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| Adwalton Moor 1643 | ||
| 1643 | The Earl of Newcastle led a force of 5000
infantry and 3500 cavalry towards Bradford intending to besiege the town
and Fairfax's parliamentarian forces.
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| Fairfax, with 4000 men, knew that he could
not withstand the siege and went out to meet the Royalists as he thought
he had a better chance in the open against the overwhelming odds.
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There was not as much support for Parliament in the North of England as there was for the King - hence the difference in numbers between the opposing forces. | |
| Jun 30 | The armies met at Adwalton Moor. The
countryside had many fences and hedges and Fairfax knew that this would
disadvantage the Royalist cavalry.
Fairfax set up a defensive position where attacking Royalists would be funneled in between hedges and attacked by musketeers hiding in the hedges. They succeeded in fighting off a number of Royalist attacks but the Parliamentarian forces decided to move out from their positions and attack the Royalists. They were stopped by the pikemen on the Royalist left wing. Colonel Kirton attacked the enemy with his Royalist pikemen (Whitecoats) on the right and soon the Parliamentarian forces were beaten back in the 'push of pike' and finally routed as they were also outflanked by the Royalist cavalry. |
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| Royalists :
William Cavendish (Earl of Newcastle), Kirton
Parliament : Ferdinando Fairfax and his son Thomas Fairfax,
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| The Parliamentarian forces retreated to
Bradford. Newcastle followed them and basing himself at Bolling Hall, he
laid siege to the town. Thomas Fairfax had fled to Halifax but later
joined his father in Bradford. He succeeded in fighting his way out of
the town and made his way to Hull.
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Newcastle captured the town but was few people were harmed - some say it was because he saw a ghost in female form who told him to spare the people of Bradford. | |
| Newcastle had secured all of Yorkshire for the King except the town of Hull. | ||
