‘Holly Holy Day’ Battle of Nantwich events at St Mary’s Church, Acton

St Mary’s Church on Monks Lane in Acton have organised ‘Holly Holy Day’ Battle of Nantwich events this Saturday January 22.

The church will be open from 9am until 11:30am serving hot drinks and buttered toast.

At 10am Mike Lea (local historian) will give a talk “The Civil War explained” inside the church.

At 11am a guided walk will head off to view the battlefields without treading through the muddy fields.

Acton Church is well ventilated, but while inside the church visitors should wear a face covering and use hand sanitiser whilst entering and leaving the church.

A representative from St Mary’s Church, Acton said: “We are very fortunate to have Mike Lea to come and explain the Battle of Nantwich to us; the hot buttered toast is a welcome treat too…on a cold January morning!”

The ‘Battle of Nantwich’ occurred during the first English Civil War (1642-1646) and was fought between the Parliamentarians (Roundheads) and the Royalists (Cavaliers) who were loyal to Charles I.

At the end of 1643, the Royalist army had secured much of the North West and Cheshire with the exception of Nantwich where, surrounded by Royalists, the Parliamentarian garrison held out under siege.

Namptwiche, as it was then called, was Cheshire’s second major town and very important due to its strategic position on the road to Chester.

A Parliamentarian force under the command of Sir Thomas Fairfax (1612-71) advanced from Lincolnshire to relieve the town.

This army engaged the Royalists in the Henhull area to the west and defeated them in the Battle of Namptwiche.

As Fairfax’s forces marched on Acton, Col Richard Gibson deployed four Royalist regiments of infantry to meet them.

The Royalists fell back to Acton Church where Col Gibson surrendered to Fairfax.

Many of the officers took refuge in Acton Church and were also taken prisoner after surrendering.

The battle took place on 25th January 1644 and it was a Parliamentarian victory.

To celebrate the Parliamentarian victory people wore sprigs of holly in their hair and hats.

(words and images by Jonathan White)