Battle of Newark 1644
Feb 29 Sir John Meldrum surrounded Newark with 2,000 parliamentarian horse, 5,000 foot and plenty of artillery.

Sir Richard Byron, younger brother of Lord Byron, defended the town with less than 2000 men.

Shot was fired into the town from cannon placed on Beacon Hill to the south-east. One cannon ball knocked a hole in the church spire.

 Newark was important as it was on the line of communication between the Royalist headquarters at Oxford and their forces in the North.
Newark in 1677.
Mar 6 Meldrum stormed Muskham bridge and in the process routed one of Byron's regiments of foot, that of Gervaise Hollies.
Mar 8 Colonel Lucas failed to relieve the town and was beaten off by the Roundheads.
Mar 13 Rupert was at Chester when he received a message from the King to go and relieve Newark. He dispatched Legge to Shrewsbury to collect as many musketeers as he could and send them to Bridgnorth.
Mar 15 Rupert met up with 1,100 musketeers under the command of Col. Henry Tillier at Bridgnorth. The musketeers had been sent down the Severn in barges.
Mar 18 Rupert arrived at Ashby. He had marched through Woverhampton and Lichfield, recruiting men as he went. He now had 3,400. He joined with Loughborough's 3,000 men.
Mar 19 The Royalists reached Rempstone. For speed, Rupert ordered large gaps to be cut in the hedges for his troops and artillery to pass through. He knew the enemy would be watching the roads.
Mar 20 Arrived at Bingham (10 miles from Newark).

Meldrum was notified by the governor of Nottingham that Rupert was making for Newark.
Mar 21 To prevent Meldrum retreating north-east to Lincoln, Rupert decided to move his men by night, passing round to the south of the town to cut off this line of retreat. He set off at 2 am and reached Beacon Hill just before dawn chasing off some of the enemy.
Rupert lined his horsemen up in three ranks. Himself in the front, Loughborough in the second rank and Gerrard in the rear. At 9 am he set off down the hill, increasing speed and hitting the enemy at a fast speed. Most of the enemy were dispersed but two Parliamentarian regiments put up some resistance. Rupert himself found himself surrounded at one point by three of the enemy. He manged to kill one with his sword, his French attendant shot the second and the third, who had grabbed Rupert by the collar had his hand cut off by Sir William Neale.
Rupert and his men fought their way through to the Spittal - a derelict medieval hospital which had been fortified and was being defended by a number of Roundhead infantry. Rupert was reluctant to lose a lot of men in an attack on the Spittal but decided to keep it surrounded.

Meldrum evacuated his horsemen over a bridge of boats onto the island.

Tillier and his musketeers tried but failed to capture the bridge of boats because of too much enemy musket fire.

In the afternoon, Rupert managed to get a number of horsemen across the bridge of boats. Meldrum found himself besieged now on the island. Soon afterwards Sir Richard Byron, the Governor of Newark was able to lead an attack out to capture a fort to the North.

Meldrum, faced with morale problems and many desertions, asked for surrender terms and was allowed to march away with his swords, pikes and colours the next morning, leaving behind 11 cannon, 2 mortars and 3,000 muskets.
Mar 22 As the Parliamentarians were marching away they were taunted and plundered by the Royalist troops. There was disorder and a number of colours were taken.

Meldrum retreated to Hull.

 Rupert tried to keep his men in order and personally returned one of the colours to an officer.

Sir John Meldrum was forced to surrender to Prince Rupert: this Parliamentarian pamphlet bitterly reported the events: "the perfidious dealings of the Enemy is made manifest, who, contrary to the Articles, took away their Colours, Swords and Pikes, and Plundered the Officers.
Royalist : Prince Rupert, Henry Tillier, Broughton, Loughborough, Gerrard, Sir Richard Byron

Parliament : Sir John Meldrum, Sir Rupert Hartop, Sir Michael Hobart, Sir Gervase Holles, Col. Thornagh, Col. Rossiter.

The Royalists lost about 100 men altogether.

The key to Rupert's success in this battle was the speed of the attack, catching the enemy by surprise. The march from Chester to Bingham took a week at an average of 18 miles per day.

The loss of Newark caused Parliament to abandon Lincoln, Gainsborough and Sleaford soon afterwards. It also allowed the Earl of Newcastle to move up to Durham to harass the supply line of the Scots who had now reached South Shields.