Ironside (cavalry) and foot soldiers in Jo Walton's alternate history series the Small Change trilogy are named 'Ironsides'. Lawrence J. Epstein writes that the lyric "heaven is like Ironside's" in Bob Dylan's I Pity the Poor Immigrant refers to the puritanical view of religion shared by the followers of Cromwell. Ironside (cavalry) The Ironsides were troopers in the Parliamentarian cavalry formed by English political leader Oliver Cromwell in the 17th century, during the English Civil War. The name came from "Old Ironsides", one of Cromwell's nicknames. Cromwell first mustered a troop of cavalry (then referred to as "horse") at Huntingdon in Huntingdonshire,
Worcestershire in the English Civil War to the City of Worcester hoping that English Cavaliers would rally to his banner. While a few did, Charles's army was surrounded by a much larger Parliamentary army under the command of Oliver Cromwell and comprehensively defeated in what Cromwell described as a "Crowning Mercy". Charles I's policies of rule without Parliament forced him to raise taxes on imports of goods known as 'tonnage and poundage'. Policies like these particularly reduced the profitability of trade and created opposition in urban centres including Worcester. Similarly, the Ship Money taxation levied in 1636 fell heavily on Worcester, which was the sixteenth highest