Cheshire

by Charles E. Kelsey

Memorials of the ill-fated monarch were eagerly sought for by the most devoted of his followers. In the Stag Parlour at Lyme Hall are some chairs, said to be covered with portions of the cloak that Charles wore at the time of his death. Here also are a pair of embroidered gloves that belonged to the king, and a dagger with his name 'Carolus' engraved upon it.

The war was continued by his son, Charles the Second. James Stanley, Earl of Derby, was made commander of the Royalist forces in Cheshire. In the year 1651 Knutsford Heath was a scene of bustling activity. Here were encamped the forces of General Lambert, one of Cromwell's most trusted lieutenants, consisting of 9,000 horse and 4,000 foot. He was waiting for the Royalist army, which was marching southwards from Scotland under the command of Charles himself and General Leslie. Lambert was ordered to cut down the bridge at Warrington to prevent the passage of the king's army, but arrived too late. Skirmishes took place at Budworth and High Legh, and Lambert was compelled to retreat to Knutsford, while the Royalist army passed on its way to the fatal field of Worcester.

A few days later, the people of Sandbach were setting up the stalls and spreading their wares in the market-place for the September Fair. A cry was suddenly raised that soldiers were entering the town. They were all that was left of Leslie's Scottish Cavaliers. Weary of war, their horses jaded and lame, they were anxious only to be allowed to reach their homes again in safety. But the townspeople, remembering perhaps the massacre of Barthomley, were not minded to let them off easily. The foremost troopers, who alone were armed, were allowed to pass through the town. Then with sticks and staves they fell upon the rearguard and cudgelled them. Many were wounded and captured, and placed in the town prison, where perhaps they were not sorry to rest. Others escaped into the open fields. 'Scotch Commons', as the scene of the encounter is still called, reminds us of this last event of the Civil War in Cheshire. The struggle was ended. Charles was an exile, and Cromwell ruled over the land.

One of Cromwell's Acts decreed that all who had any communication with Charles the Second should be held guilty of conspiracy against the State. The Earl of Derby, who escaped from the rout at Worcester, but was captured at Nantwich, was tried under this Act and condemned to death. He escaped from his prison in the castle at Chester, and lay concealed for a time, it is said, in a secret chamber in the Stanley Palace near the Water Gate. The 'Martyr Earl' was, however, recaptured on the banks of the Dee, and beheaded at Bolton.

Brereton was rewarded for his devotion to the Parliamentary cause with the chief forestership of Macclesfield forest. Soon afterwards, however, he left the county of his birth and lived in London until his death in 1661. His body was brought to Cheadle for burial in the Handforth Chapel. There is, however, no note of his burial in the parish registers, and tradition says that during the journey the coffin in which his body was placed was swept away by the swollen waters of a river over which it was being carried.

The Puritans determined to put an end to the government of the Church by bishops, and abolished the Book of Common Prayer from the Church services, putting in its place a new form of public worship. About thirty of the clergy in Cheshire who refused to perform the new services of the Church were turned out of their livings. Children were no longer to be baptized in fonts but from a basin. Hour-glasses were set up in the pulpits, from which long political sermons were preached to the people.

The Puritan mayor of Chester would not permit Christmas and other time-honoured festivals of the Church to be kept, and music, dancing, and games were rigidly put down.

In 1659 an attempt was made by a number of Cheshire gentry to restore Charles to the throne. Oliver Cromwell was now dead, and had been succeeded by his son Richard. But the real power was in the hands of the soldiers, and many people soon became disgusted with military rule. The leader of the revolt in Cheshire was Sir George Booth, of Dunham Massey. He had fought on the side of Parliament in the early years of the war, and was one of the Presbyterian members of Parliament who were turned out of the House by 'Pride's Purge,' just before the execution of the king.

Sir George Booth collected a Royalist force on Rowton Moor, and prepared to attack Chester. He captured the city and the walls, but failed to take the castle, whose governor was Colonel Croxton, of Ravenscroft Hall near Middlewich. Colonel Lambert, however, was summoned with two regiments from Ireland, and he compelled Booth to retire towards Northwich. The Royalist force was overtaken at Hartford, and in the battle which took place near Winnington Bridge on the river Weaver, was completely routed.

But the return of the exiled king was not long delayed. Among the Royalists captured at Nantwich in 1644 was George Monk. After his release he entered the service of Parliament, and won the esteem of Cromwell. General Monk now succeeded in persuading Parliament to recall Charles. Nowhere was the event welcomed more gladly than in Cheshire. Church bells rang merrily, maypoles were set up again upon the village greens, and bonfires lighted on the hill-tops. The long quarrel that had separated father from son and brother from brother was at an end, and many a Cheshire home was gladdened by the return of wearied soldiers. The king had come into his own again.