| Summary : After his successful campaign in the West Country the King's plans centred upon the relief of the besieged garrisons of Banbury Castle, Basing House and Donnington Castle. Parliament, however, feared that Charles was intent upon marching on London. The armies of the Earl of Manchester and Sir William Waller, and the remnants of Essex's army, were in the field to oppose the King but they were widely dispersed at Reading, Shaftesbury and Portsmouth respectively. However, by 20 October all three armies were in touch around Basingstoke, and with a combined strength of 19,000 men they presented a formidable challenge to the 10,000 strong royal army. Having failed to relieve Basing House, Charles advanced to the aid of Donnington Castle, entering Newbury on 22 October. On 24 October Lord Northampton was detached with 1,000 Horse to the relief of Banbury Castle. The King settled down in Newbury to await his return. The next day, however, Parliamentarian troops deployed to the east of Newbury on Clay Hill. The Royalists deployed themselves upon Speen village. The Parliamentarians decided to split their forces with Waller to attack from the west and Manchester from the east. Waller mounted his attack on Speen at about 3pm. The Royalists were taken by suprise and though they defeated the initial attack a second assault drove them out of the village. With dusk rapidly approaching it was essential for Manchester's troops to act quickly but they only appear to have realised that Waller had launched his attack at about 4pm. Two columns advanced down Clay Hill against Shaw House and Shaw Village but were repulsed in hard fighting. Night fell with both sides believing that the day had gone against them. The Parliamentarians had failed to take advantage of their superiority in numbers, and Charles, realising that his own troopss would be hard pressed to hold their positions next day, ordered a retreat to Oxford. |