Roundway Down, battle of

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Roundway Down, battle of, 1643. After Charles I's march on London at the outset of the Civil War in 1642 had been halted, the following year developed into a war of manœuvre. After savage fighting on Lansdowne on 5 July, both sides were badly mauled. Hopton made off to Devizes, where he was penned into the town and bombarded by Waller with superior numbers. But reinforcements from Oxford enabled Hopton on 13 July to counter-attack his opponents in rolling chalk downland just outside the town. Waller's cavalry suffered severely on steep grassy slopes and he lost all his guns and 1,400 men.

J. A. Cannon

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