Battle of Preston (1648) 1648
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 17 August 1648 – 19 August 1648 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1648 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | England | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Second English Civil War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Cavalier, Kingdom of Scotland, Roundhead | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 53.7528, -2.6794 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The battle of Preston was fought on 17 August 1648 during the Second English Civil War. A Parliamentarian army commanded by Lieutenant General Oliver Cromwell attacked a considerably larger force of Royalists under James Hamilton, Duke of Hamilton, near the Lancashire town of Preston; the Royalists were defeated with heavy losses.
The First English Civil War between Royalist supporters of Charles I and an alliance of Parliamentarian and Scottish forces ended in 1646 with Charles defeated and imprisoned. He continued to negotiate with several factions among his opponents and this sparked the Second English Civil War in 1648. It began with a series of mutinies and Royalist uprisings in England and Wales. Meanwhile, a political struggle in Scotland led to a faction which supported Charles, known as the Engagers, gaining power. The Scots raised an army which crossed into England at Carlisle on 8 July to support the uprisings. Combining with English Royalists they marched south along the west coast road some 24,000 strong. Much smaller Parliamentarian forces fell back in front of them. Cromwell was suppressing uprisings in south Wales with 5,000 men during May and June; he captured the last Royalist stronghold on 11 July and was marching east within a week.
Cromwell concentrated 9,000 men in north Yorkshire and crossed the Pennines to fall on the flank of the much larger Royalist army at Preston.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Preston (1648) (revision 1370272276), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Preston (1715) 1715 · 1 km
- Siege of Lathom House 1645 · 20 km
- Battle of Wigan Lane 1651 · 21 km
- Battle of Clitheroe 1138 · 23 km
- Battle of Ormskirk 1644 · 25 km
- Storming of Bolton 1644 · 25 km
Other battles of the Second English Civil War
- Battle of Maidstone 1648
- Battle of St Fagans 1648
- Battle of Winwick 1648
- Siege of Colchester 1648
- Siege of Pembroke 1648
All 6 battles of the Second English Civil War →
Browse more: battles in England · Europe · Early modern battles