Adwalton Moor

Date: 30th June 1643
Location: Birkenshaw, Yorkshire
Parliamentarian Commander: Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Baron of Cameron
Royalist Commander: William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle
Victor: Royalists

Newcastle's army outnumbered the parliamentary forces in the North, where support for Parliament was scant. With this in mind he marched on Bradford, intending to catch their army in a siege.

Fairfax, knowing that he could not survive such a siege, struck out to meet him, even though he was outnumbered by at least two to one.

The two armies met on the ridge overlooking Adwalton Moor. The terrain was favourable for Fairfax, since the hedges and lanes that stretched across the ridge made it difficult for the royalist cavalry to make contact with the enemy.

The parliamentary forces drove the royalist skirmishers away, and then set up a defensive position that offset the difference in numbers between the armies, trying to funnel the attackers into a narrow front.

"...found sharp entertainment, and those that were not yet [engaged], as hot welcome from the musketeers that flanked them in the hedges."
'Stuart Tracts 1603-1693', H.C.Firth (1964)

The parliamentary army drove off several assaults whilst in this defensive stance, but the discipline of the troops was to let Fairfax down.

Parlimentary troopers fail to suprise royalist pike. On seeing yet another royalist assault beaten back, a large part of the force took it upon themselves to chase the enemy. However, once out of their defenses, they began to feel the pressure of the Royalist's greater numbers.

Eventually these troops were beaten back, and found that they had been out-flanked by the royalist cavalry. Attacked from both sides they routed, and the remaining forces were forced to withdraw to Bradford to await the inevitable.

This defeat left Parliament with only one remaining stronghold in the North, at Hull.