Edgehill 1642

Last week I took a group of army officers and officer cadets around the battlefield of Edgehill in North Oxfordshire. It was a fine, clear morning – quite unusual for late October. Many of them had never participated in a battlefield study before, and so approached it with some trepidation. Luckily, by the end of the exercise they all were very positive about the experience. We looked at several key themes, including the manoeuvrist concept, the role of leadership in battle, mission analysis and the influence of terrain on the outcome of this first battle of the Civil War in England.

I found Chris Scott’s 2004 book Edgehill: the battle reinterpreted (written with his friends Turton and Von Arni) very useful in preparing, along with Peter Young’s timeless classic on the subject.

The battlefield is fairly well preserved – despite the presence of huge armaments depot on the site. The view from the Castle Inn is particularly fine – and you can enjoy a pint while picking out the dispositions of both armies on the ground. It has to be said though there is a fair bit of controversy over the exact deployment, which you can review for yourself on the Battlefield Trust’s superb website. http://www.battlefieldstrust.com/resource-centre/civil-war/battleview.asp?BattleFieldId=3

If you’ve not been to Edgehill, I thoroughly reccomend it, the countryside is really beautiful in a a way that only England can be, and the story of the battle is full of drama and excitement. It makes a superb case study and a truly engaging visit for amateurs and professionals alike. In a future post I’ll be talking about the many visits I’ve made to the sites of the Civil War in the West Country too…