Edge Hill is an

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''esca ...

and Edgehill a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

Ratley Ratley is a village in the civil parish of Ratley and Upton, Stratford-on-Avon District, Warwickshire, England. The population of the civil parish in 2011 was 327. It is on the northwest side of the Edge Hill escarpment about above sea level. ...

and

Upton Upton may refer to: Places United Kingdom England * Upton, Slough, Berkshire (in Buckinghamshire until 1974) * Upton, Buckinghamshire, a hamlet near Aylesbury * Upton, Cambridgeshire, Peterborough * Upton, Huntingdonshire, a location in Cambridg ...

Stratford-on-Avon District Stratford-on-Avon is a local government district in southern Warwickshire, England. The district is named "Stratford-on-Avon" unlike its main town of Stratford-upon-Avon where the district council is based. The district is mostly rural and co ...

, southern

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avo ...

, England. Edge Hill gave its name to the first battle of the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I (" Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of r ...

, in which it was a prominent feature. The hamlet has a

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

, an eccentric building of local Hornton Stone called the Castle Inn that was built in the 1740s to the designs of

Sanderson Miller Sanderson Miller (1716 – 23 April 1780) was an English pioneer of Gothic revival architecture and landscape designer. He is noted for adding follies or other Picturesque garden buildings and features to the grounds of an estate. Early life ...

(1716–80). It is controlled by the

Hook Norton Brewery Hook Norton Brewery is a regional brewery in Hook Norton, Oxfordshire, England, several miles outside the Cotswold Hills. Founded in 1849, the brewing plant is a traditional Victorian 'tower' brewery in which all the stages of the brewing pr ...

Battle

The narrow wood on the scarp of Edge Hill, in the south-east overlooks the lower slope and the plain on which the battle was fought. The battle of Edge Hill was fought on Sunday 23 October 1642 and was the first major battle in the

between the Royalist forces of King Charles I and the Parliamentarian army commanded by the Earl of Essex. The King's army started the day on the plateau above the scarp and Parliament's front line was about away. From Edge Hill, the ground drops steeply, levels out, then rises to Battleton Holt and a little beyond it are the Oaks and Graveground Copice. It was across the latter two that Parliament's army was drawn up ( to ). The King's forces descended from the escarpment and faced them, extended between the end of the spur at Knowle End and Brixfield Farm ( to ). The King's army had to descend from the edge of the escarpment if they wished to engage the Parliamentarians in battle, because the escarpment was far too steep for Essex to consider an attack against the Royalist army while it was on the edge. At the time of the battle, there were far fewer trees. The battle was inconclusive, with both sides claiming victory. It would take several more years and many more battles before the Parliamentarians won the war. In 1643, following reports of ghostly sightings published by a printer Thomas Jackson, the King sent a Royal commission to visit the site, where they claimed to have seen two phantom armies fighting in the sky above them.

Quarrying

The area around Edge Hill has been quarried extensively for Jurassic ironstone since the 11th century. Later iron ore was quarried and transported on the

Edge Hill Light Railway The Edge Hill Light Railway, one of Colonel Stephens' light railways, was in Warwickshire, England. It was designed to carry ironstone from Edge Hill Quarries to Burton Dassett where a junction was made with the Stratford-upon-Avon and Midla ...

to the

Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...

near

Burton Dassett Burton Dassett is a parish and shrunken medieval village in the Stratford-upon-Avon district of Warwickshire, England. The population (including the village of Knightcote) of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 1,322. Much of the area is ...

References

Sources

External links

BattleOfEdgehill.org
- Dedicated website
Battlefields Trust: Edge Hill
{{authority control Villages in Warwickshire Hills of Warwickshire Reportedly haunted locations in West Midlands (region) Stratford-on-Avon District