Signal Gun fired by Lord Wilmot's troopers to alert the Royalist forces in Devizes castle of their arrival; significance for the site of the Battle 

Summary

This author suggests that;

• the warning gun was fired near the summit of Roundway Down (242 m)

• a re-analysis of Captain Richard Atkyns' account of the battle supports this location and indicates that the initial deployment of the armies was closer to the summit of Roundway Hill (225 m) close to the modern Roundway covert.

• this site is supported by the plethora of archaeological finds near this site.

Introduction 

Devizes was under siege by Parliamentary troops from July 9th to July 13th, 1643. Lord Hopton was in command in the castle. At night on  July 10th Price Maurice broke the siege  with  a group of Royalist cavalry. They went towards Oxford to get reinforcements.. The leaders on better horses reached Oxford on July 11th. On July 12th Lord Wilmot left Oxford with 1500 cavalry and two light cannons and  rendezvoused with Lord Crawford's troops in Marlborough.

On July 13th, 1643 the troops now numbering 1800 reached the area of Roundway Down.

Captain Richard Atkyns was in Lord Wilmots cavalry; in his account he says; " we lost no time,marched toward the enemy, who stood towards the top of the hill; the foot in the middle between two wings of horse, and the cannon before the foot; there were 4 hills like the four corners of die, in such a champaign, as 40,000 men might fight in. Upon one of the hills we discharged our cannon to give notice to our foot that we were come to their relief."

This is an account from Bellum Civile - Sir Ralph Hoptons's account of the battle. He was based in Devizes castle. "The next morning (Thursday July 13th) there was notice brought to Sir Ralph Hopton in to his Lodgeing that the Enimy drew off, and upon inquiry finding that he drew off towards the downes he presently concluded, that the expected succours from Oxford were at hand, and gave order to have all the souldiers in theire quarters in readiness to marche out. Verie shortly after Prince Maurice and Lord Wilmot who were returned with a verie gallant party of the King's horse, appeared 3  miles off upon the hills, and having Ordnance with them gave two gunns for a warning to the Towne,which was answeared againe by the Earle of Marleborough from the old Castle where the Trayne was".

Where was the warning Gun fired from? This has big implications for the actual location of the battle.

• On the map below possible positions for the gun are labelled 1, 2 and 3
• The long pale blue line is the old coach road going from Marlborough to Bath. The dark blue arrow is one possible line of approach by Lord Wilmot after passing through the old Shepherd's Shore. Note that two positions are given for Shepherds Shore - two breeches in the 6th century Wansdyke ditch and bank. The 17th century one was where the 17th century coaching road went through the Wansdyke. This provides the first view of Roundway Down. The 20th century  one is shown on modern OS maps and is on the modern Devizes to Marlborough road - the A361. 
• The road to Devizes in 1643 took off from the Marlborough to Bath coaching road after Shepherds' Shore and passed the Old Stone pit before hitting what is now the main A road.

A fundamental strategic set of questions are:

a) Did Waller reach Roundway Down in time to set the layout of the battle or did the Royalist army surprise Waller and control the positon of the battle?

b)) If Waller did establish the battle location, was his objective to stop, if possible, the Royalist Horse joining with their Foot in Devizes? or

c) Did he establish his troops in what he perceived the strongest position given his superiority in Foot and cannon?

The actual location of the warning gun can help answer these questions.

Option 1 Morgan's Hill 260 m 

Morgan's Hill is a weak candidate for the firing of the gun. There is no line of sight or sound between this hill and Devizes castle. It is 4 miles away from Devizes and probably too far for a17th century cannon to be heard. Roundway covert at 220m shields Devizes from Morgan's Hill.

One also can question whether Wilmot would bother to go up to the top of the Hill when Roundway Down is clear from Shepherds' Shore.

Option 2 Roughridge Hill 221 m

There are no accounts of the battle that mention any Hill  - except the general term Roundway Down. Brigadier Young in his interpretation of Captain Atkyns' account of the battle (above) allocates Roughridge Hill as one of " there were 4 hills like the four corners of die" and as the position from which the warning gun was fired.

This is possible. There is a line of direct sight between the summit of Roughridge Hill and the castle. I have confirmed this from a plot of contour lines and distance. I have also taken a good telephoto of St. James Church, Devizes from that hill. However the Hill is 4.3 miles away - somewhat larger then the eye witness report of "appeared 3  miles off upon the hills, and having Ordnance with them gave two gunns for a warning to the Towne" (Hopton). 

