THE TOWER, EDGE HILL.

EDGE HILL:

The Battle and Battlefield.

WITH

Notes on Banbury & Thereabout.

By

EDWIN A. WALFORD, F.G.S.

SECOND EDITION.

Banbury:
E. A. Walford, 71 & 72, High Street.
London:
Castle, Lamb & Storr, Salisbury Square.

1904.

Preface to Edition, 1904.

For the present edition the available material of the last eighteen yearshas been consulted, but the plans of battle are similar to two of those ofmy book of 1886. They were then the first series of diagrammaticrepresentations of the fight published, but in no case has this beenacknowledged in the many plans of like kind subsequently published. Somenew facts and inferences the author hopes may increase the value of theaccount.

The letters of Captain Nathaniel Fiennes and Captain Kightley, now added,may serve to make the tale a more living one. They are reproduced, by thekind courtesy of the authorities of the Radcliffe Library, Oxford, and theBirmingham Reference Library.

New pages of Notes on Banbury, and an extended bibliography are alsogiven.

Edwin A. Walford.

Banbury,
March, 1904.

Preface to First Edition.

In the following pages an endeavour has been made to give a conciseaccount of the physical features of the Edge Hill district, as well as todescribe the events of the first great battle of the Civil War, with whichit is so intimately associated. The intention is to provide a handbook forthe guidance of the visitor rather than to attempt any elaboratehistorical or scientific work. Though Nugent’s “Memorials of John Hampden”has supplied the basis of the information, Clarendon’s “History of theGreat Rebellion,” the various pamphlets of the time, and Beesley’s“History of Banbury,” have also been freely used. In order to avoidburdening the pages with foot notes, a catalogue of works upon the subjectis printed as an appendix, and the letters and numbers throughout the textrefer thereto. The catalogue, it is hoped, may be of use to the futurestudent. The plans of the battle, based upon Nugent’s account, must belooked upon as merely diagrammatic, the scale being unavoidably distortedfor the purpose of showing the conjectured positions of the troops. In theplans it may be worth note that the troops then known as “dragooners” areclassed with the infantry.

The “Notes on Banbury and Thereabouts” are in part reproduced from a smallpamphlet published in 1879. Much of the detail relating to the olderbuildings has been derived from Skelton’s “Antiquities of Oxfordshire” andParker’s descriptions in Beesley’s History.

To Mr. W. L. Whitehorn my thanks are due for aid in the revision of “EdgeHill,” and in the compilation of the “Notes.”