Keep Your Powder Dry

 The #ECWtravelogue finally turns its attention to the County of Berkshire. Although that isn't strictly true, having visited the County before to visit the battlefields of Newbury 1 and 2, Donnington Castle, and the rather excellent West Berkshire Museum. You can find the entry here . The Natwest Bank in Maidenhead stands on the site of  The Greyhound Inn , where King Charles met three of his children in July 1647. Littlecote Littlecote House , Hungerford, has appeared in KeepYourPowderDry entries many times before: famous for having the best preserved, intact Civil War armoury in the country. The collection was put up for sale, and thankfully purchased by the Royal Armouries. Unfortunately a small handful of items from the collection made their way onto eBay before the Royal Armouries were able to secure the sale. The House itself is now a resort style hotel, open to residents only I'm afraid. The general public can visit the grounds to explore the Roman Villa on the site. T...

Newbury has a lot in common with Newark, and I don't just mean the letters 'N-E-W'. Both saw significant action during the Civil Wars, both have 'showgrounds' and both are host towns for wargames shows. Your little, and not so little, ones can dress as pikemen at the museum. The First Battle of  Newbury, 20th September 1643 The war isn't going so well for Parliament, Charles has taken Banbury, Oxford, Reading and stormed Bristol. He has now set his sights on Gloucester, cue the Earl of Essex to the rescue. Essex had marched from London to beat off the Royalist threat, but now he had to return to London. ' Arty' camera angle to avoid sun's reflection The King's army wanted to halt Essex's march to London, and the two sides crossed paths at Newbury. The King arrived first, taking up position slightly to the south and west of Newbury. Essex drew his army up to confront the Royalist army  to the west of the King's lines (p...