Ernest Broxap's The Great Civil War in Lancashire (1642-1651) (1910) doesn't exactly tell the story of the war from the perspective of the people, but it does make bring it down to a human scale, making it clear that war in Lancashire was largely fought out with makeshift armies that often lasted only as long as they could be paid. The depredations of the various armies impoverished the local population and in the end, the Royalist Earl of Derby, who is said to have enjoyed the popular support of the county Lancashire, was defeated because he failed to raise an army large enough to confront the Parliamentary forces. The map of Manchester above is reprinted in the book and puts the scale of the war in perspective. The siege of Manchester in 1642 was an important early battle in the war, but as the map shows it was fought over what was at the time little more than a pair of villages joined by a narrow bridge across the River Irwell.
Ernest Broxap's The Great Civil War in Lancashire (1642-1651) (1910) doesn't exactly tell the story of the war from the perspective of the people, but it does make bring it down to a human scale, making it clear that war in Lancashire was largely fought out with makeshift armies that often lasted only as long as they could be paid. The depredations of the various armies impoverished the local population and in the end, the Royalist Earl of Derby, who is said to have enjoyed the popular support of the county Lancashire, was defeated because he failed to raise an army large enough to confront the Parliamentary forces. The map of Manchester above is reprinted in the book and puts the scale of the war in perspective. The siege of Manchester in 1642 was an important early battle in the war, but as the map shows it was fought over what was at the time little more than a pair of villages joined by a narrow bridge across the River Irwell.
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Phil Benson
Born in Manchester when it was still part of Lancashire, which it still is really. Exiled in sunny Sydney, I love to read Lancashire books Archives
March 2013
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