A History of Lancashire

by Henry Fishwick

On February 27, 1643–44, the Parliamentary forces took up their position about two miles from the house, and on the following day a letter from Sir Thomas Fairfax requiring the delivery of Lathom was sent to the Countess, to which she replied that she “much wondered that he wold require her to give up her Lord’s house without any offence on her part done to the Parliament,” and she asked for a week’s consideration, “both to resolve the doubts of conscience and to advice in matter of law and honor.”[146] This modest request was not at once granted, but after some further parley, and various proposals having on both sides been made and rejected, her ladyship ended the matter by saying “that though a woman and a stranger divorced from her friends and rob’d of her estate, she was ready to receive their utmost vyolence, trusting in God both for protection and deliverance.”

The siege was now begun in earnest, though the object seems to have been rather to starve out the garrison than to take the place by storm; sorties were frequently made by the cavaliers, and from time to time shots were fired at the walls and towers by the enemy. One chronicle adds they were intended either to “beate down pinnacles and turretts, or else to please the women that came to see the spectacle.” After the siege had continued for nearly a month, Colonels Ashton and Moore appear to have begun to despair of success by ordinary weapons of war, and thereupon addressed a letter to the ministers of Lancashire asking them to “commend their case to God,” so that “the Almighty would crowne their weake endeavours with speedy success.”

Towards the end of April another summons was sent to the Countess demanding immediate surrender, to which she replied in person to the messenger, “Carry this back to Rigby; tell that insolent rebell he shall neither have p’sons, goods nor house; when our strength and p’visions is spent, we shall find a fire more mercyfull than Rigby, and then if the providence of God p’vent it not, my goods and house shall burne in his sight; myselfe, children and souldiers, rather than fall into his hands, will seale our religion and loyalty in the same flame.”

During the last few days the only thing that gave any anxiety to the gallant band within Lathom was a large mortar–piece from which the besiegers were continually sending fireballs and grenades into their midst. To get possession of this a sally was made, and after some smart fighting it was captured and dragged within the walls.

After this the spirits of the invaders appear to have been somewhat daunted, and at the end of nearly four months Rigby, hearing that Prince Rupert was coming to Lancashire, withdrew his troops to Eccleston Green, and ultimately marched them to Bolton. During this siege Rigby is said to have lost 500 men. Prince Rupert, on his arrival in the county, kept clear of Manchester, and marched straight towards Bolton, near to which town he was met by the Earl of Derby. Bolton was probably not well prepared to receive such a force as that led against it by the Prince and the Earl; the town was also destitute of ammunition, and had it not been for the timely appearance of Colonel Rigby with the remains of his forces, resistance would have been out of the question; but even as it was, the Boltonians gallantly and successfully drove back the enemy on the first assault, who, however, shortly rallied, and, returning to the attack, soon effected an entrance into the town, where little or no opposition was offered. This latter attack[147] was led in person by the Earl of Derby with 200 men, and after he had entered the town the other forces poured in on every side. Rigby fled, leaving some 2,000 of his men behind him, many (if not most of them) being slain on the spot, the Prince having ordered that no quarter was to be given to any person in arms. Another account accuses the Cavaliers of having “killed, stripped, and spoiled” all the people they met with, regarding “neither the dolefull cries of women nor children,” and also of having brought out some “husbands on purpose to be slaine before their wives’ faces.” Many other outrages are said to have been perpetrated. All the records of this siege agree that the return of killed and wounded was very heavy, and it may safely be assumed that at least 1,500 were slain.[148] The colours from the Bolton soldiers were sent in triumph to Lady Derby at Lathom. Prince Rupert now marched on to Liverpool, where he found that Colonel Moore, the governor of the town, was prepared to resist him, having a strong garrison, and also being able to rely on the assistance of the sailors in port. To find provisions for this garrison Colonel Clifton is said to have taken all the sheep he could find on Layton Hawes (in Bispham). In the early part of June the siege began, but not for three weeks was the Prince able to take the town. The assaults were frequent, and resulted in serious losses to the leaguers, but at last it became evident that further resistance was useless, so the wary governor, having first shipped off his arms, ammunition, and goods, left the north entrance to the town undefended, and thus admitted the enemy, who (according to Seacome) put to the sword all they met on their way to the high cross (where the exchange now stands). A large number of prisoners were taken, and the Prince seized the castle.

