The Battle of Sourton Down was a successful
Parliamentarian ambush
An ambush is a long-established military tactic in which a combatant uses an advantage of concealment or the element of surprise to attack unsuspecting enemy combatants from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind mo ...
at
Sourton Down, in
South West England
South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities ...
, on 25 April 1643, during the
First English Civil War
The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. They include the Bishops' Wars, the Irish Confederate Wars, the Second English Civil War, the Anglo ...
. After a failed attack on
Royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governm ...
-held
Launceston, the Parliamentarians fell back on their base at
Okehampton
Okehampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in West Devon in the English county of Devon. It is situated at the northern edge of Dartmoor, and had a population of 5,922 at the 2011 census. Two electoral wards are based in the town (east and west) ...
, pursued by a Royalist army under
Sir Ralph Hopton
Ralph Hopton, 1st Baron Hopton, (159628 September 1652), was an English politician, soldier and landowner. During the 1642 to 1646 First English Civil War, he served as Royalist commander in the West Country, and was made Baron Hopton of Stra ...
, who marched overnight, planning to attack the town at dawn.
When the Parliamentarian commander, Major-General
James Chudleigh, found out, he had a dilemma; he was outnumbered, but did not want to leave his artillery for the enemy to capture. He opted to
counterattack
A counterattack is a tactic employed in response to an attack, with the term originating in "war games". The general objective is to negate or thwart the advantage gained by the enemy during attack, while the specific objectives typically seek ...
, and ambushed the 3,600-strong Royalist force on Sourton Down, laying in wait with just 108 of his own
cavalry.
The ambush caught the marching army completely by surprise, and a large part of their force was immediately routed. Chudleigh called for reinforcements from his
infantry
Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...
in Okehampton, but they were spotted on the march there, and scattered under fire from the Royalist artillery. The Parliamentarians, still outnumbered despite their successes, chose to retreat; the Royalists, who were in complete disarray, and still did not know the size of the force they had faced, did likewise.
The defeat was humiliating for Hopton. Along with the weapons and equipment abandoned by his forces and captured by the Parliamentarians, Chudleigh captured instructions from
King Charles, ordering Hopton to meet up with an army from
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
. The discovery made the
Earl of Stamford
Earl of Stamford was a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1628 for Henry Grey, 2nd Baron Grey of Groby. This Grey family descended through Lord John Grey, of Pirgo, Essex, younger son of Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, ...
, Parliamentarian commander in Devon, overly confident. At
Stratton three weeks later, Hopton won a decisive victory that secured the West Country, while Chudleigh was captured, and switched sides.
Background
When the
First English Civil War
The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. They include the Bishops' Wars, the Irish Confederate Wars, the Second English Civil War, the Anglo ...
began in August 1642,
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
was generally more supportive of the Royalist cause, while
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...
and
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
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, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
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, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
were sympathetic towards Parliament, though significant opposition existed in both areas.
In July, Charles named the
Marquess of Hertford
The titles of Earl of Hertford and Marquess of Hertford have been created several times in the peerages of England and Great Britain.
The third Earldom of Hertford was created in 1559 for Edward Seymour, who was simultaneously created Baron Be ...
commander in the West, with Sir
Ralph Hopton as his deputy. They established headquarters at
Wells, but threatened by a larger Parliamentarian army under the
Earl of Bedford
Earl of Bedford is a title that has been created three times in the Peerage of England and is currently a subsidiary title of the Dukes of Bedford. The first creation came in 1138 in favour of Hugh de Beaumont. He appears to have been degraded fr ...
, retreated to
Minehead. Hopton advised Hertford to take the infantry and artillery across the water to
South Wales, while he and some 80 others joined Cornish Royalists near
Truro
Truro (; kw, Truru) is a cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its population was 18,766 in the 2011 census. People of Truro ...
. Overall command was split between Hopton and
William Ashburnham, with
Sir John Berkeley in charge of
logistics
Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics manages the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of ...
. However, their small army consisted mostly of local
Trained Bands
Trained Bands were companies of part-time militia in England and Wales. Organised by county, they were supposed to drill on a regular basis, although this was rarely the case in practice. The regular army was formed from the Trained Bands in the ev ...
