Scottish invasion of England (1648)

Scottish invasion of England in 1648
Part of the Second English Civil War
Date 8 July – 24 August 1648 Location North-west England Result English victory
Belligerents
Scotland English Royalists	England
Commanders and leaders
Duke of Hamilton Marmaduke Langdale	Oliver Cromwell John Lambert
Strength
c. 24,000, not all of whom were engaged	11,200, of whom 9,000 were engaged
Casualties and losses
c. 2,000 killed c. 11,000 captured	Fewer than 100 killed Several hundred wounded

A Scottish invasion of England took place near Carlisle on 8 July 1648 as part of the Second English Civil War. The First English Civil War between Royalist supporters of Charles I and an alliance of Parliamentarian and Scottish forces had ended in 1646 with Charles defeated and imprisoned. He continued to negotiate with several factions among his opponents and this sparked the Second English Civil War in 1648. It began with a series of mutinies and Royalist uprisings in England and Wales. A Scottish faction which supported Charles, known as the Engagers, raised an army under the command of James Hamilton, Duke of Hamilton. This marched south to support the uprisings; crossing into England it combined with English Royalists under Marmaduke Langdale and continued along the west coast road some 24,000 strong. Much smaller Parliamentarian forces commanded by Major General John Lambert fell back in front of it.

Lieutenant General Oliver Cromwell concentrated 9,000 men in north Yorkshire on 12 August. They crossed the Pennines to fall on the flank of the much larger Royalist army at Preston on 17 August. Not contemplating that Cromwell would act so recklessly, Hamilton was caught with his army on the march and with large detachments too far away to intervene. A blocking force of about 3,000 English Royalist infantry, many ill-armed and inadequately trained, proved no match for the Parliamentarians, most of whom were well-trained veterans from the New Model Army. After a ferocious hour-long fight these Royalists broke and fled. A second round of prolonged infantry hand-to-hand fighting took place for control of a bridge over the River Ribble immediately south of Preston; the Parliamentarians were again victorious, fighting their way across as night fell.

Most of the survivors, nearly all Scottish, were to the south of Preston and had not been engaged. Although still at least as strong as the whole Parliamentarian army they fled towards Wigan in a night march. They were hotly pursued and on 19 August, hungry, cold, soaking wet, exhausted and short of dry powder turned to fight at Winwick. After more than three hours of furious but indecisive close-quarters fighting the Parliamentarians fell back. They carried out a flank march and when the Scots saw this force appear they routed. Parliamentarian cavalry pursued, killing many. All of the surviving Scots surrendered: their infantry either at Winwick church or in Warrington, their cavalry on 24 August at Uttoxeter. Winwick was the final battle of the war. In its aftermath Charles was beheaded on 30 January 1649 and England became a republic on 19 May.