A Devizes military historian, Colonel Robin Hodges, has stated that he believes that 17th century cannon, with the quality of powder then available, would not be capable of being heard more that two to three miles away. It would be interesting to do some experimental tests.

I   believe that there have been interpretative errors with the location of Shepherd's Shore. In 20th century maps this appears as on the A361 Devizes to Marlborough Road. However in the 17th century the road to Devizes passed to the north-west of this as shown on the map above and marked old or 17th century Shepherd Shore. There was was an Inn there up to the 19th century to service travellers. Thus Lord Wilmot and his troops would be following this old road and would have no reason to go anywhere near Roughridge hill.

For these reasons, and others developed below, it is unlikely that the warning gun was fired from Roughridge Hill.

Option 3 the high point of Roundway Dow 242 m 

This hill is 2.4 miles from Devizes Castle and is very visible from Devizes.  The Hopton account states  "appeared 3  miles off upon the hills, and having Ordnance with them gave two gunns for a warning to the Towne".  So this site is most  probable on distance grounds.

English Heritage and the Battlefields Trust believe that this very small plateau was the site of the cavalry battle. For that to be true the warning gun must have  been fired from Roughridge Hill, as the Parliamentarians occupied the top of the  Roundway Down high point. This site is relatively small and one can ask why Waller would have chosen this place. He would have opened himself to a rear attack from the 3000 Cornish infantry that he would expect from Devizes Castle.

It seems more likely that the warning gun was fired from this Hill by a small troop of men with cannon on Lord Wilmot's left flank. They were probably sent on a small diversion from the main force to warn the Royalist foot in Devizes.

Some have suggested that Waller was unfamiliar with Roundway Down and that he rushed the assembly of his troops due to the unexpected arrival of Wilmot. However Hopton's account indicates that there was no particular haste about the relocation of the Waller's siege forces to Roundway Down. Atkyns' report indicates that Waller's forces were on top of the hill already assembled when they  hove into view.

It is known that Waller paraded his whole army on Roundway Hill on July 11th, two days before the battle. Waller was billeted at Roundway farm (under what is now the Covert) and he tells the story that on one evening his supper was not cooked and that went up the hill to see his men - horse or cavalry on the Downs. This suggests that on at least one night his cavalry were camped on Roundway down - this perhaps is the origin of the name Oliver's camp or castle.  Cromwell of course was not in Devizes until 1645. It is suggested here that Roundway Down near Oliver's castle was probably the camp for Waller's troop during much of the siege. It provided good safe grazing for the animals.

What this shows is that Waller was well aware of the terrain of Roundway Down and would have chosen that best site suited to his forces. Would he have chosen the high point of Roundway Down (242 m) or the site near the high point in front of today's Covert (225 m).? This is an interesting military dilemma.

There is another interpretation of the words of Captain Richards Atkyns of Wilmot's cavalry "there were 4 hills like the four corners of die, in such a champaign, as 40,000 men might fight in. Upon one of the hills we discharged our cannon to give notice to our foot that we were come to their relief."

English Heritage have presumably included Roughridge Hill as one corner of the die (dice) with Morgan's Hill, Kings Play Hill and Roundway Down high point. However a study of the first map at the beginning of the article shows that this hardly makes a shape of a die (dice).

On the map above I have included this second interpretation. What perhaps has not been appreciated before is that the high point of the south-west  part of Roundway Down is 225 m. If this is included as one corner of the die, and realising that the approach of the Wilmot army was through the 17th century Shepherd's Shore then there is a good quadrilateral with Roundway covert (225m),  Roundway Down (242 m), Morgan's Hill (260 m), and Kings Play Hill (224 m). This is shown as a dotted line quadrilateral. This area truly is "a champaign, as 40,000 men might fight in." If this is a correct interpretation then the Roundway Down high point at 242m is the natural place for the firing of the warning gun. And the place where Waller assembled his army would have been at the top of the Hill near what is now Roundway Covert at about 220 m.

This battle site protects Waller's rear, provides a lot of space for manoeuvring and gives access to the Bath road.

Illustration of the size of the Downs between Morgan's Hill and what is now Roundway Covert

The landscape of Roundway Down and its large size is well shown in the photogallery of both aerial and ground photos 

Below there are 4 photos of Roundway Down taken from the old coaching road where it crosses the modern  Devizes to Calne road.

In the first photo from left to right; the summit of Roundway Down (242 m) 0.9 miles away and marked 3 on the map above. Far right is Roundway covert at 224 m , 1.8 miles away.