, reluctant to serve outside Cornwall, or under non-Cornish 'foreigners'; this meant prominent roles for three locals, Sir
Bevil Grenville
Sir Bevil Grenville (23 March 1596 - 5 July 1643) was an English landowner and soldier who sat as a Member of Parliament for various constituencies between 1620 to 1642, although during those years there were few parliamentary sessions. When t ...
, Sir
Nicholas Slanning, and
John Trevanion.
Parliamentarian supporters in Devon also raised troops, initially commanded by the
Earl of Pembroke
Earl of Pembroke is a title in the Peerage of England that was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title, which is associated with Pembroke, Pembrokeshire in West Wales, has been recreated ten times from its origin ...
.
James Chudleigh, son of a
Devon landowner, was authorised to levy "1000 dragoons ... in Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall"; these were used to reinforce the garrison at
Barnstaple in north Devon in December 1642. The
Earl of Stamford
Earl of Stamford was a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1628 for Henry Grey, 2nd Baron Grey of Groby. This Grey family descended through Lord John Grey, of Pirgo, Essex, younger son of Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, ...
was given command of Parliament's army in the
West Country
The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Glo ...
in January 1643, and appointed Chudleigh his deputy.
Prelude
![Ralph Hopton, 1st Baron Hopton of Stratton, KB](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Ralph_Hopton%2C_1st_Baron_Hopton_of_Stratton%2C_KB.jpg)
Victory at the
Battle of Braddock Down
The Battle of Braddock Down was a battle of the south-western campaign of the First English Civil War. It was fought on open ground in Cornwall, on 19 January 1643. An apparently easy victory for the Royalists under Sir Ralph Hopton secured ...
in January 1643 secured Royalist control of Cornwall, and established Hopton as commander in the West. He wanted to attack
Plymouth, but the city could easily be reinforced by sea, and the Cornish militia refused to cross the
River Tamar
The Tamar (; kw, Dowr Tamar) is a river in south west England, that forms most of the border between Devon (to the east) and Cornwall (to the west). A part of the Tamar Valley is a World Heritage Site due to its historic mining activities.
T ...
into Devon. After some minor skirmishes, the two sides agreed a local truce in late February, allowing Hopton to retreat into Cornwall; this was greeted with incredulity by
William Waller
Sir William Waller JP (c. 159719 September 1668) was an English soldier and politician, who commanded Parliamentarian armies during the First English Civil War, before relinquishing his commission under the 1645 Self-denying Ordinance.
...
, Parliamentarian commander in the West, who argued it primarily benefited the Royalists.
Anticipating the end of the truce on 22 April, Chudleigh assembled around 1,600 troops at
Lifton, near
Launceston, where Hopton had concentrated his army. He attacked around 10am next morning, taking the Royalists by surprise, but they quickly recovered, and faced by superior numbers, Chudleigh withdrew to his base at
Okehampton
Okehampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in West Devon in the English county of Devon. It is situated at the northern edge of Dartmoor, and had a population of 5,922 at the 2011 census. Two electoral wards are based in the town (east and west) ...
. Hopton did not pursue him, noting that as usual after a battle, his Cornish soldiers "grew disorderly and mutinous".
On reaching Okehampton, some of Chudleigh's units departed, leaving him 1,000 infantry, and three or four troops of dragoons. This was interpreted as a general retreat; Hopton later recorded "there came a friend from Okehampton, who assured us the enemy was in very great disquiet and fear." Hoping to take advantage, he left Launceston with 3,000 infantry, 300
cavalry and 300 dragoons. The column was led by 300 dragoons and cavalry, then half the infantry, with their four
gun
A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube (gun barrel) to launch projectiles. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, p ...
s in the centre. The rest of the infantry followed, with the remaining dragoons and cavalry in the rear. They intended to stop for the night at
Sourton Down, then attack Okehampton at dawn.
By chance, they were spotted by a Parliamentarian
quartermaster
Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land armies, a quartermaster is generally a relatively senior soldier who supervises stores or barracks and distributes supplies and provisions. In ...
