The Battle of Cropredy Bridge

Following their defeat at Cheriton, King Charles’s wartime capital at Oxford was now under threat.  To avoid being surrounded the king marched his army out of the city.

Pursued by Parliamentarian (Roundhead) forces under the command of Sir William Waller, the two armies eventually found themselves facing each other on opposite banks of the River Cherwell. On the morning of 29th June 1644, Waller ordered his troops to cross the river at Cropredy Bridge and attack the rearguard of the strung out Royalist army.

The Royalist (Cavalier) dragoons were soon overpowered, but in crossing the river the Parliamentarian troops had also become vulnerable. The Parliamentarians were eventually beaten back across the river, abandoning eleven guns.

Now short of supplies and under cover of darkness, the Royalist army slipped away taking the captured guns with them. The Royalists had suffered just a few causalities, whilst Waller lost 700 men.

Demoralised and dejected, the Parliamentarians now realised that part-time troops serving far from home were not going to win this war. The New Model Army was formed and took to the field for the first time the following year.

Click here for a battlefield map.

Key Facts:

Date: 29th June, 1644

War: English Civil War

Location: Cropredy, near Banbury, Oxfordshire

Belligerents: Royalists and Parliamentarians

Victors: Royalists

Numbers: Around 9,000 for each side

Casualties: Royalists unknown, Parliamentarians around 700.

Commanders: King Charles (Royalists), Sir William Waller (Parliamentarians – pictured below).

Location:

More Battles in the English Civil War: