| Battle of Gunnislake New Bridge | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the First English Civil War | |||||||
 Gunnislake New Bridge | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Royalists |  Parliamentarians | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Sir Richard Grenville Thomas Southcott | Earl of Essex William Balfour | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| ~ 2,000 | ~ 2,500 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 200 | 40 | ||||||
The Battle of Gunnislake New Bridge took place on 20 July 1644 on and around Gunnislake New Bridge, a bridge over the River Tamar between Cornwall and Devon, during the First English Civil War.
During the Civil War the county of Cornwall was entirely loyal to King Charles I and the Royalist cause. However, Devon was Parliamentarian, making the River Tamar the site of many battles. Each side understood that if they were to either invade the other county or defend against invasion, they had to have control of the Tamar's crossings. Gunnislake New Bridge was one of four bridges crossing the River Tamar. [1]
The Parliamentarian forces, headed by Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, pushed into Cornwall over the bridge. They were met by Richard Grenville's forces, who were quartered at the garrisons of Cotehele House and Harewood House, Calstock. The battle was hard fought and lasted all day. The Royalists prevented the Parliamentarians from advancing further into Cornwall, at a cost of 200 casualties and many taken prisoner. The Parliamentarians lost about 40 men. [2] [3] [4]
After the battle both sides continued to defend their ends of the bridge. Lord Essex travelled north to Launceston, leaving half of his troops defending New Bridge. He then regrouped with his other forces based in the northern half of the Tamar Valley. On the 26th of July Essex crossed the Tamar at Horsebridge, penetrating the Royalist defences and continuing into the heart of Cornwall. This advance culminated in the Battle of Lostwithiel, a disastrous defeat for the Parliamentarians.
The Battle of Lostwithiel took place over a 13-day period from 21 August to 2 September 1644, around the town of Lostwithiel and along the River Fowey valley in Cornwall during the First English Civil War. A Royalist army led by Charles I of England defeated a Parliamentarian force commanded by the Earl of Essex.
The sieges of Taunton were a series of three blockades during the First English Civil War. The town of Taunton, in Somerset, was considered to be of strategic importance because it controlled the main road from Bristol to Devon and Cornwall. Robert Blake commanded the town's Parliamentarian defences during all three sieges, from September 1644 to July 1645.
The Tamar is a river in south west England that forms most of the border between Devon and Cornwall. A large part of the valley of the Tamar is protected as the Tamar Valley National Landscape, and some is included in the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape due to its historic mining activities.
The First Battle of Newbury was a battle of the First English Civil War that was fought on 20 September 1643 between a Royalist army, under the personal command of King Charles, and a Parliamentarian force led by the Earl of Essex. Following a year of Royalist battlefield successes, in which they took Banbury, Oxford and Reading without conflict before storming Bristol, the Parliamentarians were left without an effective army in the west of England. When Charles laid siege to Gloucester, Parliament was forced to muster a force under Essex with which to beat Charles' forces off. After a long march, Essex surprised the Royalists and forced them away from Gloucester before beginning a retreat to London. Charles rallied his forces and pursued Essex, overtaking the Parliamentarian army at Newbury and forcing them to march past the Royalist force to continue their retreat.
The Second Battle of Newbury was a battle of the First English Civil War fought on 27 October 1644, in Speen, adjoining Newbury in Berkshire. The battle was fought close to the site of the First Battle of Newbury, which took place in late September the previous year.
The Tamar Valley Line is a railway line from Plymouth, Devon, to Gunnislake, Cornwall, in England, also known as the Gunnislake branch line. The line follows the River Tamar for much of its route. Like all railway lines in Devon and Cornwall, it is unelectrified and all trains are diesel powered. The entire line is single track past St. Budeaux Junction.
Calstock is a civil parish and a large village in south east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, on the border with Devon. The village is situated on the River Tamar 6 miles (9.7 km) south west of Tavistock and 10 miles (16 km) north of Plymouth.
Calstock railway station is an unstaffed railway station on the Tamar Valley Line serving the village of Calstock in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated at the north end of Calstock Viaduct which carries the railway at high level over the River Tamar.
Gunnislake railway station serves the village of Gunnislake in Cornwall, England. There are also connecting buses from here to the town of Tavistock. However the station is located in or nearer to the villages of Drakewalls and Albaston. It is the northern terminus of the Tamar Valley Line from Plymouth.
Gunnislake is a large village in east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated in the Tamar Valley approximately ten miles (16 km) north of Plymouth The first woman cabinet minister in the British Empire, Mary Ellen Smith, was born here in 1863.
The Battle of Sourton Down took place on 25 April 1643, near Sourton, in Devon, during the First English Civil War. A Parliamentarian force under James Chudleigh defeated a Royalist army under Sir Ralph Hopton. Casualties on both sides were light, and the result had little impact on the strategic position in the West Country.
Cornwall played a significant role in the English Civil War, being a Royalist enclave in the generally Parliamentarian south-west.
The Battle of Weymouth and the associated Crabchurch Conspiracy occurred in 1645, during the First English Civil War, when several royalist plotters within the twin towns of Weymouth and Melcombe on the Dorset coast conspired to deliver the ports back into the control of King Charles I.
The New Cornish Tertia were four Royalist regiments of infantry raised in Cornwall and Devon by Sir Richard Grenville, 1st Baronet in 1644, during the English Civil War. As the maps aside show, Cornwall and Wales were staunch Royalist strongholds whilst South East England was held by Parliament, and the remainder of England was in dispute.
The Southcote Baronetcy, of Bliborough in the County of Lincoln, was a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 24 December 1661 for George Southcote. The title became extinct upon the death of the second Baronet in 1691.
Chilsworthy is the name of two villages in south west England. One is on the Cornish side of the River Tamar, in the civil parish of Calstock, just upstream from Gunnislake (50°31′39″N4°14′16″W). The other is about 3 km north west of Holsworthy in Devon (50°49′54″N4°22′31″W), in the civil parish of Holsworthy Hamlets; it is home to a late-19th century Methodist chapel.
Harewood House was an ancient manor house, built originally by the Saxons, in Cornwall, England. Harewood Estate is surrounded by old mine workings, so the house faces towards Morwellham Quay.
Bow Bridge was a stone bridge built over the River Lea, in what is now London, in the twelfth century. It took its name from the distinctively bow-shaped (curved) arches.
The battle of Piercebridge was fought on 1 December 1642 in County Durham, England, during the First English Civil War. The Earl of Newcastle was advancing with an army of 6,000 from Newcastle upon Tyne to York to reinforce the local Royalists. Aware of his approach, the Parliamentarians defended the main crossing over the River Tees, at Piercebridge. Under the command of Captain John Hotham, around 580 troops had barricaded the bridge.
Southcott is a surname of an ancient and prominent family from the English counties of Devon and Cornwall.
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