First Battle of Newbury The First Battle of Newbury was a battle of the First English Civil War that was fought on 20 September 1643 between a Royalist army , under the personal command of King Charles , and a Parliamentarian force led by the Earl of Essex . Following a year of Royalist successes in which they took Banbury , Oxford and Reading without conflict before storming Bristol , the Parliamentarians were left without an effective army in the field . When Charles laid siege to Gloucester , Parliament was forced to muster a force under Essex with which to beat Charles ' s forces off . After a long march , Essex surprised the Royalists and forced them away from Gloucester before beginning a retreat to London . Charles rallied his forces and pursued Essex , overtaking the Parliamentarian army at Newbury and forcing them to march past the Royalist force to continue their retreat . Essex reacted by making a surprise attack on the Royalist lines at dawn , capturing several pieces of high ground and leaving Charles on the back foot . A series of Royalist attacks led to large number of casualties and the slow retreat of Essex ' s force , which was driven from the central hill and almost encircled ; Essex succeeded in rallying his infantry , however , and pushed forward in a counter - attack . The slowing of this counter - attack in the face of the Royalist cavalry forced Essex to send for reinforcements , who , while marching to him , were attacked and forced to retreat . This left a hole in the Parliamentarian line , dividing the army into two wings through which the Royalists hoped to pass , splitting the Parliamentarians and allowing Charles ' s troops to encircle and defeat the enemy . In line with this , the Royalists moved forward to press the attack , but were forced to halt by the London Trained Bands . With night falling , the battle ended , and both exhausted armies disengaged . The next morning , low on ammunition , the Royalists were forced to allow Essex to pass and continue his retreat to London . Reasons for the Royalist defeat include shortage of ammunition , the relative lack of professionalism of their soldiers and the tactics of Essex , who compensated " for his much lamented paucity of cavalry by tactical ingenuity and firepower " , countering Rupert ' s cavalry by driving them off with mass infantry formations . Although the numbers of casualties were relatively small ( 1 , 300 Royalists and 1 , 200 Parliamentarians ) , historians who have studied the battle consider it to be one of the most crucial of the First English Civil War , marking the high point of the Royalist advance and leading to the signing of the Solemn League and Covenant , which brought the Scottish Covenanter s into the war on the side of Parliament and led to the eventual victory of the Parliamentarian cause . Background . After the failure of Parliamentarian forces to gain a conclusive victory at the Battle of Edgehill in 1642 , the Royalist armies had advanced on London , capturing Banbury , Oxford and Reading without conflict . On 13 November they faced the Earl of Essex at the Battle of Turnham Green , with Charles ' s advisers persuading him to retreat to Oxford and Reading . After Essex besieged Reading and Charles ' s armies failed in their attempts to relieve the town , a stalemate occurred on the front ; Essex ' s army could not directly engage with the Royalists at Oxford due to disease in the ranks , while Charles was prevented from advancing due to the exhaustion of supplies and ammunition after the failed expedition to Reading . Despite this setback , the war was turning increasingly in favour of the Royalists . The early months of 1643 saw a " crushing " defeat of the Parliamentarians at the Battle of Adwalton Moor , while the Battle of Roundway Down left Parliament without an effective army in the west of England , the lack of which allowed the Royalists under Prince Rupert to storm Bristol with the Western Army and Oxford Army . The result was that Parliamentarian forces were depleted and appeared to be losing ; Essex ' s army was the only significant one left in the field , and it suffered from reduced morale due to the defeats inflicted on Parliament by Royalist forces elsewhere in the war . Bristol . Despite this , Royalist forces were significantly depleted by the battle at Bristol . Suffering over 1 , 000 men dead , and having exhausted their supplies , the armies were forced to regroup . Even considering this , the capture of Bristol is considered the high - water mark for the Royalist cause during the First English Civil War . With the city captured , however , an immediate dispute occurred over who was to govern it , and this led to Charles