The Market Hall in Hereford, also called the Old Town Hall or Guild Hall. (SMR 416) A modern representation of this beautiful building in the Civil War period.
Hereford prepares
After the departure of William Waller's troops, the Royalists in Hereford had a period of two years to reassess and strengthen their position. During the early summer of 1644 the King commanded that Hereford should be fortified. As the Royalists had been having trouble recruiting men and gaining supplies, the King gave full authority to the governor of Hereford to impress men (to force men to do military service), seize all arms, billet and quarter soldiers as required and levy contributions. If people would not support the Royalist army voluntarily, they would be forced to do so.
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| © with kind permission of Brian Byron |
Colonel Barnabas Scudamore had been appointed governor of Hereford. He was an experienced military man and brother to the M.P. for Herefordshire, Viscount Scudamore of Holme Lacy, who had surrendered to Sir William Waller during the attack on Hereford in April 1643. At this point Viscount Scudamore was still a prisoner of Parliament in London. Colonel Scudamore's preparations for a Parliamentary attack and siege were meticulous and, as we shall see, successful.
He ensured that the building work recommended by Sir Richard Cave in 1644 was carried out. The gates were finally strengthened, drawbridges replaced fixed bridges, the castle was repaired to a certain extent and the buildings outside the city walls were taken down to prevent them from being used by an attacking army.
The Scottish Army Arrives
The Scots army under the leadership of Alexander Leslie, First Earl of Leven, fought on the side of Parliament because in the event of a victory for Parliament, Scotland was promised the right to practise Presbyterianism (a form of Protestantism based on the teachings of John Knox, who believed in a more democratic religious institution without the appointment of bishops.) Besides, the soldiers were mercenaries, which means that they were paid to fight and had high hopes for taking home loot.
This large army of about 8,000 foot soldiers and 4,000 cavalry had already fought successfully in the north of England, at the one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, namely Marston Moor (1644), had witnessed the surrender of York and had taken Newcastle. By the time this army descended on Hereford on July 31st 1645, the men were hardened and experienced, yet perhaps also weary and certainly insufficiently supplied.
Read the following four descriptions and decide which one comes from a neutral source, which one was written by a Royalist sympathiser and which ones were written by sympathisers of the Scottish Army.
[Note: Oatmeal formed the mainstay of the Scottish diet during this period.
Wheat was not grown in many parts of Scotland and, unlike in England, bread
was not a staple part of the diet. People would have porridge for breakfast
and also eat oat-cakes with most meals. The soldiers would usually make a
dough of oatmeal and water and bake this on hot stones from an open fire.
Cavalry officers would carry a skillet for cooking oat-cakes. However, when
the infantry soldiers were marching, or did not have access to fire or boiling
water, they would moisten the oats with milk or water and knead it in their
hands to provide a nourishing, if somewhat unappetising paste.]
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Most
contemporary descriptions omit an important part of most large armies, namely
the hundreds of women and even children who travelled with the baggage train.
These women would have nursed injured soldiers and cooked and washed for
their men folk. If the soldiers weren't paid, then their own families would
go hungry too. Committees were set up in areas the army had to pass through
to feed and supply the army, but the Earl of Leven complained to Parliament
that his soldiers were not sufficiently provided for in Herefordshire. He
also commented on the terrible state of the roads (some would say not much
has changed!): " ... the Army is not able to march
above eight miles a day, though they begin to march at the Sun rising, and
continue till ten at night… the county is unwilling to afford us anything,
and the committees gives us no assistance." |
| The
Earl of Leven © Brian Byron |
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| The seal of the
Earl of Leven © Hereford Record Office |
The plundering by the Scottish Army left an indelible mark on the memory of the affected Herefordians. People could not pop out to a supermarket to restock when their supplies were taken and even if they could have bought some things at market, they would have had no money if that too had been taken. Remember, ordinary people did not have bank accounts, and credit cards did not exist in the 17th century.
The Siege
The population of Hereford was about 4,500 and in addition to the regular inhabitants there were a number of Royalist gentlemen who had had to leave their own areas when these were occupied by the Roundheads. Altogether there would have been around 1,500 soldiers and armed townsmen defending the city.
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Defences at Wye Bridge © Brian Byron |
An excellent source regarding the siege from the defender's point of view is a letter written by Sir Barnabas Scudamore which was eventually published in the form of a pamphlet. Many pamphlets were published during the Civil War by both sides as a means of propaganda and dissemination of information in a time before national newspapers existed. In this letter to Lord Digby, Scudamore praises the efforts of the common soldiers and townspeople, both men and women:
"My lord,
I should give your Lordship an accompt of the valor of our common Souldiers
and Townesmen, that would hazard themselves at the making up of breaches (to
the astonishment of the Enemy), till their cannon played between their leggs,
and even the Women (such was their gallantry) ventred where the Musquet bullets
did so, …".
The defenders not only were courageous, they also were imaginative in their use of defensive tactics, some of which to us today would seem very cruel:
"… what frequent
alarums we gave them (the Scottish Army) by fireballs, lights upon our Steeple,
by Dogs, Cats, and outworne Horses, having light Matches tyed about them; and
turned out upon their works, whereby we put the enemy in such distraction, that
sometimes they charged one another; …".
It seems that they tied a
form of explosives or fireworks/sparklers to cats, dogs and old horses and let
these unfortunate animals out of the city walls to confuse the besiegers. One
legend has it that a bull was covered in a hurdle of twigs, wood and pitch which
was put on fire. This poor creature was then let loose out of one of the city
gates.
If anyone has any information regarding this tactic from other military confrontations,
please let us know!
The Cavaliers also had an unusual idea for keeping up morale. At one point the Royalists staged a foxhunt on the city walls in full view of the Scottish Army!
Another point in the favour of the defenders was the lucky coincidence that several skilled men were available in this time of crisis: a number of miners, a particularly good cannoneer and an expert carpenter and builder by the name of John Able, who designed a special hand mill for gunpowder and grinding corn when the mill was destroyed in a bombardment. After the siege, he was awarded the privilege of calling himself the King's Carpenter.
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| © with kind permission of Brian Byron |
TFM
