Battle of Newbury 1643
Outline: officially registered battlefield boundary.
Key facts
| Date (year) | 1643 | Historic England NHLE name |
|---|---|---|
| Century | 17th century | derived |
| Period | Civil Wars | derived |
| Country | England | derived |
| War / conflict | First English Civil War | Wikidata |
| Participants | Cavalier, Roundhead | Wikidata |
| Registered area | 242.2 ha | Historic England |
| Grid reference | SU 45498 66070 | Historic England |
| Historic England list entry | 1000026 | Historic England |
| Designated | 1995-06-06 | Historic England |
About the battle
The First Battle of Newbury was a battle of the First English Civil War that was fought on 20 September 1643 between a Royalist army, under the personal command of King Charles, and a Parliamentarian force led by the Earl of Essex. Following a year of Royalist battlefield successes, in which they took Banbury, Oxford and Reading without conflict before storming Bristol, the Parliamentarians were left without an effective army in the west of England. When Charles laid siege to Gloucester, Parliament was forced to muster a force under Essex with which to beat Charles' forces off. After a long march, Essex surprised the Royalists and forced them away from Gloucester before beginning a retreat to London. Charles rallied his forces and pursued Essex, overtaking the Parliamentarian army at Newbury and forcing them to march past the Royalist force to continue their retreat.
Essex reacted by making a surprise attack on the Royalist lines at dawn, capturing several pieces of high ground and leaving Charles on the back foot.
Visiting the battlefield
Location
- OS grid reference: SU 45498 66070
- Approximate centre of registered area: 51.3874, -1.3476
- Registered area: 242.2 hectares
Battlefields are often on private farmland: please keep to public rights of way and respect landowners.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article First Battle of Newbury (revision 1370618832), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations removed. No text added.
Battlefield data © Historic England 2026. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Nearby battlefields
- Second Battle of Newbury 1644 · 3 km
- Battle of Englefield 871 · 18 km
- Battle of Ashdown 871 · 18 km
- Battle of Basing 871 · 25 km
- Battle of Aldbourne Chase 1643 · 25 km
- Battle of Reading 1688 · 27 km
Other battles of the First English Civil War
- Battle of Aylesbury 1642
- Battle of Babylon Hill 1642
- Battle of Brentford 1642
- Battle of Edgehill 1642
- Battle of Turnham Green 1642
- Battle of Adwalton Moor 1643
- Battle of Aldbourne Chase 1643
- Battle of Braddock Down 1643
- Battle of Burton Bridge 1643
- Battle of Camp Hill 1643
All battles of the First English Civil War →
Browse more: battles in England · Civil Wars · 17th century battles