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. Due to the similarity, the term '' scarp'' may mistakenly be incorrectly used inte ...

and Edgehill a

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

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Ratley and Upton,

Stratford-on-Avon District Stratford-on-Avon is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Warwickshire, England. The district is named after its largest town of Stratford-upon-Avon, but with a change of preposition; the town uses "upon" and the district ...

, southern

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

, England. At Ratley, the escarpment rises to above sea level and above nearby Radway, within 300 metres of the Warwickshire border with

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

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

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

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

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

, an eccentric building of local Hornton Stone called the Castle Inn that was built in the 1740s to the designs of Sanderson Miller (1716–80). It is controlled by the Hook Norton Brewery.

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 Earl of Essex is a title in the Peerage of England which was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title has been recreated eight times from its original inception, beginning with a new first Earl upon each new cre ...

. 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 A royal commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue in some monarchies. They have been held in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia. In republics an equi ...

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 was a standard-gauge light railway 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 Midland Junction R ...

to the Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway near

Burton Dassett Burton Dassett is a parish and deserted medieval village, shrunken medieval village in the Stratford-on-Avon District, Stratford-upon-Avon district of Warwickshire, England. The population (including the village of Knightcote) of the civil pari ...

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