Battle of Roundway Down - The Battle

The Battle

Early on the morning of 13 July, Wilmot's relieving force reached Roughridge Hill, 5 miles (8.0 km) north east of Devizes, and fired two rounds from their guns as a signal to the besieged. They were organised as two strong brigades under Wilmot himself and Sir John Byron, and a weaker one under Lord Crawford.

Waller had been informed of their arrival, and he abandoned the siege and marched to Roundway Down, hoping to defeat Wilmot before Hopton could sally from Devizes against his rear. He deployed his infantry and artillery in the centre of his line, with cavalry on each flank. Recent findings of cannon balls and musket and pistol shot have suggested that the site of the battle was not in fact on the highest point of the down, but close to Oliver's castle in front of what is today the Roundway Covert.

Although Waller held the higher ground, the Royalists attacked first. Wilmot's brigade attacked the Parliamentarian left. The leading troops of this Parliamentarian wing were a fully armoured regiment of cuirassiers, the London lobsters under Sir Arthur Haselrig. They appeared to have met Wilmot's charge at the halt, and were thrown into confusion and driven back into their second line. After a brief contest, they retreated in disorder.

Byron attacked the Parliamentarian right, commanded by Waller, under fire from the guns and musketeers of their centre. Once again, the Parliamentarians halted to receive the charge, and were shaken by the clash. They too gave way and fled, pursued by Byron. Some of the fleeing Parliamentarians died when they were forced to gallop over an unseen 300 feet (91 m) precipice which is now called Oliver's Castle and is near Roundway village. Wilmot's and Byron's troopers rallied and turned on the Parliamentarian centre. They captured at least four of the Parliamentarians' cannon and turned them on the infantry. The 2000 Roundhead foot held out for a while, until Hopton's infantry who had marched up from Devizes castle deployed to attack. The Roundheads then tried to retreat northwards, but failed and the survivors threw down their arms. About 600 Parliamentarian troops were killed and about 1,000 were captured.