On hearing of this proposed meeting the Royalists sent a petition to the Marquess claiming that the Parliamentarians were coming to "fire the houses and make the streets run with blood".

The Marquess sent for Sr Ralph Hopton (MP for Wells) to send a troop of cavalry to Shepton Mallett and read the King's Commission of Array.

When Hopton arrived with his men, he was met in the Market Place by Colonel William Strode , one of the Deputy Lieutenants and a prominent opposition leader. Strode, from Downside on the north of Shepton, was accompanied by his son and a number of armed servants. He demanded to know the reason for the Royalists' show of arms. Hopton attempted to read the petition sent to the Marquess, but Strode replied, "I come not to hear petitions, but to suppress insurrections," and demanded that Hopton leave the town.

Hopton, Smith, and Gorges attempted to arrest Strode. In the street brawl that followed, Strode was thrown from his horse, and the Cavaliers surrounded him with swords drawn. One of Colonel Strode's servants grabbed a pistol, and threatened Hopton with it at point-blank range, but the gun was snatched away by a fellow Sheptonian, a Mr White. Once the violence was under control, Strode was handed over to the local Constable, and Hopton read the Royalists' petition aloud to the growing and increasingly angry crowd.

Only one man, Nicholas Dawton, stepped up in support of the petition. As he did so, a lone messenger forced his way through the throng, and informed Hopton that a mass of villagers from around the area were coming to Shepton Mallet in support of Strode. At the news, Sir Ralph gathered his men and left Shepton Mallet.

On his way back to Wells, Hopton gathered men to the King's cause by the simple method of beating or killing any who refused to join him. Meanwhile in Shepton Mallet, Strode was released, and by noon over two thousand peasants, tradesmen, and labourers had come to Shepton to join the Parliamentarians. Many others were stopped en route by Hopton or other Royalist bands.