Keep Your Powder Dry

Update: Due to the fact that the old County of Yorkshire is massive and now exists as four administrative 'County Councils', coupled with the fact that this entry was becoming unwieldly, I have decided to split it into the four 'new' Counties. You can find West Yorkshire here South Yorkshire coming soon East Riding coming soon. For sites of interest in York, and the Marston Moor battlefield see here ; Skipton Castle see here . All Saints Church  in Ripley (Harrogate way, not the one in Derbyshire) was used by the Parliamentarians as a billet for their soldiers who were pursuing fleeing Royalists from Marston Moor. A number were captured and executed against the walls of the church which still bears the scars of musket balls. Inside the Church they added graffiti  "no pompe nor pride let God be honoured" to the tomb of Sir William Ingilby (1546-1618). Interestingly Sir William's children are both claimed to have fought at Marston Moor: Sir William (junior)

Update: Due to the fact that the old County of Yorkshire is massive and now exists as four administrative 'County Councils', coupled with this entry becoming unwieldly, I have decided to split it into the four 'new' Counties. You can find North Yorkshire here South Yorkshire coming soon... East Riding coming soon... See also the Rupert Travelogue  entry for Yorkshire, and the entry for Adwalton Moor Oakwell Hall    was the inspiration for Charlotte Brontë's Fieldhead in "Shirley". More recently it has been used a number of times as a film set, including "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell". Located close to the M62 and the Leeds branch of purgatory on Earth (aka Ikea), this Tudor manor house is beautifully maintained by Kirklees Borough Council. The hall is presented as a seventeenth century home. I really like this approach, as so often historic houses have different rooms decorated for different eras, so it is really nice to see a house

When you think of a 'lifeguard' you think of a group of soldiers whose job it is to protect an individual. So the two King's Lifeguard units are a little bit of a misnomer. The Lifeguard of Foot were effectively just the King's Regiment of Foot, The same can sort of be said about the Lifeguard of Horse.  For actual protecting the King duties you need to look at the Gentlemen Pensioners. The Gentlemen Pensioners still exist as the  Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms .  The King's Lifeguard of Horse should not be confused with the Gentlemen Pensioners, they were completely separate units.  The King’s Lifeguard Regiment of Horse, served with the Oxford Army throughout the First Civil War and were led by the King's cousin Lord Bernard Stuart . Raised in Yorkshire in 1642, they were in the thick of the War from the very start being present at the Siege of Hull; Edgehill; the siege of Gloucester; First Newbury; Cropredy Bridge; Lostwithiel; Second  Newbury; the re

Way back in the midst of time I posted some converted figures which would be used as assault parties - some harquebusiers on foot (converted from foot officers) and some figures from the storming party pack from PP. At the time of writing I mentioned that I had some unaltered figures from the storming party somewhere. Well they are back, and they are no longer unadulterated. The storming party pack contains 3 petard teams and two grenado throwers. The unadulterated figures from the pack But what is a petard, and what is a grenado? A petard was a small explosive device attached to doors and gateways which hopefully blew the door/gate up thereby allowing the attackers to breach defences. Fun fact: petard comes from the old French word for fart.  Usually carried on a stretcher type device these bombs were propped up against doors, wedged into position and lit. The brave souls who had carried the petard (technically called petardiers) then have to run away very quickly. (There is a petard

Three more Royalist commanders, these were part of the package of figures that were listed as in absentia for a goodly while. First up Sir Ralph, Lord Hopton . My first use of my new russetted armour paint recipe. I hope that you have noticed that I've tried to give him the correct colour hair (according to his portraits), otherwise all that effort will be for nought. Regular readers (hello both of you) will know that we have already met Sir Ralph here on KeepYourPowderDry before: his story epitomises the notion of 'England tore asunder' as his opponent in battle was invariably his good friend Sir William Waller.  As a 21 year old Hopton undertook the C17th equivalent of a gap year, but instead of travelling to 'find himself' his goal was to 'learn languages'. Finding himself caught up in the Thirty Years War he joined a volunteer English force fighting for Frederick of the Palatinate (whose sons Rupert and Maurice we know quite well). He, and his good frien

An interesting regiment this one, changing allegiance on a number of occasions, and regularly being disbanded and raised anew.  The Marquis of Huntly appears to be loyal to himself and himself alone: which ever side was furthering his cause (or whoever was fighting against his personal enemies) would benefit from his sword.  Whilst they were Huntly's Regiment they were that in name only - they were trained and commanded in the field by Lieutenant Colonel William Johnston. Raised originally to fight in the First Bishop's War in 1639 they would fight at Trot o’Turriff; the battle of Megray Hill; and Brig o’Dee. Huntly managed to get himself imprisoned in April 1639 attempting to broker a peace deal with the Earl of Montrose; he was released from prison and he and his regiment played no part in the Second Bishops' War. They were raised again in 1644 this time fighting for the King and were present at the taking of Aberdeen; and the storming of Montrose (the town not the Marqui

Here's the final unit of highlanders from the current batch of figures for the Army of Montrose. More will follow, eventually. When I recovered from the psychological trauma of having to paint tartan. The Lochaber Highlanders were a subset of Cameron Highlanders, traditionally fiercely loyal to the crown they are perhaps best known for their modern association with the  Lochaber axe which their valley lends it's name to: the Lochaber axe is a traditional Scottish halberd that may or may not originate from Lochaber. The Lochaber men's loyalty to the Stuarts would be the last acts of the suppression of the Jacobite 1745 Rising. We don't know much about the Lochabermen as an entity in their own right (their exploits with the 1745 Rising are quite well documented) as they were raised by their Clan Chief Allan Cameron of Lochiel and their exploits are possibly subsumed into the general Clan Cameron history.  They are believed to have fought at Tippermuir and Inverlochy, wher

Captain Thomas Sandford (sometimes Sanford) most probably raised his independent Company of Firelocks in Shropshire, for service in Ireland.  Thomas was described as a 'colourful character': which seems fairly accurate, as evidenced by his correspondence. One of his letters, addressed to the garrison at Hawarden, began: "Behold the messenger of death, Sanford and his firelocks, who neither use to give, nor take quarter" He had previously been a quartermaster serving with the Earl of Northumberland's Regiment of Foot during the First Bishops' War.  When originally raised the company had a strength of about 60 men. They arrived in Dublin in 1642 and served under Ormonde, where they helped lead the assault on the Confederate forces at Kilrush. Of the men who went to Ireland 50 men returned to Chester in 1643. Once back in England they fought for the King at Hawarden* and Beeston Castles.  At Beeston legend has it that Sandford and eight of his men famously scaled

Regular readers (hello both of you) will know that I am always on the lookout for suitable commanders to augment my armies.  This time my attention turned to Naismith whose figures match nicely heightwise with PP. Naismith horses are a little 'esoteric' so they were ditched and replacement PP horses sourced. All these figures come from just two packs - the Montrose character pack (EC14 Montrose, Leslie and Dundee), and the EC06 mounted Scots officer pack. Those tempted to purchase from Naismith should check the status of the company on internet forums, as service can be sporadic at times. As of 03/01/2021 the Naismith-Roundway website has gone, and the domain is available to purchase. I fear that these ranges may now have disappeared. The Army of Montrose First up Montrose and the Royal standard. Montrose is accompanied by a PP Parliamentarian ensign. Flag as always from Maverick Models. John Scrymgeour, Earl of Dundee is also from the same pack. A third figure was rejected as