| Battle of Bramber Bridge | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theFirst English Civil War | |||||||
 The modern bridge over theRiver Adur atBramber | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Royalists |  Parliamentarians | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| ColonelJoseph Bampfield Sir William Butler | ColonelHerbert Morley SirMichael Livesey CaptainJames Temple | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 600 | 2,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 8–9 killed[1] | 1 killed 1 captured[1] | ||||||
 | |||||||
TheBattle of Bramber Bridge was a minor skirmish that took place on 13 December 1643, during theFirst English Civil War. ARoyalist detachment fromArundel attempted to secure the bridge over theRiver Adur atBramber inWest Sussex, but found aParliamentarian force already in possession.
The Royalists attempted to find another crossing point, but were ordered back to Arundel, after learning of the loss ofAlton the same night.
At the start of the war in August 1642,Parliamentarian forces controlled most of southern England, including the ports ofSouthampton andDover, as well as the bulk of theRoyal Navy. WhenPortsmouth surrendered toWilliam Waller after thesiege in September, they controlled every major port fromPlymouth toHull, preventing theRoyalists importing arms and men from Europe.[2]
However, in 1643, the main Parliamentarian army under theEarl of Essex remained stuck in front ofOxford. On 13 July 1643,Ralph Hopton, Royalist commander in the south-west, inflicted a serious defeat on Waller's Army of the Southern Association atRoundway Down, nearDevizes. The combined result was to isolate Parliamentarian garrisons in the west; on 26 July, the Royalistscaptured Bristol, opening a link with Ireland.[3]
At the same time,Waller's Plot in May showed many Parliamentary moderates favoured a negotiated peace. To keep up the pressure, the Royalist high command agreed to firstcapture Gloucester, cementing their control of the west, then move againstLondon.[4] Hopton would simultaneously threaten London from the south by advancing intoHampshire andSussex, potentially disrupting theWealden iron industry, main source of armaments for the Parliamentarian forces.[5]
Lack of money, supplies, and delays in transporting the Irish troops who formed the bulk of his infantry meant Hopton was unable to move until mid October. By then, the Royalists had retreated from Gloucester, while their advance on London was checked atFirst Battle of Newbury on 20 September.[6]
On reachingWinchester in early November, Hopton's troops mutinied, and order was restored only after several exemplary executions. This provided Waller time to assemble a new army atFarnham Castle, composed ofTrained bands from London, as well as the South-Eastern Association ofKent, Sussex and Hampshire.[7]
Hopton advanced on Farnham, but failed to tempt Waller into giving battle, and withdrew. The Royalists established winter quarters at various points in West Sussex and Hampshire, includingAlresford,Alton,Petersfield andMidhurst, although his officers warned Hopton they were too far apart for mutual support. In early December, the small garrison atArundel Castle surrendered to a Royalist force under ColonelJoseph Bampfield, andEdward Ford, formerSheriff of Sussex.[8]
Leaving Ford to construct earthworks around Arundel and collect provisions, Bampfield took 400 infantry and 200 cavalry to captureBramber and its bridge across theRiver Adur. Possession would control the road leading intoEast Sussex andLewes, preventing an attack from that direction. He was accompanied by Sir William Butler, a Royalist appointedHigh Sheriff of Kent, whose property had been confiscated by Parliament.[9]
Bampfield records they marched all night but arrived at Bramber to find the bridge held by men of the Kent Trained Bands under SirMichael Livesey andJames Temple.[10] Temple was governor of nearbyBramber Castle; abandoned in the 15th century, it was not defensible, which makes it more likely he had built fortifications around the bridge.[11]
The Royalists had relied on speed and secrecy to take the bridge but were unable to assault the positions and suffered light casualties from Parliamentarian musket and cannon fire.[10][1] While searching for another place to cross, Bampfield received an urgent message from Hopton, advising him of theBattle of Alton and its loss the previous night. He was instructed to return immediately to Arundel, Waller's next target, and to send Hopton any troops he could spare.[10]
The Battle of Bramber Bridge was the end of military conflict in the immediate area, and probably the furthest point east a Royalist army reached in the 1643 invasion. Although parts of Kent andSurrey participated in theSecond English Civil War in 1648, Sussex and Hampshire remained comparatively peaceful.[12]
The skirmish was briefly recounted almost a month later in a letter dated 8 January 1644, from John Coulton to Samuel Jeake ofRye:
The enemy attempted Bramber Bridge, but our brave Carleton and Evernden with his Dragoons and our Coll.’s horses welcomed them with drakes and musketts, sending some eight or nine men to hell (I feare), and one trooper to Arundel Castle prisoner, and one of Capt. Evernden’s Dragoons to heaven.[1]
Their perspective identifies the correspondents as Parliamentarian sympathisers, with Royalist casualties going to "hell", their own to "heaven", with one taken prisoner to Royalist-held Arundel. "Drakes" is a contemporary name for the lightweight 3-inch boreminion cannon, used as ananti-personnel weapon;[13] this indicates the Parliamentarians may have used them to defend Bramber Bridge.[1]
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