Qualla: Battle of Bovey Heath https://qualla.com/battle-of-bovey-heath en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:11 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Battle of Bovey Heath https://qualla.com/battle-of-bovey-heath Battle of Bovey Heath: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-bovey-heath/ On the evening of 9 January 1646, three regiments of Royalist cavalry were quartered at Bovey Tracey in south Devon, settled into winter inns and barns while their commander, Lord Wentworth, played cards with his officers. The town was about ten miles southwest of besieged Exeter. The Royalists believed they were behind their own lines, with the Parliamentary army busy with the siege of the cathedral city. They were wrong. Oliver Cromwell, then 46 years old and not yet Lord Protector, was riding through the dark toward them at the head of a small detachment of New Model Army cavalry. The card players were about to lose a great deal more than money.

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/b/v/r/battle-of-bovey-heath-wp/gbvr-battle-of-bovey-heath-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Bovey Heath: How the West Was Lost https://qualla.com/battle-of-bovey-heath/ By early 1645 the southwest of England was the last great stronghold of the Royalist cause. Sir Thomas Fairfax and his newly formed New Model Army had broken King Charles I at Naseby in Northamptonshire that June and at Langport in Somerset in July, sending the Royalist field arm...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/b/v/r/battle-of-bovey-heath-wp/gbvr-battle-of-bovey-heath-how-the-west-was-lost.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Bovey Heath: Cards and the King's Colour https://qualla.com/battle-of-bovey-heath/ Cromwell came down on Bovey Tracey on the night of 9 January. The Royalist sentries were not where they should have been. The officers were inside an inn when the Parliamentary cavalry came clattering into the town. According to contemporary accounts the officers fled out a back ...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/b/v/r/battle-of-bovey-heath-wp/gbvr-battle-of-bovey-heath-cards-and-the-kings-colour.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Bovey Heath: What the Card Game Decided https://qualla.com/battle-of-bovey-heath/ Wentworth made his report to Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, who was trying to organise a relief army for besieged Exeter. The news from Bovey was disastrous for that plan. The Prince abandoned the relief effort and retreated deeper into the southwest, toward Launceston in C...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/b/v/r/battle-of-bovey-heath-wp/gbvr-battle-of-bovey-heath-what-the-card-game-decided.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Bovey Heath: A Quiet Heath Today https://qualla.com/battle-of-bovey-heath/ Bovey Heath sits today as a small nature reserve on the outskirts of Bovey Tracey, all bracken and heather and birdsong, with views west toward the granite tors of Dartmoor. The town below is a market town of bookshops and craft centres and Sunday papers, and most of the people w...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/b/v/r/battle-of-bovey-heath-wp/gbvr-battle-of-bovey-heath-a-quiet-heath-today.mp3 0:06 5 full