First English Civil War, 1644 First English Civil War, 1644 1644 was the third year of the First English Civil War. The King's position continued to decline and the Long Parliament sent the Propositions of Uxbridge, an attempt to end the war, to the king at Oxford Hopton had to retire from the area around Arundel, and on 6 January 1644, Waller recaptured the town. Byron's Cheshire army was in no better case. Newcastle's retreat from Hull and the loss of Gainsborough had completely changed the situation in the Midlands. Brereton was joined by the younger Fairfax from Lincolnshire, and the Royalists were severely defeated
First English Civil War work continuing during the Second English Civil War. Fortifications across the country were targeted, but especially those in Yorkshire and Wales. The rhetoric of Parliament at the national level emphasised that slighting was a military necessity, however the motivations were far more complex and varied regionally. The breach between the New Model Army and Parliament widened day by day between 1646 and 1648 until finally the Presbyterian party, combined with the Scots and the remaining Royalists, felt their preparations for a new war had made them strong enough to subdue the English Independents, as embodied in the New Model Army,