Nantwich, battle of

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Nantwich, battle of, 1644. Throughout the Civil War, Charles I entertained excessive hopes of assistance from Ireland. In the summer of 1643 he negotiated an armistice with the catholic Confederacy, permitting a number of Irish royalists to cross to England. Lord Byron, holding Chester for the king, sought to organize them and in January 1644 was laying siege to Nantwich. He was attacked on 24 January by Sir Thomas Fairfax and Sir William Brereton, and though he got his cavalry away, lost most of his new infantry, killed or captured.

J. A. Cannon

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