travelling there on 1 August to take personal command of the Royalist forces . Upon arriving he called his Council of War together to discuss their next move , the primary questions at hand being " first , whether the armies should be united , and march in one upon the next design ? And then , what the design should be ? " . The Western Army , although still strong , refused to advance further to the East due to the presence of Parliamentarian forces within Dorset and Cornwall ; the Army ' s commanders felt that , if they tried to push for such a move , their forces would either mutiny or simply desert . Because of this unrest , it was quickly resolved that the Western Army would remain an independent fighting force and remain in Dorset and Cornwall to " mop up " the remaining Parliamentarians . Accordingly , the Western Army , commanded by Lord Carnarvon , remained in the region , capturing Dorchester in a bloodless victory on 2 August . Prince Maurice left 1 , 200 infantry and approximately 200 cavalry to garrison Bristol before marching to Dorchester and personally taking command . The greater issues were what to do with the Oxford Army and what the " next design " of the Royalist campaign would be . Rupert ' s strategy was to advance through the Severn Valley and capture Gloucester , which would allow Royalist forces in South Wales to reinforce Charles ' s army and thus allow for an assault on London . Another faction , however , argued that London could be captured with the army as it was , and that Gloucester would serve as a distraction from the main goal of the campaign . By 6 August , it was clear that Rupert ' s strategy would be abandoned ; instead , an alternate means of capturing the city was considered . During the early stages of the war , the loyalty of combatants on both sides , particularly that of professional soldiers , had been flexible . Gloucester was led by Edward Massie , a non - partisan mercenary who only took a job with the Parliamentarians after he was refused a significant Royalist command . At the same time , it was felt that there was " a strong if so far silent party of Royalist sympathisers in the city " , while the governor of Sudeley Castle was reporting that Gloucester ' s soldiers had stated they would not resist a Royalist advance . Given this , the Council of War decided to march on Gloucester – not to besiege it or capture it by force , but to capture it by having the governor betray the city beforehand . William Legge , who had served with Massie in the Bishops ' Wars , contacted him and asked him to " surrender Gloucester to his lawful sovereign " . Although this message was rebuffed , Legge ' s messenger reported that he had met Massie a second time in secret , and had been asked to tell Legge that Massie was willing to surrender the town to the King . As a result of this , on 7 August Charles and the Oxford Army marched to Gloucester . Gloucester . Charles ' s main force began marching on 7 August and reached the village of Painswick a day later ; however , Rupert ' s cavalry screen had already advanced and taken the village . Charles himself did not accompany the force , but instead rode across the Cotswolds to Rendcomb , where he met reinforcements from Oxford on 9 August . On the morning of 10 August , the Royalist army marched to Gloucester itself and besieged the city with approximately 6 , 000 infantry and 2 , 500 cavalry . With the force assembled , Charles sent a group of heralds , escorted by 1 , 000 musketeers , forward at approximately 2pm , at which point they read out the King ' s demands to a meeting of 26 local Council and garrison officers , including Massie . The King ' s announcement was that if the officers submitted , he would pardon all the officers , prohibit his army from causing any damage to the city , and leave only a small garrison behind . If they did not , he would take the city by force , and the inhabitants would be responsible " for all the calamities and miseries that must befall them " . Despite earlier claims that Massie would surrender , he did not ; a short time later , a refusal of the offer was drawn up and unanimously signed by the officers . The reasons for Massie ' s failure to surrender the city , despite the feelers he put out to Royalist contacts , are unknown . At this point , Charles called another Council of War to discuss the situation . It was resolved that Gloucester must still be taken ; if it was left in Parliamentarian hands , it would act as a break in lines of communication should the Royalists advance further east towards London . In addition , Charles ' s personal reputation had been sullied – travelling so far and yet not taking Gloucester would impact on the