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
Worcestershire in the English Civil War Parliamentarian forces at one time of another. For example Worcester was besieged twice before finally surrendering on 23 July 1646. After the surrender many Royalist families in Worcestershire had their estates sequested and had to compound (pay a fine to buy back their property) calculated in part by the expected income from their estate and also by their involvement in the Royalist cause during the civil war. Other than the Broadway Plot of January 1648 the events of the Second English Civil War (1648) passed Worcestershire by. During Third English Civil War Charles II lead a predominantly Scottish Royalist army