Siege of Worcester: cannon rained death, says Richard Shaw

WORCESTER is often known as “The Faithful City” due to its allegiance to the Royalist cause during the English Civil War.

When the war started in 1642 the city declared for King Charles I, but in July 1646 it surrendered to the Parliamentarians and from then on, apart from 12 days in 1651, it was held by Parliament.

It was during this 1646 siege when the words, “Civitas Fidelis Deo et Rege” (City Faithful to God and King) were seen painted on the drawbridge of Severn Gate.

But in May 1646 it was still a Royalist city and the Governor was Colonel Sir Henry Washington (1752-1758) and he commanded 1,507 Royalist troops, most of whom were Irish. (Sir Henry Washington died at Richmond in Surrey but his relatives emigrated to Virginia when the war ended at Worcester in 1651. In 1732 George Washington was born in Virginia and he was to become the first President of the USA in 1789).

Following the total defeat of the Royalist army at Naseby, Northamptonshire on 14th June 1645, King Charles lost nearly all of his 7,000 troops in killed, wounded and captured so the Royal cause went into terminal decline.

Charles also lost his artillery, stores and personal baggage which revealed that he had been trying to recruit foreign mercenaries to join his army. Royalist cities and towns around the country surrendered to Parliament and Charles, finally accepting that his caused was lost, on May 5 1646 surrendered to a Scottish Parliamentarian army who were besieging the Royalist city of Newark. On January 30 1647, the Scots “sold” Charles to Parliament for £100,000, a huge amount in those days.

In 1646 Colonel Edward Whalley was ordered to take his Parliamentary army of 3,000 to Worcester and hold it “until such time as the main army was at liberty to march against it.” Henry Washington wrote to King Charles on May 13 1646 asking for instructions, but the King was a prisoner by this time so he received no reply. On May 16 the Parliamentary General Sir Thomas Fairfax wrote to Washington calling upon the city to surrender, but Washington refused.

On May 21 1646, the siege began when 5,000 Parliamentary soldiers surrounded the city and Whalley’s army encamped on Wheeler’s Hill (now Rainbow Hill).

Artillery was based on Green Hill (now Fort Royal Park) and the ‘master gunner’ Nathaniel Nye bombarded Worcester. He had the largest cannon (or mortar) in Europe at the time, known as ‘Roaring Meg’ which fired 200lb (14 stone) iron cannon balls into the city.

Nye used his experiences at Worcester to write a book entitled The Art of Gunnery. ‘Roaring Meg’ is now on display at Goodrich Castle in Herefordshire. There were over 7,000 people in the city to feed a number swelled by refugees from the countryside, but people “unnecessary to the war effort” were allowed to leave.

On May 25 1646 Whalley demanded that Worcester surrender to save itself “thousands of Pounds of damage”. Whalley believed that Washington was thinking it over but in fact the Worcester Governor was sneaking in supplies until Whalley realised what he was doing and sent a force to occupy Kempsey on June 23 1646 to stop supplies being sneaked into the city from the south.

The Parliamentarians began digging trenches around the city in preparation for an attack. Labourers from surrounding villages were ordered into the city to help with the work. The constable of Flyford Flavell was paid 3 shillings for bringing labourers to the siege lines.

Read more: The grisly fate of Royalist highwayman James Hind

Washington tried to relieve the military pressure by trying to disrupt the efforts of the encircling Parliamentarians mounting raiding partiers (sallies) out of the city.

A Worcester resident, Henry Townshend lived through the siege and kept a diary. On May 24 1646 he wrote, “About 7 at night a strong sally, with 50 horse, fell on their foot that lined the hedges about Roger’s Hill, (just north of Rainbow Hill.) beat their guard there back, and killed and hurt at least 40. 2 of ours killed and 3 hurt, 3 taken.”

On May 30 Whalley again called on Washington to surrender and pointed out that, “Worcester was now the only Troublers of this Kingdom.” Implying that Worcester was the last Royalist city to surrender.

The surrender document

The city needed to relieve the mounting pressure and a sally of around 700 Royalists (nearly half of the garrison) attacked the besieging Parliamentarians at St John’s and tried to burn down Cripplegate in order to provide a clear field of fire from the city.

It was claimed that 100 of the Parliamentarians were killed and three colours (Regimental flags) were captured and hung up on the bridge and the tower of the cathedral to mock the besiegers.

Artillery continued to rain down on the city from all sides. No count was made of civilian casualties but Townshend noted that a man and a woman in the Trinity Alms-houses were killed in their bed by cannon fire. On June 14, the besiegers completed a bridge of boats (to be repeated at the Battle of Worcester four years later) allowing Parliamentarians “eight abreast” to cross the River Severn at Pitchcroft opposite Henwick, thus completing the encirclement of the city.

The population of Worcester was now trapped. Townshend noted that some citizens wanted to leave with their children, hoping that the Parliamentarians would let then through but Colonel Whalley wanted to take their money and so they returned.

On June 16, the besiegers paraded their full army in front of the city, they fired three volleys and lit a bonfire in St John’s as a show of strength. On June 17 thirteen guns opened up on the city and Colonel Whalley sent a buck for the Governor perhaps to create conflict with the hungry citizens and soldiers.

Washington refused entreaties by some women of the city to surrender as their children were suffering due to food supplies running low. Discipline was rapidly breaking down within the city. Soldiers pulled down outhouses and sold the timber for fuel in order to buy drink.

Townshend offered a prayer to the citizens, “From the plundering of soldiers, their Insolency, Cruelty, Atheism, Blasphemy and Rule over us, Libera nos Domine” (God deliver us). And these of course were the Royalist soldiers tasked with defending the city!

Many civilian were sent out of the city, without their money or belongings, to preserve the food stocks, but despite the crisis the Bakers actually went on strike for more pay! On June 2 a baker was flogged for not baking and was threatened with being hurled over the city wall.

Royalist soldiers were only collecting supplies for their personal benefit but Washington remained steadfast and refused to surrender without clear instructions from his king.

Desperate for news he had already sent out four messengers, including a woman sent out on June 19 to try to get further orders from the king, but they failed to return. He was not aware that the king had surrendered on May 5 or that the Royalist city of Oxford had surrendered on June 20.

However, on June 25 Washington received confirmation via Prince Maurice’s secretary, sent to him by Thomas Fairfax that Oxford had surrendered and that a Parliamentary army of 10,000 foot and 5,000 horse was marching on Worcester.

l Taken from The Civil War in Worcestershire by Malcolm Atkin and The Diary and Papers of Henry Townshend, 1640-1663 edited by The Worcestershire Historical Society (on sale in the Commandery Shop).

Next week: The terms of surrender