370 Years Ago Today........

OK another one of those history things I like to run, I even had to rush the painted figure project to get this party started. This will feature significant happenings in the English Civil War but for the most part will be just short comments often with a pic or two. I will try and include context where I can as some events may be a bit left of centre.

22nd August 1642. The King raised his Royal Standard a Nottingham Castle as a declaration of raising an army for his personal use. This is seen as the declaration of War against Parliament even though other acts of hostelry had gone before.

The turn out was far below that of which he had been promised and so started the typical offers of help from loyal followers that so often failed to live up to what was promised. This would not be so bad if Charles did not always assume these offers would deliver at least what they promised if not more.



Plaque in the grounds of Nottingham Castle.

The King left Nottingham looking for more recruits after the troops trickled rather than poured in. A bad omen was the blowing down of the Kings Standard in a storm a few days after it had been raised.

Nottingham was to become a garrison town of Parliament when Sir John Hutchinson placed troops there and so it stayed throughout the whole Civil War as Nottingham had little strategic value.