respect and prestige accorded to him , about which he was " notoriously sensitive " . Based on reconnaissance , Charles ' s officers were confident that the garrison ' s food and ammunition would not last long ; they argued that the city could be taken in less than 10 days , with Parliament lacking an effective army to relieve the city . If Essex ' s forces did not attack , the Royalists would take the city . If they did attack , they would be exhausted and , according to Royalist intelligence , far weaker than the Oxford Army , allowing Charles to destroy Parliament ' s one remaining significant force . Under the direct command of the Earl of Forth , the Royalists laid siege to the city ; Rupert had suggested a direct assault , but this proposal was not adopted due to fears of high casualties . By 11 August , the Royalist trenches were dug and the artillery prepared , despite Massie ' s attempts to disrupt work with musket fire . With this work done , there was no way out for the Parliamentarians ; the only hope was to delay the Royalists long enough for a relief army to arrive . To this end , Massie ordered raids under the cover of darkness , with James Harcus , his second - in - command , leading a raid on the artillery trenches . In revenge the Royalists attacked the east of the city , but were driven off by cannon fire . 12 August saw more raids , this time during the day , which cost the Royalists 10 men and a supply depot , with no Parliamentarian losses . Despite this , the assaults did not disrupt Royalist preparations and by the evening they were able to start bombarding the town . By 24 August , the Royalists , suffering from shortfalls in their stocks of gunpowder and cannonballs , remained unable to breach the walls . Essex , in the meantime , had been urgently preparing his army , which thanks to disease , indiscipline and desertion numbered less than 6 , 000 infantry and 3 , 500 cavalry . This was not a force strong enough to defeat the Royalists , and so he demanded an extra 5 , 000 soldiers ; Parliamentarians in London responded by enlisting the London Trained Bands , which provided an additional 6 , 000 men . Taking into account additional problems and desertions , the eventual force was 9 , 000 footsoldiers and 5 , 000 cavalry . After being mustered on Hounslow Heath , the army began marching towards Aylesbury , arriving on 28 August . This force was formally mustered on 30 August , and after being reinforced by Lord Grey on 1 September at Brackley , marched to Gloucester . On 5 September , with heavy rain falling , the Parliamentarian army reached the town and camped on Prestbury Hill , immediately outside it ; their presence forced the Royalists to abandon the siege given that neither army , wet and exhausted , was in a state to seek battle . Pursuit . Charles ' s cautious failure to directly assault the town , putting a higher priority on minimising losses than on victory , had cost the Royalists dear ; while claims for their number of dead and wounded men ranged from 1 , 000 to 1 , 500 , only around 50 people inside the city were killed . Essex ' s force , on the other hand , was in relatively good shape ; its one issue was the lack of supplies . If he stayed in the Severn valley , Essex would be unable to get reinforcements or outside aid , the London elements of the army would demand to go home , and the one remaining significant Parliamentarian force would find itself pinned down , while Charles , with secure bases at Oxford and Bristol , would be able to starve them into surrender while other Royalist armies ran rampant through Britain . Because of this , Essex had no choice but to try to return to London . Travelling back across the Cotswolds , as he had done to reach Gloucester initially , would expose the Parliamentarians to Charles ' s cavalry on open ground . The first alternative was to march southeast to the River Kennet and cross it , going through Newbury and returning to Reading ' s fortifications , thus evading the Royalists and allowing for a safe retreat to London . The disadvantage to this was the time it would take to cross the relatively open land between Essex ' s position and the Kennet . The second , and the option Essex initially took , was to go north , either to make battle in more advantageous circumstances or to evade the Royalists . If Essex was able to cross to the west bank of the River Avon , he could secure the bridges across it and prevent the Royalists from crossing it and confronting his army . His cavalry advanced to Upton to screen the main force from Royalist interference on 11 September , with the rest of the soldiers quickly following . The Royalists were left wrong - footed ; Charles did not