First Battle of Middlewich - The Battle

The Battle

On the morning of Monday 13 March the Nantwich forces had not arrived at the appointed time so Brereton decided to attack with his cavalry and about 200 musketeers ("our greatest force of foot being at Nantwich"). He "with the best forces hee had theire came early in the mornynge backe to Midlewiche, & vpon Sheathe Heathe att the west end of the said Towne, Sr Thomas Aston havinge taken the advantage of the said ground & wynde, & planted his ordnance, sett upon him" Sir Thomas sent a party of dragoons and horse under Captain Spotswood to give an alarm at Northwich, presumably to draw off some of Brereton's force. The Captain, however, disobeyed orders and engaged the enemy and as a result Brereton's forces were able to establish themselves in one street leading into the town. In another street Captain Prestwich and his men were caught unawares by the enemy but were able to rally and drive back the enemy horse and rescue some prisoners. He stopped at a bridge and managed to hold off the enemy until the foot soldiers arrived. Waring Bridge was also approached by the enemy so Aston sent Captain Prestwich and his troop to aid Captain Massie's company of foot defend it. In this way Aston was able to hold off the enemy until about 9 or 10 am when the Nantwich force arrived "so resolutely and with such undauntedness of spirit." About 800-foot and 300 horse came down Booth lane and entered into Newton at the south end of the town, where Aston had placed "a good Brasse peece of ordnance" and two trained bands of 200 men who were "well advantaged by ditches and bankes on both sides." Aston withdrew a troop of horse under the command of Captain Bridgeman from the Northwich approach to check the advance of the Nantwich force. The rest of his horse he held back behind the foot, "there being noe other ground for horse", apart from a force of about 60 to attack the enemy. His plan was to line the hedge with about 100 musketeers so that the enemy could not take advantage of the ditches on both sides of the lane to attack the charging horse.

The Parliamentary force, on finding the lane so well defended, took to the fields on either side of the lane. The Royalist horse could not charge because of the hedges and the musketeers deserted as soon as the first shots were fired at them. The horse was therefore outflanked and cut off by the enemy musketeers on both sides of the lane. On the west side of the town the troop of horse, under Mayor Thomas Holme, were managing to hold off the Parliamentarians despite the fact that Bridgeman's troop had been withdrawn to defend the southern entrance. However, when Sergeant Major Gilmore ordered his foot to retreat the horse were outflanked by enemy musketeers on either side of the lane behind the hedges where the horse could not charge. They were therefore forced back into the town. The street was defended by musketeers behind a breastwork but they ran away after firing once at random. Similarly the foot soldiers guarding Waring Bridge were ordered to retreat and the Parliamentarians were able to enter the town from there. Meanwhile the horse on the Nantwich approach were pulled back to allow the use of the cannon that Colonel Ellis had drawn up.

The Parliamentarians were advancing towards St Michael and All Angels church from three directions so Aston ordered a party of Captain Spotswood's dragoons to secure and defend the churchyard. He also placed a guard at the breastworks on the west side of town and put a cannon in the churchyard to cover the street. A company of musketeers and two trained bands were brought up to hold off the advancing Nantwich force. These musketeers lay down in the ditches as soon as they came to Ellis's cannon and it was all Aston could do to get them up to the hedges with the other musketeers by riding among them "and with my sword I beat them up." This served no purpose because the soldiers would not lift their heads to see where to fire but instead shot their muskets into the air.

The Parliamentarians meanwhile had become encouraged by the inaccurate fire of the cannon and they charged the Royalist foot who promptly ran away, leaving Aston's cavalry exposed and unable to charge because of a large ditch. They therefore drew off to a safer position. Seeing this, a body of pikemen behind a breastwork further back ran away and "all the musqueteers placed for the defence of the street ende quit their trenches, having never seen the enemy or cause of feare, but their fellows flying." Sir Thomas, however, held his cavalry firm until Colonel Ellis could draw off his cannon and then ordered a retreat to the high street. Aston himself went to the churchyard expecting it to be defended as he had ordered. Instead he found all the foot soldiers in the church and he could not "draw out ten musqueteers out of the church would it have saved the world." Relying on his two cannon to cover two streets, Aston ordered his cavalry, being exposed to the advancing enemy on three sides, to regroup in a field at one end of the town. However, their way was blocked by a barricade erected by Captain Spotswood and they became separated and were unable to regroup until they were well past Kinderton House.

Returning to the cannon Sir Thomas found that one had been deserted and the other being drawn off by a solitary cannoneer. With all the other men, including Colonel Ellis, in the church and refusing to come out, Sir Thomas was now alone:

"The enimy falling directly in three streets upon me, and discharging upon me in the church-yard, the horse marched out of sight. I alone, all I could possibly hope to doe was to rally the horse again if possible, to wheel about, and to fall in the rear of them"

In the maze of streets Aston lost contact with his cavalry, apart from a few stragglers, and had little hope of turning the disaster into success especially as the Parliamentarians had now taken the church. With it they captured Colonel Ellis, Sergeant-Major Gilmore, Sir Edward Moseley, ten captains and other officers, 400 common soldiers, weapons for 500 men, two barrels of matches, four barrels of powder and two cannon. It is hardly surprising that Brereton should believe that "since the beginning of this unnatural war, God hath not given many more complete victories."