i 



55 



Cavaliers to an ongagcmont at a disadvantage and he probably 

 thought that onlj^ a small niunbor of men werp, anived at 

 Claverton, but in this he was mistaken and the Parliamentary 

 horse must have received " a warmer charge" than they exijected 

 and were driven in some confusion across the river. Instead of 

 rallying to defend the cannon and fall back on the support of the 

 infantry — tradition says these gallant warriors galloped as fast as 

 they could back to Waller aloug the Warleigh meadows bringing 

 word to him of their discomfiture. Did the Koyalists pursue 

 them or ride up at once to capture those cannon that had so 

 insolently assailed them 1 We only know that the cannon was 

 taken, but if conjecture is allowable, I would suggest as a probable 

 solution of the matter, that the main body of the army of the 

 Marquis was not far behind and on the same side of the river as 

 Warleigh, marching from Bradford through Turlej', Winsley and 

 Conkwell — a part of the cavalry only being sent forward along the 

 lanes on the Claverton side from Bradford, guided perhaps by the 

 Major-General of the Cornish Infantry, Colonel Thomas Basset, 

 who was doubtless a relative of Sir William Basset of Claverton. 

 It was found necessary at the battle of LansdoA^ni to wing the 

 cavalry with the Cornish musketeers — whose fire was so rapid and 

 delivered with so true an aim that they made great impression on 

 the enemy's horse and routed them on the slopes of Lansdown, and 

 these were the very men too who caUed out on that day '"'for 

 leave to fetch oft' those cannon," so that if there was a small force 

 of infantry as well as the cavalry at Claverton they might have 

 taken the cannon and the men who guarded them prisoners, and 

 thus the loss might well have been in killed, wounded and 

 prisoners one hundred men as stated in Clarendon, although only 

 four were buried in Claverton churchyard. The number of killed 

 in the Rushworth account is ten — and seeing tliis discrepancy in 

 the numbers I asked my neighbour, Mr. Tooke, the Eector of 

 Monkton Farleigh if his register could throw any light on the 

 subject as the register of Batliford is not older than the eighteenth 



