Battle of Rowton Heath 1645
Outline: officially registered battlefield boundary.
Key facts
| Date (year) | 1645 | Historic England NHLE name |
|---|---|---|
| Century | 17th century | derived |
| Period | Civil Wars | derived |
| Country | England | derived |
| War / conflict | English Civil War | Wikidata |
| Participants | Cavalier, Roundhead | Wikidata |
| Registered area | 63.4 ha | Historic England |
| Grid reference | SJ 45574 63038 | Historic England |
| Historic England list entry | 1000031 | Historic England |
| Designated | 1995-06-06 | Historic England |
About the battle
The Battle of Rowton Heath, better known as the Battle of Rowton Moor, occurred on 24 September 1645 during the English Civil War. The Parliamentarians, commanded by Sydnam Poyntz, inflicted a significant defeat on the Royalists under the personal command of King Charles I, inflicting heavy losses and preventing Charles from relieving the siege of Chester.
Before the battle, Charles had been attempting to link up with the Marquess of Montrose in Scotland following the Royalist defeat in the Battle of Naseby. Although his attempts were unsuccessful, they were disruptive enough that the Committee of Both Kingdoms ordered Sydnam Poyntz to pursue the King with approximately 3,000 horse. After Charles was informed that Chester, his only remaining port, was under siege, he marched intending to relieve the defenders, ordering 3,000 horse under the command of Marmaduke Langdale to camp outside the city while he and 600 others travelled into Chester itself on 23 September 1645. The intent was to attack the besieging Parliamentarians from both sides, Charles mistakenly believing that Poyntz had failed to follow them.
Visiting the battlefield
Location
- OS grid reference: SJ 45574 63038
- Approximate centre of registered area: 53.1613, -2.8154
- Registered area: 63.4 hectares
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Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Rowton Heath (revision 1370273153), 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.