Keep Your Powder Dry

The ECWtravelogue returns to Essex, a county about as far away from Château KeepYourPowderDry without getting your feet wet, or having your passport checked. But first, for other Essex Civil War related locations please see:- Colchester Combined Military Services Museum Essex was Eastern Association territory, so it barely saw any disquiet during the Wars, apart from the the events that unfolded in 1648 in Colchester. Audley End House was the home of Royalist, James Howard the 3rd Earl of Suffolk. He would spend the Wars at Oxford at the King's Parliament. The house would be untroubled by the Wars. Audley End is a fine example of Jacobean architecture. Alas no photography inside, lots of Wars related portraiture, alas not originals more copies 'from the school of...'. Oodles of buildings in Saffron Walden will have witnessed the events of the Wars Saffron Walden became a 'base' for the Army Newly Modelled, and has a number of connections to events from this time. T...

Once again the ECW Travelogue packed a toothbrush and set off for the wilds of Essex, this time to visit the Combined Military Services Museum (henceforth CMSM).  CMSM grew out of a private collection to be the museum that is seen today. The museum houses a number of collections of national importance including the Donnington Collection, as well as an extensive SOE collection, and a very impressive collection of WWII uniforms.  However, what interests the ECW Travelogue is the arms and armour, 1800BC- 1800AD collection. Apparently the curator's interests lie with the Civil Wars too... The evolution of the helmet The museum really is worth travelling out of your way to; the displays are inevitably a little crowded (as they have so much stuff in a relatively small space), they would need a much larger site to display the collection better. So here's a photo gallery of some of the items on display (lighting in the museum makes photography pretty difficult), notable items have a ...

Summer 1648, the War reignites with a number of small uprisings across the country, and a Scottish Engager army cross the border. Charles is a prisoner at Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight. Colchester, and the county of Essex, which had been firmly in the grip of Parliament during the First Civil War, was slowly falling to Royalist rebels: nearby Chelmsford was in the hands of Sir Charles Lucas. Meanwhile, a failed uprising in Kent saw Kentish men flee across the Thames to join Lucas at Chelmsford. Things took a turn for the worse in Chelmsford, with some of the Essex Trained Bands declaring for the King, and Lucas was joined by Sir George Lisle and Lord Capel. Lucas's men, now numbering over 4000, marched on Colchester via Braintree.  Sir Thomas Fairfax and the New Model Army were dispatched to deal with the rebels. Lucas entered Colchester and reinforced its formidable defences. Fairfax's initial assault was repulsed, and he withdrew after losing between 500-1000 men. B...