The Pikeman’s Lament : Glamorganshire aflame!

1648 and the county is ablaze

The more things change, the more they stay the same. The English Civil War has re-ignited and a small but determined force of Royalists, disgruntled Parliamentarians from Tenby, and brow- beaten farmers’ sons from West Wales are heading towards Cardiff. However, their movements have not gone unnoticed and scratch forces are amassed to hold up the Cavaliers at a defended bridging point to the West of Cardiff, Saint Fagans. 
 

The wily Hopton commanding the Parliamentarian garrison has a company of pikes and two companies from a formerly Royalist Irish regiment, these troops having changed sides once the King had shipped them across the sea to fight against the true Protestant religion. Three cornets of veteran gallopers arrived from demolishing the fortification at Caerphilly. The troops were off table to start with and the dip ice decided how many would come on to the table. Unfortunately the Parliamentary gunners took the wrong turning at Llandaff and spent the afternoon paddling in the sea at Barry.

The gunners would never arrive!

The infantry would take up position in the hamlet as two cornets of horse assembled in the open field to the West. And all the time, our mixed band of Royalists were blissfully unaware that they would have to fight for the crossing….

James also brought his horse into the open paddock but his lethargic infantry were no where to be seen.

The Parliamentary effort was to be to capitalise on the tardy invasion force. The walls around the settlement would give our musketeers some cover whilst we would out-number their vanguard. The mutinous Tenby regiment for the Royalists could then be destroyed piecemeal.

By 1648, the Roundhead horse were more than a match for the Cavalier horse. Both now relied on shock action but once engaged the decision hung in the balance….

The veteran horse pushed back the sons of the gentry and their new found friends, the Tenby mutineers, looked to be a tempting target but the dice saved them…….the Parliamentarian horse would have to suffer three follies from these false friends.

Our supporting infantry would return a telling fire and then the levee broke. On the far left our cornets broke their opponents. A second charge destroyed yet another horse unit. Not content with breaking the King’s horse, our brave men charged down upon the errant musketeers.
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However, it would take another two units of horse before the musketeers were bested. Obviously the hangman’s noose put some steel into the defending infantry.

The Irish in the service of Parliament made sure that the Royalist foot would not get through the village of Saint Fagans. Stay tuned for part two tomorrow.

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