Battle of Tadcaster

In December 1642, the First English Civil War had been running for four months, since King Charles I had raised his banner in Nottingham and declared the Earl of Essex, and by extension Parliament, traitors.[1] That action had been the culmination of religious, fiscal and legislative tensions going back over fifty years.[2]

In response to requests from Yorkshire Royalists, Newcastle advanced into Yorkshire with around 8,000 men, defeating the Parliamentarians at the Battle of Piercebridge, and established himself in York on 3 December.[5] Lord Fairfax had himself been leading a Parliamentarian army towards York, but when he received news of the Royalist victory at Piercebridge he stopped at Tadcaster, around 10 miles (16 km) south-west of York. Newcastle's advance had split the Parliamentarian forces, and shifted the balance of power in the county. He soon took the opportunity to march on Tadcaster and attempt to defeat the Parliamentarians in detail.[6]

The Earl of Newcastle led the Royalist force which captured Tadcaster.

On 6 December,[7] Newcastle approached Tadcaster with two forces totalling around 6,000; he commanded the larger one himself, heading directly down the road from York to attack Tadcaster from the east. At the same time, he sent the Earl of Newport with 1,500 men to circle around through Wetherby and attack Fairfax from the north-west. In the meantime, Fairfax had been preparing Tadcaster's defences: he built a redoubt atop a hill by the River Wharfe overlooking the York road, and drew in additional troops, gathering between 900 and 1,500 soldiers in the town.[8][7] In the face of the large Royalist army, Fairfax and his commanders held a council of war, and decided to withdraw from the town the next morning, 7 December.[9] However, by the time they had gathered their men to leave, fighting had broken out on the edge of town. The Royalist infantry was attacking the east side of town, still defended by the Parliamentarian rearguard. The attack meant that retreat was no longer possible, and Fairfax sent his men back to join the town's defence.[9]

The initial Royalist attack was thwarted, but more of Newcastle's infantry managed to break into the town and capture a house near the redoubt, isolating it from the bulk of the defensive garrison. A Parliamentarian counter-attack reclaimed the house, drove the Royalists back out of town, and set fire to some of the houses on the edge of the town to prevent the attackers occupying them. Both sides settled into their positions, and exchanged musket fire for the rest of the day. The planned second prong of Newcastle's attack, under Newport's command, never arrived. The historian David Cooke suggests that it was most likely due to his artillery slowing him down on the poor winter roads. The 18th-century historian Francis Drake claimed that one of the Parliamentarian officers, Captain John Hotham, forged a letter to Newport, purporting to be from Newcastle, ordering him to halt.[9]

The Parliamentarians, despite holding a defensible position, were running short of gunpowder, and decided to withdraw from the town overnight. They split their force; Fairfax took his men to Selby, and Hotham to Cawood.[9]

After the town had been vacated by the Parliamentarians, Newcastle advanced his forces into it on the morning of 8 December, subsequently garrisoning Pontefract Castle and a number of other towns in the area, cutting Fairfax off from the West Riding of Yorkshire.[9] He sent Sir William Savile with a detachment of 2,000 men to secure the West Riding towns of Leeds, Wakefield and Bradford.[10] Savile took Leeds and Wakefield without a fight, but had to split off a portion of his force to attempt to capture Bradford on 18 December, where he was repelled.[11]