Oliver Cromwell with Sir Thomas Fairfax in command and Cromwell as Lieutenant-General of cavalry and second-in-command. At the critical Battle of Naseby in June 1645, the New Model Army smashed the King's major army. Cromwell led his wing with great success at Naseby, again routing the Royalist cavalry. At the Battle of Langport on 10 July, Cromwell participated in the defeat of the last sizeable Royalist field army. Naseby and Langport effectively ended the King's hopes of victory, and the subsequent Parliamentarian campaigns involved taking the remaining fortified Royalist positions in the west of England. In October 1645, Cromwell besieged and took
Longford, Newport the Battle of Longford was fought here. On 25 March 1644, Colonel Thomas Mytton, commanding 500 Parliamentarians, was headed for the Royalist ("Cavaliers") strongholds of Lilleshall Abbey and Lea Castle, paused at Longford that was garrisoned by Parliamentarians ("Roundheads") to rest his men. There, however, Colonel Vaughn and Colonel Ellis leading local Royalist forces found Mytton and routed him. Having driven of Mytton, the Royalists then besieged the small garrison which took shelter in Longford Hall. The Hall held out for a week before surrendering to the Royalists 2 April 1644. In the late fall of 1645, Oliver Cromwell appeared