Bevil Grenville - Death at Lansdowne

Death At Lansdowne

A month later, the endeavour of Hopton to unite with Prince Maurice and the Marquess of Hertford from Oxford brought on the Battle of Lansdowne (1643), near Bath in Somerset. Here Grenville was killed on 5 July 1643 at the head of the Cornish infantry as it reached the top of Lansdown Hill. He received a blow to the head with a pole-axe and was taken to the rectory at nearby Cold Ashton where he died. His death was a blow from which the king's cause in the West never recovered, for he alone knew how to handle the Cornishmen. Hopton they revered and respected but Grenville they loved as peculiarly their own commander and, after his death, there is little more heard of the reckless valour which had won Stratton and Lansdown.

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