discover Essex ' s retreat for another 24 hours , during which the gap between the armies widened . The Royalists finally began to march on 16 September , with Rupert ' s cavalry streaming ahead to try to disrupt the Parliamentarian retreat . By 18 September , Rupert ' s force had caught up to the Parliamentarians outside Aldbourne . Essex had lost his advantage ; Parliamentarian intelligence reports had convinced him that Charles was heading towards Oxford and had given up the campaign . In fact Charles was barely away , but the complacency such reports induced meant that one contemporary source stated the Parliamentarians were marching barely a day , allowing the Royalists to quickly catch up . Suitably chastened by the discovery of his error , Essex increased the pace of his retreat , with the Royalists pursuing closely . Both sides were heading for Newbury , on roughly parallel routes ; the Royalists ' route took them through Faringdon and Wantage , increasing the distance they would have to travel to while the Parliamentarians had to travel only 20 . Charles reacted by dispatching Rupert and 7 , 000 cavalry in a flying column to disrupt and harass the Parliamentary retreat . Encountering Essex ' s forces at Aldbourne Chase , Rupert made battle ; however , lacking enough troops to engage the Parliamentarians directly , he instead attacked a section of their army , causing chaos and crucially delaying Essex ' s march just enough for Charles ' s forces to close the gap . The effect of Rupert ' s actions , even after his forces disengaged , was to force another delay in the Parliamentarian retreat ; Essex spent much of 19 September looking after wounded soldiers and , when he finally managed to begin moving again , he was confronted with swampland and bog which further delayed him while the Royalists marched across the relatively open chalk downs above the Kennet . These hardships meant that the Royalists arrived at Newbury before Essex , with both armies settling down for the night outside the town , too exhausted to immediately fight . Newbury . Landscape . The landscape of the area around Newbury was a significant factor in the tactics of both sides during the resulting battle . Though the land was mostly open country , a crescent - shaped escarpment known as Biggs Hill sat between the Royalist and Parliamentarian forces . To either side of Essex ' s army lay open fields , while the battlefield was bracketed by the River Kennet on one side and the River Enbourne on the other , which neither side attempted to cross on foot . Essex ' s most obvious route of advance was to push past the Royalist forces , secure the bridge and return to London . Unfortunately , the open area approaching the bridge was a " killing ground " ; soldiers would be entirely in the open and forced to march no more than six abreast , which would prevent Essex effectively deploying against a Royalist attack and leave the Parliamentarian ' s forces bunched up and subject to artillery fire . Even if Essex managed to cross the bridge , the other side of the river featured several hundred metres of waterlogged ground , which would slow his soldiers and leave them open to attack while necessitating the abandonment of the Parliamentarian artillery , a " major humiliation for a seventeenth - century army " . The only alternative to a bridge - based retreat would be to bypass Newbury completely by marching around the Royalists , but this would again involve moving through open fields and subjecting Essex ' s soldiers to the attacks of Royalist cavalry , who were described as greatly outnumbering the Parliamentarian cavalry . Confronting the Royalists directly would involve moving into ground described as containing " dense copses and unnumerable banked hedges with ditches flanking fields and lining sunken lanes " ; while this would allow the troops to move in a concealed fashion , it would also make deployment difficult , and the numerous lanes would restrict movement in the heat of battle . Order of Battle . There are no definitive orders of battle for Newbury , as official contemporary evidence is thin ; it is possible to glean some information from both later official reports and contemporary accounts , which allow for a reconstruction of the likely disposition of each force . The Royalists were led by Charles I personally , with William Vavasour commanding the right wing , Prince Rupert the left , and Sir John Byron the centre . Artillery support consisted of 20 cannons in total : 6 heavy , 6 medium and 8 light . Initial Royalist and Parliamentarian estimates were of a force of around 17 , 000 men ; modern estimates are of around 7 , 500 infantry , and 7 , 000 cavalry . Essex led the