Now! Then! 2024! - Yorkshire On This Day

Excerpt

On Sherwood Forest I was set on by some troopers who disarmed me. By all circumstances they were Pontefract men, I then left Pontefract road, and went by Wentbridge, thinking to avoid them. I baited at Hatfield in the room where the Pomfret Castle soldiers were that took Sir Arthur Ingram, who is now at liberty, paying £1500 for his ransom. They are very strong in Pontefract Castle, and go where they list; they are some 500 foot, and 140 horse; some 30 of them ride, armed cap-a-pe [head-to-toe]. They are desperate men, and fall often upon our guards; they have wounded Capt. Clayton, and taken him and most of his troop the last week: they have fallen on Major Ivers, wounded his lieutenant dangerously, killed ten on the place, took both horse and men, fell upon Capt. Greatheads, wounded his lieutenant dangerously. They have since I came from London taken at least 200 head of cattle, above 100 oxen from graziers. They sound a parley for a cessation, and make a fair of their horses near the castle, sell them to Sir Henry Cholmley’s troopers, and in the cessation they drink to one another, “Here is to thee, Brother Roundhead” and “I thank thee, Brother Cavalier.” They have and do take much salt, corn, beasts, and horses from the country; they prepare for a better siege; for this day Lieut.-General Cromwell is expected to come with forces to block them up. There is no difference amongst the Pontefract blades as is printed, they agree too well.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Abbreviations:

• ER: East Riding
• GM: Greater Manchester
• NR: North Riding
• NY: North Yorkshire
• SY: South Yorkshire
• WR: West Riding
• WY: West Yorkshire

Comment

Comment

What was Sherwood Forest’s northern limit (indeed, its entire area) at that time? Any advance on Rotherham, which I think I read somewhere? Makes the confusion about Robin Hood easier to understand.

What was the author’s exact route?

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Original

On Sherwood Forest I was set on by some troopers who disarmed me. By all circumstances they were Pontefract men, I then left Pontefract road, and went by Wentbridge, thinking to avoid them. I baited at Hatfield in the room where the Pomfret Castle soldiers were that took Sir Arthur Ingram [of Temple Newsam], who is now at liberty, paying £1500 for his ransom. They are very strong in Pontefract Castle, and go where they list; they are some 500 foot, and 140 horse; some 30 of them ride, armed cap-a-pe [head-to-toe]. They are desperate men, and fall often upon our guards; they have wounded Capt. Clayton, and taken him and most of his troop the last week: they have fallen on Major Ivers, wounded his lieutenant dangerously, killed ten on the place, took both horse and men, fell upon Capt. Greatheads, wounded his lieutenant dangerously.

They have since I came from London taken at least 200 head of cattle, above 100 oxen from graziers. They sound a parley for a cessation, and make a fair of their horses near the castle, sell them to Sir Henry Cholmley’s troopers, and in the cessation they drink to one another, “Here is to thee, Brother Roundhead” and “I thank thee, Brother Cavalier.” They have and do take much salt, corn, beasts, and horses from the country; they prepare for a better siege; for this day Lieut.-General Cromwell is expected to come with forces to block them up.

The reason they go thus where they list is, first, all the forces that are against Pontefract, are under the command of Sir Henry Cholmley; and Col. Rainsborough being come to Doncaster, having a commission to command in chief from the Lord Fairfax, Sir Henry Cholmley, having commission from the Northern Committee, takes it a disparagement, and refuseth to let him have the command; so that Col. Rainsborough is come no nearer than Doncaster, and the poor country suffereth.

Here is news, that when Lieut.-Gen. Cromwell cometh up with his forces, all the northern new militia shall be disbanded.

Pontefract men have lately fetched off Mr Clayton, steward to his Excellency the Lord Fairfax, ten miles of Leeds, at his manor at Denton, near Otley.

There is no difference amongst the Pontefract blades as is printed, they agree too well.

396 words.

Tags

Tags are assigned inclusively on the basis of an entry’s original text and any comment. You may find this confusing if you only read an entry excerpt.

• Alcohol (drug) (59) ·
• Cattle (26) ·
• Cavalier (17) ·
• Cholmley, Henry (1609-66) (1), MP at various times between 1641 and 1666, supporter of Parliament in the Civil War ·
• Commonwealth of England (8) ·
• Cromwell, Oliver (1599-1658) (6), Huntingdon-born general and head of state ·
• 📌Doncaster (34) ·
• English Civil War (1642-1651) (27), a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians ("Roundheads") and Royalists ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of religious freedom ·
• Fair (9) ·
• Fairfax, Ferdinando, 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron (1584-1648) (4), English nobleman, politician and Civil War commander, father of Thomas Fairfax ·
• Hatfield, South Yorkshire (5) ·
• Horse fair (2) ·
• Horse (71) ·
• Ingram, Arthur (ca. 1598-1655) (1), the younger, of Temple Newsam, London lawyer, High Sheriff of Yorkshire ·
• Morris, John (ca. 1617-49) (2), celebrated and dashing army officer on both sides in the English Civil War, executed on a treason charge by Parliament ·
• Ox (5) ·
• 📌Pontefract Castle (6) ·
• 📌Pontefract (19) ·
• Robin Hood (4) ·
• Roundhead (20) ·
• Second English Civil War (3), February-August 1648 ·
• Sherwood Forest (1) ·
• Temple Newsam (1) ·
• Toast (honor) (2) ·
• Wentbridge (2) ·
• William Rainsborowe (1) ·

All tags.

Similar

• 3 June 1648: Disguised as a furniture remover, John Morris takes Pontefract castle for the Stuarts (and for himself)
• 23 January 1643: Thomas Fairfax, the Rider of the White Horse, captures Leeds from the Beast with the help of Psalm 68
• 15 October 1645: Unable to distinguish Cavaliers from Roundheads, Lord Digby’s victorious Royalist army flees the battlefield at Sherburn in Elmet and is destroyed
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• 2 July 1644: Henry Slingsby of the Royalist York garrison recounts Prince Rupert’s defeat at Marston Moor today, which ends Charles I’s hopes in the north
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