Civil War

Two main routes used by both side's armies and local troops were the Oxford to Northampton road  and the Buckingham to Chipping Norton road, both of which, of course, run through the parish  and intersect at the then Barley Mow inn. The closest garrisons were the Royalist capital and its  perimeter garrison at Banbury whilst Northampton was staunchly Parliamentarian throughout the  war. Fighting had started in the summer of 1642 and on the 22nd of August 1642 three troops of Horse  were sent from Nottingham to Oxford under the command of Sir John Byron to convoy a large sum  of money and valuables for the Kings cause. On Sunday the 28th as the Royalists halted in Brackley  for supper they were attacked by a force of 500 Northampton men. Most of the Cavaliers escaped  towards Evenley on the main road apart from 60 or 70 men and their horses which were taken. The  captives were taken prisoner to the garrison at Northampton while their horses were distributed among  the locals after the Roundheads took the best for remounts. Worse than this for the Cavaliers “two hats  full of gold, about 2,000 pounds in silver, a trumpet, a box with great riches and wealth; a packet of rich  cloaths of Sir John Byron s worth 200 pounds; about fourteen or fifteen pair of pistols; a sumpter horse  of Sir John Byrons, very rich; and betwixt 60 or 70 men " were taken." The value of all the gold, money  and apparrell could not be worth less than 6 or 7,000 pounds' As for the horses whatsoever any  particular man hath tooke, he hath it to himself, insomuch that many of the count- have gotten them  horses, and ride home on them. Two of the cavaliers were hidden overnight by two sympathisers and  conveyed out of Brackley early next day. They were chased and caught in Evenley’s Brackley field,  probably near Ladybridge, two of our company got each of them a sword, and I searching under one  of their coates, found a pistoll charge with a brace of bullets, which I tooke from him, and that I keepe.  One of Byron's men entrusted with a cabinet, a packet of writings, and other things of great value got  lost and hid the items in an oat field near Pimlico House. He was eventually arrested by Mr Clarke and  the village constable of Croughton. He was forced to “discover all" to soldiers of the Banbury garrison.  On January 22" 1643 Prince Rupert himself was with his army in and around Brackley scouring the  bountiful Parliamentary countryside and villages for remounts. He wrote to Henry Hastings in Ashby  de la Zouch, “At ten in the morning. Brackley. By reason that there are above 400 of our musketeers  unmounted, we shall be a day later, but upon Thursday expect us about Lester, and if possible get horses  to meet us for our men, and I pray send an express to my Lord Newcastell to let him know so much. In  the meanwhile send me all the intelligence you have of the rebels moving and I shall he very ready to follow  your counsel in anything.” Signed, Rupert.” In May  1643 there was nearby action at Middleton Cheney when the Earl of Northampton’s Banbury  Royalists fought with the Parliamentary Northampton forces, slaying about 200 of them and taking 300  prisoner with much ordnance. Later in the summer Sir John Byrons troop had its revenge over the local  militia when 200 Northampton men were surprised on the Bicester road and lost several men killed  including a captain. For most of the war there was a Royalist outpost of sixty men in the great house at Aynho and the regular carriers went no further south than Brackley; any military supplies moving south or east-west  through the parish went with heavy escorts. Apart from movement of the great armies along the two main roads,  and innumerable smaller troop movements, Evenley was in the front line for most of the war between the  Parliamentarian garrison at Newport Pagnell and the Royalists at Oxford and Banburv. Larger parties from each  would occasionally ambush smaller parties from each on the two great roads through the parish. Once a troop  of Parliamentary Horse ambushed a small Royalist party somewhere near Astwick and carried off oxen they had  probably rustled themselves. One of the luckless Royalists wrote back to Banbury from jail in Newport Pagnell,  “it was our hard chance to be taken prisoner between Aynho and Brackley. a coast where I little dreamed of  danger, which came unlooked for, And since Fate hath brought us into durance at Newport I hope your worship  will afford us exchange from Banbury or he pleased to send us some monyes for our subsistence until a happy  exchange may bee sent.” In August 1643 the Earl of Essex and a large force had reached Brackley from Bicester and camped on Brackley  Heath. On September 1, joined by the London Trained Bands and militia, he left Brackley over the Ouse Bridge  and marched along the main road through the parish the while shouting and waving at the credulous rustics  lining the roadside and thence to the Barley Mow where he turned for Chipping Norton and eventually the  relief of Gloucester. During that last week in August the Parliamentary committee in Northampton would have  ensured that in Evenley like other villages close to Brackley, the ordinary soldiers were billeted four to  a cottage and the officers and gentlemen of quality” quartered on the farmhouses and manor house. Two months  later and there was a Royalist upsurge in the district. In October  Newport Pagnell was captured by Colonel  Dyve for the King but, owing to a communications breakdown. reinforcements were too late and the town had  to he abandoned, much to Prince Rupert’s chagrin on October 27. He tried to fortify Towcester during November  and supplies from Oxford were constantly convoyed to that place through Evenley sometimes under the personal  supervision of the Prince himself However, the risk to the convoys from the militia once they passed Bayards  Green was eventually found to be too great, and reluctantly Rupert abandoned the project. In March 1644 the Royalist outpost at Hillenden House near Buckingharn fell to the Parliamentarians and