ABSTRACT
The situation in the North-West almost paralleled that in the North-East. Whilst Cumberland and Westmorland remained more or less under royalist control, the battleground was Lancashire. Numerous incidents in the county during the summer had paved the way for something more dangerous after August 1642, but the royalist commander, the earl of Derby, was deprived of most of his best regiments for service with the King elsewhere. On 9 February parliamentarian troops attacked Preston, defended with mud and brick walls, and took the town in a particularly bloody encounter. The war had suddenly taken on new vigour. From Preston on 14 February, the parliamentary forces marched out and took Houghton Tower without a shot, only to suffer losses when a booby-trapped supply of power was set off. On 19 February, royalist forces left in Lancaster found themselves under attack from parliamentarian troops from Preston bent upon fortifying and garrisoning Lancaster and its castle.
