ABSTRACT
Although the Clubmen have been seen as 'crypto-royalists', the fact was that it was largely against royalist troops that they tried to take action, and their activities were almost wholly confined to areas under royalist military control or lying within the spheres of operation of royalist garrisons. The risings began in late 1644 in the counties of Shropshire, Worcestershire and Herefordshire, culminating there in the great siege of the royalist city of Hereford by about 12,000 countrymen. The risings in the Welsh border area appear to have been aimed at the restoration of local authority and the demilitarisation of the counties. By June of 1645 the most intensive area of Clubmen activity was the Dorset/Wiltshire/East Somerset border country. An area with a history of unrest over issues such as enclosure, the depredations of Goring's royalist army finally provoked resistance, particularly on the part of the Somerset Clubmen towards Langport garrison.
