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Battle of Worcester 1651

Cromwell at the Battle of Worcester, 1651
Image: James Caldwell, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Outline: officially registered battlefield boundary. Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.

Key facts

Date3 September 1651Wikidata
Year1651Wikidata P585 (point in time)
EraEarly modern (1500–1799)derived from year
LocationEnglandNatural Earth (modern borders)
ContinentEuropeNatural Earth
War / conflictEnglish Civil War, Wars of the Three KingdomsWikidata P361
ParticipantsCommonwealth of England, Kingdom of ScotlandWikidata P710
Coordinates52.1889, -2.2208Wikidata P625
Official recordHistoric England list entry 1000042OGL v3
Registered area352.7 haOGL v3

About the battle

The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 in and around the city of Worcester, England and was the last major battle of the 1642 to 1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A Parliamentarian army of around 28,000 under Oliver Cromwell defeated a largely Scottish Royalist force of 16,000 led by Charles II of England and Scotland.

The Royalists took up defensive positions in and around the city of Worcester. The area of the battle was bisected by the River Severn, with the River Teme forming an additional obstacle to the south-west of Worcester. Cromwell divided his army into two main sections, divided by the Severn, in order to attack from both the east and south-west. There was fierce fighting at river crossing points and two dangerous sorties by the Royalists against the eastern Parliamentary force were beaten back. Following the storming of a major redoubt to the east of the city, the Parliamentarians entered Worcester and organised Royalist resistance collapsed. Charles II was able to escape capture.

Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Worcester (revision 1374568082), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.

Location

52.1889, -2.2208 · England

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Battlefield boundary © Historic England 2026. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. See also this battlefield on Battlefields of Britain.

Nearby battles

Other battles of the English Civil War

All 22 battles of the English Civil War →

Browse more: battles in England · Europe · Early modern battles

Further reading