ABSTRACT
On l0 July Sir William Waller, having pursued the royalists to Devizes, faced them drawn up on Roundway Hill, but Prince Maurice abandoned his position and withdrew into the town. Waller moved forward and established his army to the north. The parliamentarians marched onto Roundway Down, Sir Arthur Hesilrige’s ‘impenetrable’ regiment on the right wing of cavalry. Two days after the battle, on 15 July, Prince Rupert left Oxford to reinforce the western army, which had occupied Bath, although Wilmot had returned to Oxford. Waller fled to Gloucester and so made his way back to London to report his ‘dismal defeat’. Under Rupert, the western army moved on Bristol, a crucial port giving access to Ireland, and the city was summoned to surrender on 24 July. The royalists were beaten off with heavy losses from Priors Hill Fort, and their commander, Viscount Grandison, killed, whilst the attempt on Windmill Hill failed for want of ladders to scale the walls.