After a flying visit to Lathom, Prince Rupert continued his march to York[149] at the head of 20,000 men, where he joined the Duke of Newcastle. On July 2 the great battle of Marston Moor was fought, which, if it did not decide the contest between the King and the Parliament, left the cause of the Royalists in the North of England utterly ruined and hopeless. After this event, Lord Fairfax, taking advantage of the turn of tide in his favour, sent 1,000 horse into Lancashire to join the forces from Cheshire and Derbyshire, for the purpose of keeping a watch upon the movements of Prince Rupert, who had withdrawn the King’s army into Westmorland and Cumberland.

Parliament was not slow to perceive the importance of retaining Lancashire, and at once ordered a grant of £3,000 for the soldiers there, and provisions were made to provide pensions for widows and children of those who had been slain; but this money was not to come out of the general exchequer, but “out of the several sequestrations of papists and delinquents within the respective hundreds of Blackburn, Leyland and Amounderness, or out of the assessments provided for that purpose; and no one was to receive more than four shillings and eightpence per week.” Prince Rupert again put in an appearance in Lancashire, and engagements of a not very serious character took place at Ormskirk, Up–Holland, near Wigan, and Preston. Liverpool being in great danger of being lost to the Royalists, Lord Derby made an attempt for its relief, but was repulsed with a heavy loss, and on November 1, 1644, the town was surrendered to Sir John Meldrum.

The close of the year 1644 found the Parliamentary forces in possession of all the fortified places in the county, except Lathom House, and in the following year the Royalists were defeated at Naseby and at Rowton Heath, near Chester, the latter entirely putting to an end the King’s design, which was to march into Lancashire and attempt to regain what had there been lost. In the meantime, the Parliamentary party were determined to wrest from the Royalists their last holding in the county, and for this purpose, in July, 1645, General Egerton, with 4,000 men, began the second siege of this apparently invincible stronghold; for a long time they were unable to approach near enough to the house to enable them to use their heavy guns against it, but were content to lie behind a ditch at some distance from the walls. After withstanding this siege all the autumn, the garrison, for want of provisions, was obliged to yield, and on December 4 Lathom House, which was described as the glory of the county, was given up to the enemy. The greater portion of the house was pulled down and cast into the moat. The Earl and his Countess were now in the Isle of Man.

A little before this second siege, another of the Earl of Derby’s strongholds was taken and destroyed—Greenhaugh Castle, in Garstang parish. Though small, this was said to be “very stronge, and builded so that it was thot impregnable with any ordenance whatsoever,” and, moreover, it had only one door, and the “walls of an exceeding thickness.”[150] This castle was entirely demolished. As far as Lancashire was concerned, the war for the present was over, but its effects upon the people had, as may easily be imagined, been very severe, and this fact was fully recognised by the Parliament, for on the occasion of a general fast (September 11, 1644), it was ordered that one–half of the money collected in London and Westminster was to be sent for the relief of Lancashire, “where, in some parts, the people had nothing left to cloathe them, or bread for their children to eat, in consequence of the unheard–of spoil, rapine and cruelties, lately committed by the enemie.” In this year, the Parliament took to itself the patronage of all the church livings in the duchy, and as the Royalists had forcibly taken the duchy seal from the Vice–Chancellor (Christopher Banister), a new seal was made.

The cause of the King was now considered as hopeless; nevertheless, one further attempt was made to revive the spirit of loyalty to the Crown. General Sir Marmaduke Langdale, having collected a considerable number of men in the north of Lancashire and in Westmorland, joined them to the forces raised in Scotland, and placed them under the command of the Duke of Hamilton; this united army, consisting of 15,000 foot and 6,000 horse,[151] crossed the Border on July 4, 1648, and shortly afterwards marched through Kendal, en route for Lancaster and Preston, with a view of ultimately reaching Manchester. In the meantime Cromwell had started for the North, gathering forces as he went, and on August 16 he reached Stoneyhurst. The Duke of Hamilton’s army was now stationed near Walton–le–Dale, on one side the Ribble, and Sir Marmaduke Langdale’s forces on Ribbleton Moor on the other, so that the latter held a position between the two main forces. Cromwell at once advanced against Sir Marmaduke; the manner of doing so will be best told in his own words[152]: “There being a lane very deep and ill up to the enemies army and leading to the town, we commanded two regiments of horse, the first whereof was Colonel Harrison’s, and the next my own, to charge up that lane; on the other side of them advanced the Battel, which were Lieutenant–Colonel Reads, Colonel Deans, and Colonel Prides on the right, Colonel Brights and my Lord Generals on the left, and Colonel Ashton with the Lancashire regiments in reserve.