, who informed Chudleigh around 9pm the enemy was only away. In his subsequent report, Chudleigh complained that "by the intolerable neglect of our lying deputy Scout Master, we were surprised by the whole enemy body of horse and foot." Even worse, the artillery transport had been taken to
Crediton against his orders, and unwilling to abandon the guns saved at Launceston, Chudleigh planned a
counterattack
A counterattack is a tactic employed in response to an attack, with the term originating in "war games". The general objective is to negate or thwart the advantage gained by the enemy during attack, while the specific objectives typically seek ...
.
Battle
Leaving his 1,000 infantry to follow, Chudleigh took his 108 cavalry out to Sourton Down, where he found a valley backed by hills high enough to avoid being silhouetted. He split them into six squadrons of eighteen, and they spread out to wait. The Royalists were unaware of the threat; Hopton later admitted he and his senior officers were "carelessly entertaining themselves" at the head of the column, when the ambush was sprung around 11pm.
Chudleigh ordered his men to make as much noise as possible, to make it appear they were a far larger force. The first attack was led by Captain Thomas Drake, whose squadron charged out of the darkness shouting and firing their weapons. Predominantly new levies, the Royalist dragoons broke, sweeping away the cavalry behind them, along with Hopton himself. The attack coincided with a violent thunderstorm; panicked by the noise and lights, the Cornish infantry broke, many throwing away their weapons as they ran. Chudleigh's cavalry initially overwhelmed the Royalist artillery, until Slanning was able to regain the guns, and establish a defensive position amongst ancient earthworks on the moor, reinforced with sharpened wooden stakes.
Chudleigh used his cavalry to prevent the Royalists regrouping, and waited for his infantry reinforcements to come up from Okehampton before attacking Slanning. As they approached, the Royalist artillery spotted their lit matches, and opened fire, scattering the Parliamentarian infantry. Outnumbered, and having achieved his main objective, Chudleigh ordered his men to hang lit matches in gorse bushes to make it appear they were still there, and withdrew. Uncertain as to the size of the attacking force, the Royalists held their position until daybreak, then retreated, first to
Bridestowe
Bridestowe () is a civil parish and village in the district of West Devon, Devon, England. The parish is surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes of Bratton Clovelly, Sourton, Bridestowe and Sourton Common, Lydford, Lewtrenchard a ...
, a village about south-west of Sourton Down, and then later that day back to Launceston.
Aftermath
The Royalists abandoned large quantities of weapons, gunpowder, and stores, including Hopton's personal
baggage; this contained letters from Charles, ordering the Cornish army to join forces with the Marquess of Hertford and
Prince Maurice
Maurice, Prince Palatine of the Rhine KG (16 January 1621, in Küstrin Castle, Brandenburg – September 1652, near the Virgin Islands), was the fourth son of Frederick V, Elector Palatine and Princess Elizabeth, only daughter of King James VI ...
in Somerset. Despite their defeat, Royalist losses were relatively minor; in ''The Civil War in the South-West'', John Barratt suggests between 20 and 100 casualties, plus a dozen
prisoners. One of those captured, 15-year-old Captain Christopher Wrey, escaped, bringing some stragglers with him.
Despite being absent,
pamphlets
A pamphlet is an unbound book (that is, without a hard cover or binding). Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a ''leaflet'' or it may consist of a ...
published in London gave Stamford credit for the victory, a rare piece of good news for Parliament in the west. As was common practice on both sides, these were largely fictitious
propaganda; one report suggested Hopton died after "being shot in the back in his flight." In response, the Royalist poet Sir
John Denham wrote a satirical piece titled ''A Western Wonder'', mocking these reports, and praising the subsequent Royalist victory at Stratton.
The capture of Hopton's instructions reportedly led to Stamford "leap(ing) out of
ischair for joy", believing this was an opportunity for a decisive victory. He raised the largest field army he could, stripping garrisons throughout Devon, and bringing reinforcements from Somerset, to fight what he believed would be "the deciding contest of the war for the West". However, in May, he was defeated by Hopton in the
Battle of Stratton, securing Royalist control of Cornwall and Devon, including
Exeter, which Stamford surrendered in September. Hopton advanced into Somerset, forcing Parliament to send an army under Sir William Waller, into the south-west to counter him.
Notes
Citations
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sourton Down, Battle of
1643 in England
17th century in Cornwall
17th century in Devon
Battles involving the Cornish
Sourton Down 1643
Conflicts in 1643
Military history of Cornwall
Military history of Devon