| Battle of Denbigh Green | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theFirst English Civil War | |||||||
 St Marcella's Church, also known as Whitchurch orYr Eglwys Wen, which stood on Denbigh Green | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Royalists |  Parliamentarians | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| William Vaughan | Thomas Mytton Michael Jones | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 100 killed 400 captured | Unknown | ||||||
TheBattle of Denbigh Green (1 November 1645) took place during the closing stages of theFirst English Civil War. Fought just outside the Royalist garrison ofDenbigh, it has been described as probably the only action in theNorth Wales theatre of the war "meriting the description of battle".[3]
In a last-ditch attempt to relieve the strategic port ofChester, Royalist cavalry commanderSir William Vaughan ordered the mustering of around 2,000 men, drawn from garrisons acrossShropshire and north-east Wales, at Denbigh Green. Before gathering all his forces he was attacked by a larger Parliamentarian force underThomas Mytton andMichael Jones; after a hard-fought action, the Royalists were routed and dispersed.
The last substantial Royalist field army was destroyed atNaseby in June 1645. Following a failed attempt to link up with Royalists inScotland, and with his supporters increasingly confined to a series of small garrisons in the West of England and Wales,Charles I pinned his hopes on reinforcement fromIreland. This required holding the strategic port ofChester, whereLord Byron's garrison had been intermittently blockaded since December 1644.[4]
The siege resumed in earnest in September underSir William Brereton. A Royalist attempt to relieve the city was defeated on 24 September atRowton Heath, following which Charles ordered Sir William Vaughan, an experienced cavalryman who had served in Ireland until 1644, to return to Wales with the remains of his brigade and gather forces for another relief attempt.[5]
Vaughan hurriedly began to assemble men atLudlow from a variety of garrisons, including Ludlow itself,Bridgnorth andHigh Ercall.[6] His force eventually included remnants of at least ten regiments, though the collapse in Royalist supply lines meant they were poorly armed: it was reported that of the cavalry "scarce a tenth man hath a pistol".[7] By mid-October he had potentially 2,000–3,000 horse available, and issued an order for a general rendezvous with the foot within sight ofSalesbury's Royalist garrison atDenbigh Castle.[5]
Vaughan's forces and their probable destination were reported to Brereton as they marched north overCorndon Hill. He ordered 1,500 horse and a similar number of infantry detached from the siege of Chester to engage them, under Colonel Michael Jones and Adjutant-General James Lothian.[8][5] Jones reachedRuthin on 30 October, whereThomas Mytton, the Parliamentarian commander for North Wales, assumed overall command.[5]
Vaughan's advance guard had reachedChirk Castle, where they picked up a few additional infantry, on the morning of 23 October, Vaughan himself arriving by 26th.[9] By 31 October, Vaughan was encamped on Denbigh Green, an open four-mile tract of commonland outside the town, where he received news Mytton had left Ruthin.[1] Most forces ordered to the rendezvous from the North Wales garrisons had yet to arrive and diaristRichard Symonds, a volunteer with Vaughan, counted the Royalist cavalry at just 700, although this may have been exclusive of several hundred lightly armed Irish.[2] Despite the option of withdrawing to the Royalist stronghold ofRhuddlan, Vaughan chose to stand and fight - a "suicidal" decision given the odds.[2]
The alarm was sounded for Mytton's approach along the Ruthin road at noon the following day.[1] Vaughan positioned his musketeers and dragoons along the roadside hedges near the church of St. Marcella, or "Whitchurch", while the main body of cavalry were drawn up on open ground to the west of the road; Mytton responded by detaching a "forlorn hope" of 40 musketeers to precede his advance guard.[5]
The battle opened with Mytton's forlorn hope and advance guard attempting to dislodge Vaughan's men from the hedges at Whitchurch.[5] Symonds noted that "their approach was handsomely disputed by our horse and foot above an howre in the hedges and lane".[1]
Finding that his men "could not breake in upon them, but trifled out the time",[10] Mytton left his advance guard in place while making a flanking manoeuvre with the rest of his forces.[11] This involved a "laborious detour" of several miles to reach the Green, but resulted in Vaughan pulling back some of his men to face the new threat.[11] Dislodged from their defensive positions, the Royalist infantry broke and fled towards Denbigh castle. Salesbury later wrote to Vaughan "On your Foot being perceived under the Castle wall, I received them in [...] their valour and good service withall meriting my compassion".[6]
Mytton brought forward the Warwick and Derbyshire Horse, who charged the Royalist cavalry.[5] Vaughan managed to reform them around two miles from the church on Denbigh Green, where they were charged again. Some dragoons of theHigh Ercall garrison, supported by troopers ofPrince Maurice's Lifeguard, countercharged and briefly checked Mytton's advance, but following a third charge the Royalists broke.[5][1]
The pursuit of the defeated cavalry went on over 8 miles; over 100 Royalists were killed and 400 captured, and the remainder broken up into scattered groups.[5] One party was finally brought to bay atLlangernyw, where the dead were interred in a mass grave in the churchyard.[12] Vaughan and a large group reachedLlanrwst before quartering atGwydir, home ofRichard Wynn, which they pillaged.[3]
In the interim Mytton occupied the town of Denbigh, though lacking siege equipment he could not take the castle; Salesbury was to continue to hold out until October 1646.[5] With his objective of scattering Vaughan's force complete, Mytton retired to continue the siege of Chester.[5]
After Mytton's departure Vaughan regrouped at Denbigh, where he was rejoined by his infantry, before retreating southwards.[13] Symonds recorded that they reachedNewtown by 10 November andKnighton, "a pretty towne", the next day.[13] On 12th the group broke up, "Prince M[aurice's] guards toBewdley,Bridgnorth horse thither, the rest with Sir William V. toLemster".[14]
Vaughan was to make one final attempt to rebuild a relief force for Chester,[15] but with supplies exhausted Byron was to capitulate in January 1646. Vaughan instead combined his remaining men with those ofJacob Astley; this last effective Royalist field army was eventually destroyed atStow-on-the-Wold in March.[16]