Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research 99/397

THE BATTLE OF CHALGROVE , 1643

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eighteenth century construction and the original house was contiguous with the equally long-vanished church also shown on the 1612 map. The site of the church was suggested on the 1881 OS map and has since been confirmed by geophysical survey in 2014. The probable site of the house was accepted in a revision of the Historic England battlefield map in 2019. It should be added that the current monument at Chalgrove was erected in 1843 on the initiative of George, Lord Nugent on land that was gifted for the purpose by the Reverend Renn Dickson Hampden. It is not the location of the actual fighting. Indeed, it stands at the crossroads of Warpsgrove Lane and the old Watlington to Oxford road and is over a mile from Solinger field where Nugent stated wrongly that the action took place. Despite the fact that the primary sources are easier to access than was once the case, the revisionist account has not been accepted by those who still rely on the published Clarendon text. Clarendon did not take part in the operation that culminated in the fight at Chalgrove, but he was at Oxford and witnessed the arrival of the Parliamentarian prisoners and the plunder brought into the city by Prince Rupert. However, what is clear from comparing the published version of Clarendon’s history with his original account is just how far the distortions of Laurence Hyde and his collaborators have muddied the waters and misled later historians. This later, edited version of the original manuscript was published in 1702, twenty-eight years after Clarendon’s death and its distortions have appeared in all subsequent editions. Before examining the versions of Clarendon’s account of Chalgrove, a recapitulation of the complex story of his personal history is in order. Having fallen out of favour with King Charles II, Clarendon fled into exile in 1667 and died at Rouen in December 1674. As is well known, his second son, Laurence, 1st Earl of Rochester, edited the manuscripts left by his father as part of the Royalist (and Tory) riposte to early Parliamentarian accounts of the Civil Wars, such as Edmund Ludlow’s memoirs published in 1698. The clumsily edited first volume of The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England based on the original narrative was published in 1702. Presented to Queen Anne, the title page misleadingly stated, ‘Written by the Right Honourable Edward, Earl of Clarendon’. The grateful monarch rewarded the compilers by allowing the establishment of The Clarendon Press, which was given perpetual copyright in the work. Two more volumes were published by 1704. Clarendon’s eldest son, Henry, inherited the earldom of Clarendon but died in 1709. His son, Edward, 3rd Earl Clarendon died in 1723 and, as his son had predeceased him, the title went to Rochester’s son, Henry, who became 4th Earl of Clarendon in addition to being 2nd Earl of Rochester. When the latter died in 1753, the Clarendon title of the first creation became extinct but the manuscripts of the 1st Earl passed to the 4th Earl’s daughter. The Bodleian Library at Oxford I