After his victory at the First Battle of Middlewich on 13 March 1643, Parliamentarian General Brereton dominated and controlled much of Cheshire County. With his headquarters at Nantwich, Brereton and the Parliamentarians ruled the eastern and central portions of the county, approximately two-thirds of the region. The Royalists held the western portions of the county including the River Dee Valley and the important port city and stronghold of Chester. In the summer of 1643, Brereton began to conduct military operations with the objective of capturing Chester and taking complete control of Cheshire. In late October, Parliamentarian troops under the command of Brereton and Sir Thomas Myddleton raided Wales and temporarily isolated Chester. The Royalists soon became concerned about the Parliamentarian activities and in the fall of 1643, King Charles took steps to regain control of Cheshire for the Royalists. First, in October King Charles rearranged military commands, appointed John ByronBaron Byron, and gave him command of all Royalist forces in Cheshire and Lancashire. Then in November, King Charles supplemented the Royalist forces in Cheshire by bringing home part of the English and Welsh armies that had been sent in 1641-1642 to Ireland to deal with the Irish Catholic Rebellion. Given a new command and responsibility, Lord Byron planned to capture the Parliamentarian headquarters at Nantwich, clear the enemy from Cheshire, and then address Lancashire.
Byron’s Cheshire campaign
On 12 December, Lord Byron set out from Chester with 4,000 foot and 1,000 horse and began a brutal campaign roaming Cheshire; easily sweeping aside Parliamentarian forces; and capturing numerous strongholds. Before Lord Byron caught up with Brereton at Middleton on 26 December, his most notable incursions in Cheshire included the capture of the formidable Beeston Castle through distraction and treachery on 13 December and the massacre of 12 civilians including the schoolmaster at Bartholmley on 23 December.
The Battle at Middlewich
On Christmas while Lord Byron and his Royalist forces were bivouacked at Sandbach Heath, Royalist sympathizers from Middlewich informed him that Brereton's Cheshire Parliamentary force was deployed in and around Middlewich. Also at that time, Brereton's spies reported to him of a skirmish with Royalist troops at Sandbach. Upon receiving information about each other's positions, both military leaders mobilized their forces for battle. Lord Byron readied his troops and prepared to march the seven kilometers to Middlewich and attack on 26 December. Brereton joined his troops with a 1,500 man Parliamentary force commanded by Colonel Alexander Rigby and deployed the Parliamentary forces along Booth Lane with muskets and pikemen in the hedges and the ditches; the cannons in the middle of the lane; and the cavalry flanked on either side. After the fighting commenced on 26 December it resulted in a hard fought hand-to-hand battle that initially lasted one hour. Even though Lord Byron had superiority in numbers he found that he could not break through the Parliamentarian’s defenses. Lord Byron then changed tactics and attacked by means of a cavalry charge followed by an infantry charge under the command of Colonel Richard Gibson. This second mass attack reversed Brereton's fortunes causing his men to fall back, scatter, and seek refuge in houses and the church. When the Parliamentarians scattered, the battle was over. In the lane were 200 dead Parliamentarians along with a great many wounded. Recognizing that there was little chance of turning the tide of battle, Brereton organized a hasty retreat leading the remainder of the Parliamentarian troops northwest to the safety of Manchester.
Aftermath
The town of Middleton was left to attend to the wounded and bury the dead. A large portion of town suffered battle damage including agricultural fields, houses, shops and the church. Food stores were depleted and valuables stolen. Shortly afterward as the town struggled to recover, the populace was struck by a second occurrence of the plague. In Cheshire without Brereton’s army in the field, Lord Byron moved quickly to wipe out the remaining Parliamentarians. In late December and the early weeks of the new year, Lord Byron captured the Parliamentarian strongholds of Northwich, Crewe-house, Doddington-hall and Acton-church. Lord Byron then set his objective to the conquest of Parliamentarian headquarters at Nantwich and attacked on 18 January 1644. Nantwich, however, was well fortified and well-armed with a garrison of 1,500 Parliamentarians. Lord Byron attacked but was repelled with considerable loss. Undaunted, Lord Byron isolated Nantwich and began a siege which would continue until Sir Thomas Fairfax defeated him and relieved the Parliamentarians at the Battle of Nantwich on 25 January 1644. In retrospect, the Royalist victories in Cheshire in December 1643 including the victory at Middlewich were only temporary. Fairfax’s victory at Nantwich at the end of January ultimately thwarted King Charles’ plan to control Cheshire, leaving the Parliamentarians once again largely in control of the county.
