Qualla: Battle of Wigan Lane https://qualla.com/battle-of-wigan-lane en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:23 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/w/0/battle-of-wigan-lane-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battle of Wigan Lane https://qualla.com/battle-of-wigan-lane Battle of Wigan Lane: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-wigan-lane/ Photo credit Plucas58, CC BY-SA 4.0. On Wigan Lane in Lancashire, on the afternoon of 25 August 1651, the Earl of Derby led three cavalry charges into the centre of a Parliamentarian line and could not break it. Each charge thinned his ranks further. By the third one, the Royalist horse was a shadow of what had ridden out from the town. When the Parliamentarian infantry finally arrived to support Colonel Robert Lilburne, what remained of Derby's men broke and ran. Sixty officers and gentlemen of the Royalist cause died in those hedgerows - among them Sir Thomas Tyldesley, Lord William Witherington, Sir William Throckmorton, and Colonel Matthew Boynton. The fighting lasted about an hour. It cost Charles II his throne.

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]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/w/0/battle-of-wigan-lane-wp/gcw0-battle-of-wigan-lane-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Wigan Lane: The King's Last Gamble https://qualla.com/battle-of-wigan-lane/ Photo credit Nilfanion, created using Ordnance Survey data, CC BY-SA 3.0. Charles I had been executed in January 1649. His son was crowned Charles II at Scone in Scotland on 1 January 1651. Oliver Cromwell and the New Model Army had been beating the Scots steadily through 1650, but Charles took a desperate gamble in August 1651 - he crossed into Englan...

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

]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/w/0/battle-of-wigan-lane-wp/gcw0-battle-of-wigan-lane-the-kings-last-gamble.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Wigan Lane: Hedgerows and Confusion https://qualla.com/battle-of-wigan-lane/ Photo credit Plucas58, CC BY-SA 4.0. On 25 August, Lilburne learned that Derby was marching towards Wigan and assumed the Royalists were retreating. He gave chase. When he reached Wigan he found the Earl's force in considerable strength - both infantry and cavalry - marching out of the town in the other direction, t...

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]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/w/0/battle-of-wigan-lane-wp/gcw0-battle-of-wigan-lane-hedgerows-and-confusion.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Wigan Lane: Three Charges https://qualla.com/battle-of-wigan-lane/ Photo credit Plucas58, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Royalists came down Wigan Lane and were met with musket fire from the hedges. Derby divided his cavalry into two divisions of 300 men each. He took the vanguard himself and gave the rearguard to Sir Thomas Tyldesley - a veteran Royalist soldier who had fought from the beginni...

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]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/w/0/battle-of-wigan-lane-wp/gcw0-battle-of-wigan-lane-three-charges.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Wigan Lane: The Cost https://qualla.com/battle-of-wigan-lane/ Photo credit Plucas58, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wigan Lane mattered out of proportion to its scale. It was the only sizeable English Royalist force to attempt to join Charles at Worcester. Without it, Charles had no English reinforcement worth the name - just his predominantly Scottish army of about 15,000 men. Nine days later...

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]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/w/0/battle-of-wigan-lane-wp/gcw0-battle-of-wigan-lane-the-cost.mp3 0:06 5 full