miles to the north.⁵ They are not alone, as will be seen: some contemporary news reports also show unfamiliarity with the north of England.

For several months in 1648, the commander of Parliament’s army, General Sir Thomas Fairfax (Lord Fairfax from March 1648), was putting down revolts in Essex; Lieutenant-General Oliver Cromwell was fighting in south Wales, principally at the siege of Pembroke, and not until that was over was he ordered to the north. The contemporary campaign of Major-General John Lambert, who was holding off first Sir Marmaduke Langdale and then the Duke of Hamilton, has to some extent been glossed over, albeit with some words of praise for his tactics. Lambert was also responsible for the conduct of the sieges of Pontefract and Scarborough, events which are sometimes ignored altogether.

Cromwell’s defeat of the Royalists at Preston could not have happened if Lambert had allowed his army to be destroyed by Langdale, or by Hamilton who greatly outnumbered him. Cromwell brought with him no more than half of the numbers Lambert had already under his immediate command, or one-third of the whole (see Chapter 1). Cromwell’s political achievements have given him a reputation in the historical record which has perhaps magnified his military accomplishments, and overshadowed Lambert’s very considerable successes in the field.

Then, as now, the population at large in London was not greatly concerned about the north, but in this case with good reason. As will be shown in Chapter 2, in the middle of 1647 they had been threatened by their own mutinous soldiers seeking redress for injustices, which led to the army taking control of the capital for a short time. In 1648 the newsbooks were aware of the possibility of counter-revolutionary soldiers coming into the city, which must have focused minds on local events rather than on those 300 miles away. However, those responsible for the conduct of the war, the Committee of Both Houses (usually referred to simply as Derby House, from their meeting place), were very much alive to the danger from the north. During the fighting in Wales and southeast England, frequent requests were made to the armies in the south, and to a number of County Committees, to release troops for service in the north.

Many of the actions that will be described were no more than small skirmishes, but to those taking part they were no less important than battles, especially for the dead and wounded. The final stages of a campaign may be dismissed as ‘mopping-up’ but can be at least as dangerous for those taking part. Although none of Ashton’s regiment was killed when they were sent to relieve Cockermouth at the end of September 1648, they had to march 120 miles with poor quarters and worse rations just to get to the scene of action. In the event they were not needed there, but instead had to march another forty miles to Appleby.

This book is intended for the general reader as well as the serious student, and can be read without recourse to the notes, which are largely devoted to sources of information and quoted material. References are not usually given for Captain Samuel Birch’s ‘diary’ (reproduced in part in Appendix 4), nor for Captain John Hodgson’s Memoirs, nor for Major John Sanderson’s diary where there is no discussion of the entry, as the dates of the quotations provide easy reference.

At a number of places in the text there is detailed discussion of times, distances and alternative interpretations of the evidence. In one or two peripheral instances these points have been relegated to endnotes, but the authors believe that in most cases these details form an essential part of the examination of the campaign and are best left in the narrative.

Ranks and regiments

The rank, and where possible Christian name, of individuals are given at the first mention, but thereafter are usually dropped except where differentiation might be difficult. Thus Major-General John Lambert generally reverts to his surname only, but Colonel Robert Lilburne and his cousin Captain Thomas Lilburne (both in Lilburne’s regiment of horse) retain their rank unless the identification is clear. Lord Fairfax’s regiment of foot is referred to (as then) as the Lord General’s to avoid confusion with his uncle Colonel Charles Fairfax’s regiment of foot. Lord Fairfax himself is referred to as General Fairfax, and Colonel Fairfax also retains his rank unless the distinction is obvious.

Ranks were not always consistent even in official documents: Lambert is sometimes referred to as Major-General and sometimes as Colonel. Most ranks in the seventeenth century were roughly equivalent to those in use today, although there are some differences. ‘Serjeant-Major’, a commissioned rather than non-commissioned officer, is now simply Major (as was already common at the time); Ensign (Foot regiments) and Cornet (Horse regiments) are now Lieutenant; a Corporal of Horse was equivalent to Sergeant (as it still is in the Household Cavalry); Field-Marshall was then a senior officer who disposed troops on the battlefield, not the commander of armies. There was also an occasional rank, not in modern use, of Colonel-General, approximately equivalent to Brigadier.

Regiments are referred to by the surname in the possessive case of their current commander, as there was no other identification at the time.

Maps

Compared to modern maps those of the mid-seventeenth century tend to be sketches, not to say sketchy. A map that proved so useful that it became known as the Quartermasters’ Map (plate 25) has very few roads, shows hills pictorially and rarely indicates bridges. An eighteenth-century traveller in Scotland made this comment on it: ‘Newtown-Stewart is a neat little town . . . On the 3rd I went two miles to Garlais Castle in the middle of a wood . . . What is called Cromwell’s map, or the Quartermasters’, is so imperfect in these parts that I shall not attempt to correct it . . .’⁶ There was nothing to compare with Ogilby’s post-war route maps, which were a great advance, showing for the first time the location of bridges and whether they were of wood or stone, as well as side roads and their destination; they were also drawn to a consistent scale of 1 inch to 1 mile, but showed routes as strip maps of roads, rather than whole areas, and were in any case not published until twenty-five years after the second Civil War.

The sketch maps in this book show the principal places mentioned in the text with some modern roads on routes that probably existed in the seventeenth century. Ministry of Transport road numbers are occasionally given as an aid to location. The old county boundaries are shown where they are relevant to the narrative. The single symbol for a city, town or village makes no attempt to discriminate between places of different size. Castles that played some part in the events are marked as such; others, whether in active commission or not, are marked simply as places. The maps are grouped together in geographical sequence and keyed to a map of northern Britain, apart from a few very specific maps and plans which are inserted in the appropriate place in the text. The frontispiece map provides a quick reference to the more important places.

Dates

At this time England was officially still using the Julian calendar, with the new year beginning on 25 March. Scotland and continental countries had already changed to the new