John Downes (regicide) John Downes (regicide) Colonel John Downes (1609 – c. 1666) was a commissioner who signed the death warrant of Charles I of England. After the English Restoration he was found guilty of regicide and was imprisoned until he died. John Downes; family had moved southwards from Cheshire to Warwickshire. They were said to be able to trace their Cheshire lineage back to 864 AD, according to John Parsons Earwaker's "History" of East Cheshire families. It is said that when the King came hunting in Macclesfield Forest, a Downes would hold the King's stirrup, whilst he mounted and Lord Stanley would
Killing field of fire. Such a term may be used to describe the approaches to an "ideal" defensive fortification. An example of a killing field would be the exposed beaches in front of the seawall at Normandy. The term originated in medieval warfare to describe clear areas outside of a castle's walls such as pastures or specifically cleared fields where enemy soldiers could be easily and methodically killed in large numbers by ranged weapons. It also refers to areas within castles specially designed to bunch attackers who had breached the outer defenses into an area where the defenders could kill them easily