Qualla: Battle of Upton

Battle of Upton: Introduction

Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mike Baldwin, CC BY-SA 2.0. Eighteen men. A single plank, laid across the broken arches of the bridge over the Severn at Upton, twelve feet above a dark river running fast in late August. The plank was narrow enough that the men, finding they could not walk it without looking at the water below, sat down and straddled it instead - scrambling across one at a time in the grey dawn of 28 August 1651, hoping the Royalists encamped on the far bank were still asleep. They reached the other side. Then the shooting started. What happened over the next three hours decided whether Oliver Cromwell would be able to encircle Worcester - and whether Charles II's last army would have any chance of escape.

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Image: Mike Baldwin | CC BY-SA 2.0

Battle of Upton: Cromwell's Plan

Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Peter Evans, CC BY-SA 2.0. Oliver Cromwell had returned from Scotland in pursuit of an invading Scottish-Royalist army led by the young Charles II - son of the executed Charles I. The Scots had marched south through the spring and summer of 1651, gathering few English recruits, before settling at Worcester...

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Image: Peter Evans | CC BY-SA 2.0

Battle of Upton: The Plank

Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Robert Walker, Public domain. On 28 August, Colonel John Lambert marched a strong detachment of cavalry and infantry the thirteen miles from Evesham to Upton, arriving on the east bank of the Severn that evening. They found the bridge broken down. But a single plank had been left across the ruined arches - pr...

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Image: Robert Walker | Public domain

Battle of Upton: The Burning Church

Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nilfanion, created using Ordnance Survey data, CC BY-SA 3.0. At first light Lambert chose eighteen of his best men. They were ordered to cross the plank, secure shelter in Upton, and hold a bridgehead until reinforced. The plank was a service of difficulty and danger, the records say drily. The eighteen had to sit and scoot. When they reac...

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Image: Nilfanion, created using Ordnance Survey data | CC BY-SA 3.0

Battle of Upton: The Ford at Fisher's Row

Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Philip Halling, CC BY-SA 2.0. Lambert, unwilling to leave his men to die, decided to test the rumour that the river was fordable just below the bridge - at a spot now called Fisher's Row. He ordered his dragoons in. The river was low; the tide was out; the dragoons floundered through, partly fording, partly s...

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Image: Philip Halling | CC BY-SA 2.0

Battle of Upton: What Upton Made Possible

Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Charles Cattermole, Public domain. Cromwell himself rode to Upton later that day to thank Lambert's men in person. He understood what had just been done. Cromwell ordered the bridge repaired immediately so that troops could pass over. He sent his second-in-command, General Charles Fleetwood, to take command at Upt...

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Image: Charles Cattermole | Public domain