Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Civil War
As in many other areas, the Civil War from 1642 to 1646 resulted in massive turmoil
throughout the West Country. Broadly speaking, Cornwall declared itself for the king,
Charles I, while loyalties varied widely across the rest of the region with neighbouring vil-
lages often declaring contradictory allegiances. Key battles were fought at Braddock
Down, Stratton, Lostwithiel, Lansdown (near Bristol) and Plymouth, but the tide of the war
swept back and forth until a new commander, Oliver Cromwell, galvanised the Parliament-
arian armies and led them towards a string of crushing victories, most notably at the Battle
of Lostwithiel in 1644, which effectively ended Royalist control of the southwest. The
Royalists eventually surrendered at Tresillian, 3 miles outside Truro, on 15 March 1646.
Forty years later, the Protestant Monmouth Rebellion broke out against the Catholic rule
of James II, culminating in the last battle ever fought on English soil, at Sedgemoor in
northern Somerset in 1646. The ringleaders of the rebellion were rounded up and tried in
the 'Bloody Assizes' at Taunton Castle. Predictably, most of them ended up losing their
heads.
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