The Last Army: The Battle of Stow-on-the-Wold and the end of the Civil War in the Welsh Marches 1646

Century of the Soldier

by John Barratt

Although the Battle of Naseby (14 June 1645) is generally regarded as the decisive action of the First Civil War, dooming the Royalist cause to inevitable defeat, fierce fighting continued for over a year, including several pitched battles and numerous sieges. By the end of 1645, with his forces crumbling and his territory shrinking, King Charles' hopes were increasingly dependent on the Royalist heartland of the Welsh Marches and the tiny field army which Jacob Lord Astley was struggling to muster there. This book describes the often dramatic preliminaries to this and sets in context Astley's campaign which ended on 21 March 1646 with his defeat at Stow on the Wold - the last pitched battle of the First Civil War, together with the last stand of the royalist garrisons in the Marches. This book, making comprehensive use of both Royalist and Parliamentarian sources, will be the first complete detailed study of these events which finally doomed Royalist hopes in the First Civil War. It will be of interest to military and local historians, the general reader, re-enactors, wargamers and modelers.

Genres: History, English Civil War

144 pages, Paperback

Published August 29, 2018

Reviews

[Scott Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

A typical example of a John Barratt book published by Helion. Well researched and well written, but with a lot of quotes from primary sources, making it far from an easy read. There are a moderate amount of typos and proofreading errors. I've only given it 3 stars rather than 4 because, let's face it, this period of the English Civil War is far from the most interesting. It could almost seem as though the extensive quotes are included to pad out the book to 144 pages, were it not aimed at academics and specialists rather than the general reader.

[Joseph Ficklen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Barrett’s account covers not a single battle but the entire final year of the English Civil War on the English-Welsh borderland. The narrative follows the flagging Royalist cause as Parliamentary armies under Brereton, Morgan, and Fairfax mop up isolated Royalist garrisons, while Sir Jacob Astley struggles to raise another army to join the King at Oxford. The battle of Stow-on-the-Wold itself is covered in only two chapters, one for the campaign leading up to Astley’s defeat, and another with a short account of the battle itself. Following the defeat at Stow, an afterword tracks the fates of the last remaining Royalist garrisons on the Welsh Marches. A great book about an often overlooked campaign.