Scott Christopher L. The Battles of Newbury: Crossroads of the English Civil War

Pen and Sword Military, 2008. — 192 p.In 1643 and again in 1644 the Royalist forces of King Charles I and Parliament clashed at Newbury in a bloody fight. Each time the fate of the country hung in the balance. Chris Scott retells the story of these two complex and exciting battles and provides a fascinating guided tour of the surviving battlefields. Dr Christopher L. Scott has been walking battlefields for over 40 years, analysing ground and tactics. He has taken numerous groups around the battlefields of Britain, the sites of both Marlborough's and Wellington's victories in Europe, and ran tours of Crecy and Agincourt. There are several works already in print on the two battles of Newbury, although these battles have not been studied as thoroughly as Marston Moor or Naseby. What sets Scott's work apart from these, however, is that his analysis of the fighting is largely based on his personal comparison of accounts of the battle with a detailed examination of the landscape over which the battles were fought. As a result of this analysis, Scott differs from other historians' on several points about how the battles unfolded. Scott's perspective is therefore a very useful addition to existing accounts of these battles. In addition to describing the battles themselves - in text accompanied by several illuminating photos of the battlefield today - Scott also provides would-be visitors to the sites with helpful advice on what to see during a visit.