Marston Moor Talk Given at Monument on the 2025 Memorial March by Simon Wright

On 2nd July 1644 some 42,000 men from five armies gathered in the fields that surround us. What followed would be the largest battle of the Civil Wars which engulfed England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland between 1642 and 1651.
How did they come to be here?
I could talk about generals and the more famous units like Cromwell’s Ironsides, Prince Rupert’s Blewcoats and Newcastle’s Whitecoats. However, I intend to use one lesser known regiment from each of the five armies and their experiences to give another context to the story of Marston Moor.
In January 1644 the infantry, referred to at the time as foot, regiment of the Earl of Crawford-Lindsay which had been raised in Fife, crossed the border into England as part of a large Scots Army. This was the result of an agreement with the Scots known as ‘The Solemn League and Covenant’. They were to enter the war on the Parliamentarian side in return for the extension of the Covenant to England. The English Parliamentarians had negotiated Scottish involvement as their position the end of the 1643 campaigning season did not look favourable. This was particularly so in the North. Here the Marquess Of Newcastle had restricted the Parliamentarian Northern Association under Lord Fairfax and his son Sir Thomas to Hull or pushed them over the border into Lancashire.
In response to the incursion of the Scots the Marquess Of Newcastle rushed with his main field army to secure Newcastle, leaving the security of Yorkshire in the hands of the local Royalists. One of the regiments he took with him was Sir Richard Hutton’s Foot, a Yorkshire regiment with its officers primarily from the York area.
It is interesting to note that in a battle fought in March at Hylton in County Durham it is possible that Crawford-Lindsey’s and Hutton’s engaged each other.
Meanwhile in Yorkshire the absence of Newcastle and his troops gave the Fairfax’s chance to regroup and build up their strength. One of the cavalry regiments which no doubt did so was Sir Hugh Bethell’s which had been with Sir Thomas Fairfax when he won his victory at Nantwich in January 1644. As one of Fairfax’s longer standing regiments it is likely that it was one of those with which he stormed Selby in the April of that year, effectively destroying the Army of those Yorkshire Royalists Newcastle had left behind to secure the County.
The news of this defeat caused the Marquess Of Newcastle to disengage from the Scots and move south to secure York. They followed up with the result that York became besieged.
One of the more unusual names associated with Marston Moor is that of Bartholomew Vermuyden a Dutch officer who commanded a cavalry regiment in the Eastern Association that was recruited in Norfolk. It arrived at York with the rest of the Association in early June. York was now fully besieged.
One of the oldest regiments at Marston Moor was that of Robert Broughton, possibly raised as early as 1640 for service in Ireland. By 1644 it had returned to England and was with Prince Rupert’s Army at Shrewsbury. When King Charles directed Rupert to move to relieve York, Broughton’s went with him.
The eventual approach of Rupert’s Army led to the Allies breaking the siege and coming together on Marston Moor on 30th June as they expected this to be the best position to interdict his approach to York. However, he stole a march on them and approached from the other side of the river Ouse. Consequently one the morning of 2nd July the Allies decided to retire to Tadcaster.
This could have been a fatal mistake as Rupert had taken a bridge of boats at Poppleton and he appeared on the Moor whilst they were strung out. Fortunately for them, their rearguard was on the higher ground on the south side of the battlefield, preventing him from finding out just how vulnerable they were. This rearguard was provided by Sir Thomas Fairfax’s cavalry and would have included Bethell’s regiment.
The rest of the day was spent bringing the armies together and deploying them. Bethell’s were on the Allied right, in the first line of Fairfax’s cavalry. This would be almost opposite us towards the Cromwell’s Plump. Nearby was Crawford-Lindey’s at the extreme right of the first line of allied infantry. Vermuyden’s were on the Allied far left, part of the Eastern Association cavalry, in the second line which their colonel commanded.
On the Royalist side, Robert Broughton’s Foot regiment stood in the centre of their front line. The late arrival of Newcastle’s infantry from York around 4pm meant that this front line of the Royalist infantry was composed exclusively of Rupert’s troops. As a result, Sir Richard Hutton’s regiment would have found itself in the second or even the third line.
This late arrival led Rupert to decide that there would be no action that day and so the Royalists stood down. On the other side, despite the late hour the decision was taken to attack. At around 7:30 they advanced at pace, quickly approaching the Royalist lines. On the right wing Fairfax’s cavalry had some initial success, but their second line was beaten, not least due to the fact their their approach opened them up to musket fire on their left flank. This came from the Royalist infantry in the front line, primarily Henry Tillier’s regiment who stood at the left end of the line. Bethell’s was one of the regiments badly handled and subsequently thrown back by a Royalist countercharge. Bethell himself lost an eye and his horse was taken and used by Sir Philip Monkton, a royalist cavalry officer whose own had been killed.
Whilst the Royalists infantry had been caught unawares and their front line pushed back and possibly broken in places, this gave time for Newcastle’s infantry to form up and counterattack. Hutton’s may well have been involved in this, along with two small bodies of horse which caused serious problems for the front line infantry of Fairfax and the Scots, some of whom broke and ran. Not so, Crawford-Lindsey’s who, along with Maitland’s regiment, stood their ground. Despite possibly being attacked on three sides by a combination of horse and foot, they held until support from other Scots infantry regiments could come up.
Whilst this was going on the decisive part of the battle was taking place on the Allied left/Royalist right over towards Tockwith. Here the Eastern Association infantry had pushed that of the Royalist front line back. As for their cavalry, after stiff fight they too had been victorious, driving off the Royalist Horse. Vermuyden’s, despite being in the second line must have been involved in this as more than one charge had been needed.
Unlike the victorious Royalist cavalry of the other flank Cromwell and his officers, including Vermuyden, kept their men in check and launched a flank attack onto the Royalist infantry. To cut a long story short, this collapsed the Royalist line from its right in short order. Accounts talk of the attack meeting little resistance except from Newcastle’s Whitecoats and a battalion of Greencoats. As many will know the Whitecoats died almost to a man and Hutton’s might well have been embroiled in this. Certainly, the number of casualties reported indicates a significant part of Newcastle’s infantry was involved and not just his own regiment. That being said, Hutton himself survived, suggesting that, at least in part, they were not.
As for the Greencoats, this could have been Broughton’s but given their position at the end of the line is more likely that most of them would have been Tillier’s, particularly given Henry Tillier himself was captured.
The returning cavalry of the Royalist left wing found a very different situation to the one they left and they in turn were broken and fled toward York, bringing the battle to an end.