Parliamentarians , commanding both the entire force and , separately , the right wing ; the left wing was commanded by Philip Stapleton . Artillery support was provided by two heavy cannons and around 20 light cannons ; most of the heavy artillery was left at Gloucester to help defend the city . Estimates as to the total number of men vary between 7 , 000 and 15 , 000 ; John Barratt , noting the losses at Gloucester , estimates that Essex ' s force totalled around 14 , 000 men , with 6 , 000 cavalry and dragoons and 8 , 000 infantry . Battle . Essex attacks . The battle began on 20 September ; Essex ' s army was roused before dawn , and initial reports stated he had gone " from regiment to regiment . . . [ putting ] the question of a battle unto them " . After consultation , the army advanced with " most cheerfull and courageous spirits " at around 7am . Divided into " three bodies of Foot , both lined and flanked with bodies of Horse " , with a reserve behind them , the army was preceded by Stapleton ' s cavalry , which quickly cleared the Royalist pickets and allowed Essex ' s advance to Wash Common , a patch of open ground between the two forces . This march took approximately an hour due to the heavy clay soil being soaked from the previous night ' s rain ; the open space before Biggs Hill , the objective of their march , allowed for a much welcome chance to regroup . Rupert had established a cavalry guard on Biggs Hill ; while the size is unknown , it was large enough to attack the Parliamentarian horse head - on . Stapleton waited until the Royalists were close before firing , leading to the faltering of their charge and the advance of the Parliamentarian cavalry to drive them off with swords . The cavalry were unable to make further gains , having engaged only a small part of the Royalist horse and being unwilling to press their attack against the larger body . By this point the Parliamentary right flank , under Philip Skippon , had begun assaulting the main Parliamentary objective – the nearby Round Hill . The official account suggests that the Parliamentarians " charged so fiercely that [ they ] beat [ the Royalists ] from the hill " ; Royalist accounts , on the other hand , argue that the hill was actually completely undefended . The official account fails to mention casualties to either attackers or defenders , or what happened to the Royalist guns which were allegedly deployed on the hill . " Both sides ' arguments have a ring of conviction but although Essex and his partisans seem to have been genuine in their belief that they had assaulted and captured a defended position , the facts suggest that the Royalist version was closer to the truth . In other words , the king and his generals had been caught napping " . Regardless of what had happened , the capture of Round Hill gave Essex the advantage , allowing Skippon to position 1 , 000 musketeers on top of it to fire down into any Royalist advance . Royalist counter - attack . As a result of this quick advance , Charles found his army in chaos , with Skippon ' s force organised and flanking them . The Royalist council of war reconvened to discuss the events , and accounts suggest the meeting was acrimonious , with the fall of Round Hill described as " a most gross and absurd error " . Rupert decided to try to contain both Essex and Skippon . Leaving two regiments of horse with Byron , he led the remainder of the cavalry to Essex ' s position on the left flank . Byron , in the meantime , was commanded to support an attack by the Royalist musketeers on Skippon ' s force , drawing his regiments up behind the infantry " ready to second them in case the enemy ' s horse should advance towards them " . Rupert ' s advance has been criticised by both Parliamentarian and Royalist sources ; instead of a small engagement , the stubbornness of the Parliamentary resistance forced Rupert to commit more and more forces to the fray , eventually turning a series of small engagements into a full - scale battle , with reinforcements gradually being drawn in . The terrain limited the localised advantage Rupert ' s forces had in numbers , but after three attacks Stapleton ' s brigade crumbled , allowing Rupert to hook around Essex ' s left flank , stop his advance and capture five pieces of artillery . This came at a cost ; the Royalists took heavy casualties , and failed to completely break Essex ' s infantry . The infantry instead stubbornly retreated , allowing the Parliamentary cavalry to reorganise behind them . Even though his advance had been stopped , Essex was not yet beaten . Byron ' s attack on Skippon ' s musketeers in the centre also went poorly . Pushing three regiments of foot forward , the force suffered