Brown Paper Parcels Tied Up With String

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...were one of Julie Andrews's favourite things. Here's one of mine. A blast from the past, some old Minifig's boxes. A couple of the fabled Hinchliffe blue boxes, and a more recent offering from Foundry*. Okay, completely superfluous and adds an extra cost to figures, but you've got to love a little box haven't you?



* don't worry, I haven't gone over to the 28mm side, I bought some paint from them.

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Holly Holy Day 2020, Battle of Nantwich

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A photo gallery (painting inspiration) from the Holly Holy Day Celebrations at Nantwich, 25th January 2020. Which coincidental, fell on the 376th anniversary of the battle.

The march down Welsh Row to the war memorial.





Having laid a commemorative wreath, the armies march onto Mill Island for the re-enactment



Let battle commence.









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London Trained Bands - Red Regiment

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Trained Bands were a militia of part time soldiers; they were formally founded in 1571 under Elizabeth I, although their history dates back much further. Each County had a trained band, but in London there were a number of regiments. Initially there were north, south, east and west regiments; by 1638 four had become six regiments (now called red, white, blue, green, yellow and orange regiments), by the time of the First Civil War there were these six regiments and three suburban regiments (Southwark, Tower Hamlets and Westminster). Each regiment drew it's men from a particular district of the city. In 1643 they were expanded again by the formation of the auxiliaries, giving a total of eighteen regiments.


We know quite a lot about the London Trained Bands (henceforth LTB) thanks to the Royalist spy William Levett


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Sir John Meldrum's Regiment of Horse

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Sir John Meldrum's Regiment of Horse does not have spectacular or even notable battle honours, so why does it get it's own blog post? Regular readers will know that I have been having a bit of an existentialist crisis with the makeup of my two main armies. We know that generally armies had equal numbers of horse and foot, but rather than having 200 horse and 200 foot I prefer to field equal numbers of units. This karmic balance was shattered for a variety of reasons and my regiments of foot became rather top heavy.


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Meldrum's horse were formed in 1643 and served in the midlands and the north. Battle honours include Gainsborough, possibly the relief of Gloucester, First Newbury, and were besieged in Hull. After 1643 they fought at Nottingham, Ormskirk and possibly the siege of Scarborough.

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What can I say about the Portland Collection at the Harley Gallery, on the Welbeck Abbey estate, near Worksop?


Firstly, I must point out that photography is not allowed. At all.  Not even sneaky ones without flash, so you'll just have to take my word for what's there.

The Harley Gallery is located in what has to be one of the nicest gallery buildings I have been to.

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Flags and Colours Part 2: Evidence

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Updated: Seven more cornets located!

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Surviving Flags

There is a watchett (blue green) piles wavy ensign in the collection at the National Army Museum  (not on display), which very little is known about. One source claims it predates the Civil Wars (early 1630s), whereas NAM currently believe it dates from 1688 and belonged to Prince William of Orange (before he became King William III)


Picture courtesy of the National Army Museum
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Earl of Stamford’s Regiment of Horse

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The Earl of Stamford's Regiment of Horse was a short lived regiment that existed in 1643 and served in Gloucester.

They may have had a skirmish at Burford, but definitely fought at the siege of Siege of Sudeley Castle and the battle of Highnam.


Their cornet is interesting; an old Military Modelling article from the 70s, on ECW flags, gave the cornet as blue with white horizontal stripes (from the Earl's coat of arms); however, the rather succinctly titled 'BL MS Additional [Sloanee] 5247' gives the field colour as solid blue. As BL MS Additional [Sloanee] 5247 was a contemporaneous pattern book of cavalry cornets I have plumped for the solid blue field.



Just a couple of headswaps in this unit, and one of the mounted casualties.
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The Battle of Nantwich, 25th January 1644

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1643, Charles had signed a Cessation with the Irish and recalled soldiers from Ireland to reinforce his armies. Several regiments were sent to Cheshire where a  new army was being raised. Lord Byron took command of that army in December of that year, and immediately started an offensive against the Parliamentarian forces in the County.

These troops returned to England with a sense of brutality, not seen before in the conflict. One incident in particular shocked the population, no doubt adding fuel to the Parliamentarian fire. When a group of Royalists plundered the village of Barthomley, villagers took refuge in the tower of St Bertoline's Church. The Royalists made a fire at the base of the tower to smoke them out, which forced them to surrender. The Royalists stripped and executed twelve of the villagers and wounded eight others.

Alan Garner's novel "Red Shift" uses this incident for one of the three stories within a story.





Sir William Brereton, the Parliamentarian …
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Who'd have thunk it? I have managed another year of awful painting and dreadful prose.

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Earl of Essex’s Regiment of Horse, Major Gunter’s troop

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Major Gunter's troop of the Earl of Essex's regiment of horse was the senior fighting troop of the regiment. The most senior troop was the Earl's Lifeguard and were originally equipped as cuirassiers; they are often referred to as Sir Phillip Stapleton's troop, as he was the commander in the field.


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As 2020 is the year in which the 375th anniversary of the Battle of Naseby is celebrated, it is fair to assume that there might be a few Naseby 375 ECW Travelogue entries... the first visits Daventry, an unassuming market town in Northamptonshire. Keep an eye on the Sealed Knot's event list as I have an inkling they might be organising something special.


Can't say I have ever been to Daventry before...

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