Battle of Olney Bridge

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Coordinates: 52°08′58″N 0°42′11″W / 52.14938°N 0.70314°W / 52.14938; -0.70314

Battle of Olney Bridge
Part of the First English Civil War
Date4 November 1643
Location
Olney, Buckinghamshire
Result Parliamentarian victory
Belligerents
Royalists Flag of England.svg Parliamentarians
Commanders and leaders
Prince Rupert
Battle of Olney Bridge is located in Buckinghamshire
Olney
Olney
Newport Pagnell
Newport Pagnell
Buckinghamshire and Olney

The Battle of Olney Bridge was a skirmish that occurred on 4 November 1643 during the First English Civil War just outside the town of Olney, Buckinghamshire. In the engagement, Royalist forces attacked Parliamentarian forces holding the Olney bridge.

The Battle[]

Late in 1643, the Parliamentarians held the town of Newport Pagnell with Olney as one of its outposts. On 4 November 1643 in response to raids on the Royalist garrisons of Towcester and Alderton, Prince Rupert set out to probably to raid Newport Pagnell, a Parliamentarian Garrison, the main approach to which then passed through the Town of Olney.[1][2], where a (Parliamentarian) London Brigade under Colonel Edmund Harvey was billeted.

When the Royalists entered Olney they caught the Parliamentarians by surprise. The Parliamentarian garrison immediately formed up and gathered at the Olney bridge which crosses the River Great Ouse. In the meadows South of the bridge, the Parliamentarians stopped Prince Rupert's forces and made a stand. The Royalists were the superior force and would have likely been able to overcome the Parliamentarians, but a defence and counterattack by Harvey's force persuaded the Royalists to withdraw. It is unclear who actually got the better of the fighting but as the Royalists withdrew it should be counted as a Parliamentarian victory.

Legacy[]

The Olney bridge where the battle took place remains in place to this day along with a memorial to the dead.[3]

Citations[]

  1. ^ Olney - A Potted History (2019).
  2. ^ The Battle of Olney Bridge - English Civil War (2020).
  3. ^ Wallace (2013).

References[]

[1]

  • "The Battle of Olney Bridge - English Civil War". Waymarking.com. Groundspeak, Inc. 2020. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  • "Olney - A Potted History". Olney & District Historical Society. Olney & District Historical Society. 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  • Wallace, David C. (2013). Twenty-Two Turbulent Years 1639 - 1661. Fast Print Publishing. ISBN 9781780356600.
  1. ^ Paine, Captaine George, 'A true relation of all the skirmishes between our forces and the Cavaliers at Owlny', London 1643. British Library Thomas Tracts E.76[3].
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