similarly high casualties in an attempt to take Round Hill ; after the attack stalled , the cavalry had to be called in to force it forward . Despite heavy losses due to the only avenue of advance being a narrow lane lined with Parliamentarian musketeers , this move succeeded in allowing Byron to take Round Hill , forcing the Parliamentarian infantry back to a hedge on the far side . The attack eventually lost momentum , and although Round Hill was taken , Byron was unable to advance any further . On the right flank , William Vavasour attempted to overwhelm the Parliamentary flank with a substantial brigade of foot , which included a small amount of cavalry support . His initial attack was repulsed thanks to the Parliamentarian artillery opening fire , but a subsequent head - on attack forced Skippon ' s beleaguered force in the centre to send several regiments over to assist , with the fight turning into a bloody melee . Vavasour ' s force was eventually forced to retire , with the Parliamentarians failing to give ground . Crisis and stalemate . After heavy fighting , the Royalists had succeeded only in pushing Essex ' s forces briefly back ; they had given ground but not retreated from the battle , and his main force of infantry remained strong . In an attempt to proceed , Essex waved his infantry and light artillery forward . Rupert ' s cavalry was too weak to defend against this advance due to its large firepower , and he instead ordered two regiments of foot commanded by John Belasyse to halt Essex . The Parliamentarian records report they were " hotly charged by the enemies ' horse and foot " , who succeeded in forcing Essex slowly back , although the fight took four hours . In response , Essex called for Skippon to send him reinforcements ; Skippon obliged by ordering a Mainwaring ' s Regiment of infantry to remove themselves from his line and march to replace some of Essex ' s exhausted soldiers . As soon as they arrived , they were charged by two bodies of cavalry and a regiment of infantry under John Byron , who forced the regiment to retreat ; the Royalists hacked down the fleeing Parliamentarians and , according to Byron , his force " had not left a man of them unkilled , but that the hedges were so high the horse could not pursue them " . Although the Royalists failed to press this attack due to the difficulty of manoeuvring cavalry in the field , and Essex briefly retook the ground , the loss of this infantry regiment opened a gap in the Parliamentarian line . If Rupert was able to drive through this gap , he would break Essex ' s army into two wings and be able to encircle them . Recognizing this possibility , he began redeploying the Royalist force : two regiments of cavalry and a regiment of infantry under his command would occupy Essex , while two regiments under Charles Gerard would push through the gap in the Parliamentarian line . Luckily for the Parliamentarians , Skippon saw this opening and ordered two regiments of the London Trained Bands to close the gap . Although they succeeded in bridging the gap between the two wings of Essex ' s force , there was no cover , and a Royalist battery of eight heavy guns drawn up on high ground began firing on them . Unable to move because of the necessity of their position , they were left enduring close - range fire " when men ' s bowels and brains flew in [ their ] faces " , resisting two attacks by Royalist cavalry and infantry led by Jacob Astley . Historian John Day notes that records show most Trained Band casualties were hit in the head , while a survivor boasted that the artillery " did us no harm , only the shot broke our pikes " ; evidently , in the heat of battle , the Royalist artillery were firing too high . Despite this , the Royalist artillery fire had taken its toll , and the Trained Band regiments were forced to retreat . The Royalists pursued , and only close - quarters musket fire allowed the militia to regroup without substantial losses . After regrouping , the militia was again attacked by two regiments of foot and two of cavalry , who despite surrounding the Londoners and dragging away a cannon were unable to break them . At this point , both armies began to draw apart ; although sporadic fighting continued as night fell , by midnight both forces had disengaged completely . Both army councils met ; Essex ' s plan to force his way past the Royalists seemed feasible , and many Parliamentarians , loathe to give up the ground they had taken , fully expected the battle to continue . The Royalists , on the other hand , were plagued by poor morale , heavy losses and a lack of supplies , having used 80 of their 90 barrels of gunpowder . Although Rupert argued for the battle to continue , he was out - voted , and the next morning Essex was allowed to bypass the Royalist force without issue and continue his retreat towards London . Aftermath . The Parliamentarian force , now free of Charles ' s army , retreated towards Aldermaston as quickly as possible and eventually made it to Reading and then London , where Essex received a hero ' s welcome . The Royalists , on the other hand were forced to spend the next day recovering their casualties , finding more than a thousand injured soldiers who were sent back to Oxford . After they finished recovering their dead and wounded men , the Royalists left 200 infantry , 25 cavalry and 4 guns in Donnington Castle to defend their rear and then marched to Oxford , having buried their dead senior officers in Newbury Guildhall . Casualties at Newbury eventually came to approximately 1 , 300 losses for the Royalists , and 1 , 200 for the Parliamentarians . The loss at Newbury was due to a multitude of factors ; Day gives credit to the greater ability of Essex to conserve his force through the campaign , which put the Royalists at a numerical disadvantage by Newbury , and notes the Royalist over - reliance on Cavalry , with Essex " [ compensating ] for his much lamented paucity of cavalry by tactical ingenuity and firepower " , countering Rupert ' s cavalry by driving them off with mass infantry formations . The Royalists infantry were also outperformed , Essex ' s force retaining a high level of cohesiveness while the Royalists were described as relatively unprofessional ; both Day and Blair Worden also give the paucity of ammunition and gunpowder as an important ( and endemic ) deciding factor in the success or failure of Charles ' campaign . Although the attention of historians is normally on the larger battles such as Edgehill and Marston Moor , several historians who have studied the period consider the First Battle of Newbury to be the defining moment of the First English Civil War , both as the high point of the Royalist advance and as the " one bright period of [ Essex ' s ] generalship " . John Day writes that " Militarily and politically , Parliament ' s position at the beginning of October 1643 was demonstrably far stronger than in late July . With hindsight , the capture of Bristol was the high tide of King Charles ' war , his best and only chance of ending the conflict on his own terms " . John Barratt noted that the Royalists had failed in " what might prove to have been their best chance to destroy the principle field army of their opponents , and hopes of a crushing victory which would bring down the Parliamentarian ' war party ' lay in ruins " . The high Parliamentarian feelings after Newbury led to the signing of the Solemn League and Covenant , bringing a powerful Scottish army down to assault the Royalists . " Thanks to the failure . . . to win a decisive victory there , the English , Welsh , Scottish and Irish subjects of all of King Charles ' Three Kingdoms would henceforth play a bloody price in a steadily widening and deepening war " . Sources and historiography . Malcolm Wanklyn has described the First Battle of Newbury as being " both the longest battle of the English Civil War and the one that historians have found the greatest difficulty in describing " ; this is because there is no contemporary plan of the battlefield or record of the plans of each side while , conversely , there are diverse and contradictory accounts from both sides of the battle . An official Royalist account was written by Lord Digby on 22 September , which suffered from defects due to Digby ' s position away from the main fighting , and because it was designed " as a reflection on the battle ' s outcome , not a blow - by - blow description of what happened " . Conversely , those written by officers who actively fought in the main arenas of the battle are very narrow in focus , for example , the accounts of Joshua Moone and John Gwyn , commoners who fought on Wash Common , and an anonymous tract from the perspective of a soldier who assaulted Round Hill . On the Parliamentarian side , an official source was published a month after the battle ; due to the circumstances of its publication and the high Parliamentarian morale after Newbury , it made no attempt to gloss over errors and was designed to " explain to a lay readership what had happened on the battlefield " . A more narrow view was taken by Sergeant Henry Foster , who fought with the London Trained Band in their attempt to prevent the Royalists splitting Essex ' s army . The diary of Walter Yonge of Colyton also contains two reports written for the House of Commons by Essex ' s generals , including Stapleton , although the originals have been lost .