Worcestershire in the English Civil War Gloucestershire, made the county vulnerable to raiding and requisitions. Nevertheless, the county was strategically vital to the Royalists, as a bridge from their mostly Western territories including Wales and Ireland back to their headquarters in Oxford. Worcestershire also provided the Royalists with industrial capacity to produce armaments and munitions. In June 1644, General William Waller's force of around 10,000 men pursued the King's army into Worcestershire as it retreated from Oxford. Waller was supported by the residents of Evesham, who repaired their bridge which had been broken to slow his passage into Worcestershire; the town was heavily fined and the
Tarvin in the English Civil War in their hands until the end of the war. On Sunday 12 November 1643, Royalists sallied out of Chester towards Tarvin — which was garrisoned by Parliament under the command of Captain Gerard — but the Royalists were intercepted at Stamford Bridge and prevented from crossing it. The two sides skirmished all the afternoon but then Parliamentary reinforcements from Cholmondeley arrived to assist Gerard and they drove the Royalists back, following them to Boughton, Cheshire and into Gorse Stacks on the outskirts of Chester, where they killed some of them. The Parliamentarians' only casualty was one man wounded. In late