Newnham, High Street c.1955
Photo ref:
N87011
More about this scene
During the Civil War, Newnham, like many Royalist garrisons surrounding Gloucester, was on the receiving end of a raid mounted by Colonel Edward Massey's forces. On 8 May 1644 the Parliamentarians struck. The Royalists appear to have fortified the church and the area of the green, but quickly withdrew to the former. They appear to have been on the point of surrendering when one of them, said to be a servant of Sir John Winter, put a match to a barrel of gunpowder. The explosion blew both men and windows out of the church, though there were no deaths. For whatever reason, the explosion appears to have unnerved Massey's troops, who then set about butchering the hapless Parliamentarians, killing about twenty of them before order was at last restored. The survivors were given quarter. All, that is, except a Captain Butler, who, being Irish, and therefore a rebel, was killed out of hand.
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A Selection of Memories from Newnham
For many years now, we've been inviting visitors to our website to add their own memories to share their experiences of life as it was, prompted by the photographs in our archive. Here are some from Newnham
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