Monument record 1065/2 - Battlefield in Holmes Chapel

<1> Cheshire County Council, 1974, County Treasures Record, 8/A.115 (Index). SCH1000.

Holmes Chapel was the site of a skirmish in 1643 in the square near the church.

<2> Various, Various, Oral communication to the HER, Edwards R, 11/02/2019 (Oral Communication). SCH2330.

The square is reputedly the site of a skirmish which took place on the 26th December 1643 during the (First) Civil War. Supposedly Parliamentary troops advancing from Nantwich met with Royalist troops who unsuccessfully tried to hold the village square. The stonework on the northern side of the church tower reveals evidence of the effects of musket fire, quite possibly as a result of that skirmish. Notably the church registers the record burial of two soldiers within days of the skirmish and who are described as ‘slaine’ (see 3). A larger engagement took place Middlewich on the same day when Royalist troops forced Parliamentary troops from the town (see 4).

<3> Richards R, 1947, Old Cheshire Churches, p.158 & p.177 (Book). SCH2309.

Marks on the lower walls of the tower were reputedly made during the Civil War by musket balls. The parish registers record Thomas Rawlinson, buried the 27th of December and --- Sillito, slain and buried the 29th of December. These are the only entries for soldiers or others killed in during the Civil War.

<4> Phillips JR, 1874, Memoirs of the Civil War in Wales and the Marches, 1642-1649, Vol.II p.116-8 (Book). SCH8649.

<5> Ordnance Survey, 1871-1882, Ordnance Survey County Series (Epoch 1) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ7667, 1876-1888 (Maps and Plans). SCH2462.