Battle of Roundway Down

Battle of Roundway Down
Part of First English Civil War
Roundway Down
Date 13 July 1643[1] Location near Devizes, Wiltshire 51°23′06″N 1°58′48″W / 51.385°N 1.980°W / 51.385; -1.980 Result Royalist victory
Belligerents
Royalists	Parliamentarians
Commanders and leaders
Lord Wilmot Sir John Byron Earl of Crawford Lord Hopton	Sir William Waller Sir Arthur Haselrig
Strength
1,800 horse[2]	2,500 horse[3] c 2,500 foot 8 guns
Casualties and losses
Minimal[4]	600 killed[3] 1,200 captured

The Battle of Roundway Down was fought on 13 July 1643 at Roundway Down near Devizes, in Wiltshire during the First English Civil War. Despite being outnumbered and exhausted after riding overnight from Oxford, a Royalist cavalry force under Lord Wilmot won a crushing victory over the Parliamentarian Army of the West under Sir William Waller.

Viewed as their most decisive victory of the war, the Royalists secured control of South West England which they held until late 1645. Two weeks later they captured the port of Bristol, allowing them to establish links with supporters in Ireland.