Worcestershire in the English Civil War the Royalists towards London was that the Parliament troops evacuated Worcestershire. 1643. The King established his headquarters at Oxford, and was most anxious to win the highlands of the Cotswolds and the line of the river Severn. The Parliamentarians had two armies. Their plan was that the two armies, one of which was engaged before Reading under Essex, the other under William Waller had its headquarters at Bristol, should unite and take Oxford. Essex took Reading. Waller, operating from Gloucester, cleared the county, and by taking Hereford cut off communication with Wales. To make all safe in the Severn Valley,
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,