But when the Scots allied with Parliament , the region turned into a key battleground. The River Tyne became a natural defence to the entrenched royalists - if this watery line was breached by the Scots, then they would flood south and tip the scales against King Charles I. On the anniversary of the siege of Newcastle, I am searching for a little-known battlefield at Corbridge that was instrumental in this struggle for dominance. The man charged with defending the north in was William Cavendish, Earl of Newcastle and it was essential he reinforce the city from which he took his title.
Currently at York, he despatched Sir Thomas Glemham with five thousand men, however twenty-one thousand Scots arrived at Morpeth on 28th January. Glemham, fighting a losing battle, destroyed the bridge over the River Aln and fell back to Newcastle, from where he fired off a desperate report. Lord Leven , the Scottish commander, had paused at Morpeth and upon marching out on 1st February, the roads were a quagmire due to a sudden thaw of snow. Both sides raced towards Newcastle, and on 2nd February Lord Newcastle arrived first with his advanced guard.
He found that Glemham had used his time wisely by destroying the suburbs and constructing outworks in their place. Within hours of opening this response, Leven, also opened up his attack. The defensive work at Shield-field to the north east of the city was caught in a pincer of musketeers and peppered from east and west. Lord Newcastle sent in his cavalry, but movement was hampered by the mines that bled the region of its coal. The royalists lost only one man to the Scottish attack; the ironically named Patrick English!
Despite this success Leven had no cannons with which to follow through. Having left his slow-moving artillery behind in his haste to get to Newcastle, the only explosions to occur were from a captured royalist lieutenant who cursed and railed for hours. It was at this juncture that the royalists burned Sandgate to prevent it from offering cover to the Scots. On 19th February the Scots defeated the royalists at Corbridge and forded the Tyne. Leaving a contingent to continue the siege of Newcastle, Leven marched south picking off towns like Sunderland and Durham as he went.
After eight-months of gallant defence, Newcastle surrendered on 19th October When War Was Declared - 22 August ? Battle of Sherburn-in-Elmet, Yorkshire - 15th October If you ask anyone about the most decisive battle of the English Civil War, they are most likely to answer Naseby, which took place in Northamptonshire on 14th June The royalist cause is billed as being irretrievably finished after Naseby and victory for Parliament merely a matter of time.
