Battle of Lostwithiel

The Battles of Lostwithiel or Lostwithiel Campaign, took place near Lostwithiel and Fowey in Cornwall during the First English Civil War in 1644. They resulted in victory for the Royalists commanded by King Charles over the Parliamentarians commanded by the Earl of Essex.

Prelude

After defeating the army of Sir William Waller at the Battle of Cropredy Bridge, King Charles marched west in pursuit of the Parliamentarian army of the Earl of Essex, who was invading the Royalist stronghold of Cornwall.

Essex had been misled into believing that he could expect substantial support from the people of Cornwall. When he had reached Bodmin on 28 July, he found that there was no chance of supplies or recruits, and he also learned that the Royalist army was at Launceston, close to his rear. He withdrew to Lostwithiel, covering the port of Fowey. Essex had previously arranged to rendezvous at Fowey with the Parliamentarian fleet under the Earl of Warwick, but no ships appeared. Warwick was unable to leave Portsmouth because of westerly winds.

Charles's army had been reinforced as it marched, and outnumbered that of Essex by nearly two to one. The first clashes took place on 2 August, but little action took place for several days, as the King waited for all his forces to arrive and Essex waited for the fleet.

Battle

On 13 August, the Royalists began to attack in earnest, occupying several outposts on the east bank of the River Fowey, making it even more difficult for help to reach Essex. A Parliamentarian attempt to send a relieving force under Lieutenant General Middleton was defeated at Bridgwater in Somerset.

On 21 August, the Royalists attacked Essex's positions north of Lostwithiel, capturing the ruins of Restormel Castle. Royalist cavalry threatened to cut the Parliamentarians off from Fowey. Essex realised that there was no hope of relief and ordered his cavalry to break out of the encirclement. Under Sir William Balfour, they broke through the Royalist lines on the night of 31 August, eventually reaching Plymouth thirty miles to the east.

The increasingly demoralised Parliamentarian infantry fell back towards Fowey in pouring rain. They were forced to abandon several guns which became bogged down in the muddy roads. On 1 September, the pursuing Royalists captured Castle Dore, another ruined fortification which the Parliamentarians were using to anchor their lines. Essex left Sir Philip Skippon, his Sergeant Major General of Foot, in command while he himself escaped to Plymouth in a fishing boat.

On 2 September, Skippon, having been told that his infantry were unable to break out as the cavalry had done, and having been offered generous terms by the King, surrendered 6,000 infantry and all his army's guns and train.

Aftermath

The disarmed soldiers marched eastward to Portsmouth in continuing bad weather, being continually robbed and threatened by local people. About 1,000 died of exposure and hunger, and 1,000 more deserted or fell sick.

Charles meanwhile wheeled about and marched towards London.

This setback for Parliament in Cornwall, and the last major victory for the Royalists, was reversed by Sir Thomas Fairfax leading the New Model Army at or near Tresillian Bridge, close to Truro on 12 March 1645.

See also

• Battle of Braddock Down which took place in January 1643 a few miles from Lostwithiel.

Further reading

• Cornwall in the Great Civil War and Interregnum 1642 - 1660; by Mary Coate. Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1933.
• Battles Royal - Charles I and the Civil War in Cornwall and the West; by H. Miles Brown. Libra Books, 1982 ISBN 0-9508009-0-2
• The Civil War in South-West England 1642-1646; by John Barratt ISBN 978-1-84415-146-2
• Civil War Battles in Cornwall, 1642 to 1646; by Richard Holmes, Mercia, 1989 ISBN 0-948087-32-3
• Faction and Faith: politics and religion of the Cornish gentry before the Civil War; by Anne Duffin. University of Exeter, 1996 ISBN 978-0-85989-435-7
• Carew: A Story of Civil War in the West Country; by Dennis Russell. Aidan Ellis Publishing, 2001 ISBN 0-85628-298-7