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The Civil War in the North-East of England 1644 In June 1643 Parliament made a formal approach to the Scottish government for help in its war with the king, by the end of September this treaty was formalised in The Solemn League and Covenant and Scottish troops brushed aside the local royalst commander Sir Edward Grey to take control of Berwick upon Tweed. The treaty called for a Scots army consisting of 18,000 foot, 2000 horse and 1,000 dragooners, although the actual number that took the field is thought to be only 14,000. The main role assigned to the Scots was to sieze control of the Tyne, which would not only close down an important royalist gun running operation but reopen the coal trade with London. On the 18th January 1644, the Scots Commander in Chief, Alexander Leslie Earl of Leven, crossed the Tweed with the main body of the army. Opposing him was the north-east royalist commander Sir Thomas Glenham with no more than 5,000 men, no more than half of whom were armed. By the 28th January Leven's advance guard had reached Morpeth, only 15 miles north of Newcastle. The Scots were held up at Morpeth until 1 February to enable the army to close up. This delay would prove to be critical. The Marquis of Newcastle meanwhile was hurrying north with his army of 5,000. Both armies were struggling over roads flooded by a thaw. The roads Leven was using was so bad he had to call another halt at Stannington on the 2nd, giving the Marquis the chance to throw himself into Newcastle that same night The town of Newcastle was still surrounded by a mediaeval wall with only the castle properly fortified when Glenham arrived in November 1643. He had the the castle ditch cleared and the town walls plastered to hinder scaling attempts. Artillery outworks were constructed and the northern suburbs razed. During the weeks preceding the Scots arrival 150 barrels of gunpowder were brought into the town along with brass cannon and a shipment of 500 muskets from Scarborough. Leven called upon the town to surrender at noon on the 3rd which was unsurprisingly rejected. Late that day his troops however stormed and captured an outwork at Shieldfield which lay on the north-eastern side of the defences. Due to the loss of this fort the royalists needed to burn the riverside suburb of Sandgate that night. Leven on the other hand was still not able to launch a more general assault on the town due to his heavy siege guns not being landed at Blyth until the 6th and even then it took another two days to drag them down to Newcastle. Leven then tried to get his army across the river, he attempted to sieze enough keel boats to build a bridge but was foiled by the tide which caused the boats to stick fast in the mud. He then explored further up river to the Newburn ford (the site of his victory in 1640), but this time the royalsts had dug in well to deny him its use. While the Scot's were feeling their way up river trying to find a way across, the royalists sent out 25 troops of horse, they met the scots cavalry outside Corbridge, although the Scots retired after the fighting, the royalists were too exausted to persue them, it is estimated that about sixty men were killed - most of them English. Two days later Leven moved his army once again, leaving six infantry regiments to watch Newcastle he marched to Heddon, which lay 4 miles up river. On the 23rd they quartered themselves between Ovingham and Corbridge, that night Marmaduke Langdale evacuated Hexham. On the morning of the 28th the Scots army crossed the Tyne and began marching towards Sunderland. The Scots were allowed to march into Sunderland on 4 March 1644 without being assaulted by the Marquis, the townspeople declared for Parliament and Leven had a secure base with which to harass the royalist line of communication. This move also forced the royalist field army to move out of Newcastle and cross over the Tyne. The Marquis was strengthened by 12 troops of horse commanded by Sir Charles Lucas and also some Trained Bands from Durham, thus reinforced he then went looking for battle. On 6th March he crossed the Wear at Lumley and moved towads Penshaw, where he came under observation from Scots cavalry on Penshaw Hill. After some skirmishing in the fields around Penshaw the scots fell back and on the 7th both armies drew up in order of battle.

The Scots were assembled on Humbledon Hill and Newcastle drew up his army on Hastings Hill just east of Penshaw. Heavy snow falls prevented any fighting in the morning but the afternoon saw some heavy skirmishing as both sides crept forward. However by nightfall the armies had evidently decided that this was no place for a pitched battle due to the heavily enclosed fields and a stream running through the narrow valley, the royalists withdrew to Penshaw. The Scots, encouraged by this pushed forward again on the 8th at which point the royalists again drew off persued by Scots cavalry. This skirmishing escalated as the scots horse were reinforced by musketeers and just as they were working themselves up to an all out attack the weather turned again enabling the royalists to retire to the safety of Durham. Leven started an advance to Durham on the 12th, but since Newcastle declined to offer battle, and forage for the horse was scarce, he soon retired back to Sunderland. Bad weather had been playing havoc with the Scots supplies. With little forage to be had in the area they were totally dependent upon supplies coming from Scotland by sea. Bad weather had already forced 2 supply ships to seek shelter in the Tyne which were seized by the Royalist and 3 more lost at sea. This forced Leven to turn his eyes north. On the 15th he launched an unsuccessful assault on the fort at South Shields. On the 20th however, a second attempt met more success. The Scots morale improved even more when Leven's horse beat up a Royalst cavalry quarter at Chester Le-Street on the same day. All this convinced the Marquis to offer battle a second time. On the 23rd he marched his army towards Sunderland along the north bank of the Wear in the hope this would persuade Leven to abandon South Shields. Leven moved to meet him and both armies drew up in order of battle once again. Newcastle formed up on Boldon Hill (now known as Down Hill), Leven on Whitburn Lizard three miles away. The Scots managed to get some heavy guns across the river, although two were lost when their boat sank - one was dredged up in the 19th century and now stands in one of Sunderland's parks. For the rest of the day both sides engaged in a rather ineffectual cannon dual. Late in the afternoon, Fraser's Dragoons opened the battle with an attack on some Royalst musketeers who were lining the hedges aaround the village of East Boldon. The fighting became fierce, according to a Royalist newspaper four Royalist regiments faced six Scots ones. The fighting went on throughout the night. Eventually, Newcastle's men were driven out of East Boldon and retreated up Down Hill, the Scots were too tired to follow and in early hours they retired back to their main position on Whitburn Lizard. Newcastle retired towards Durham, which was entered on the 26th. The Royalists admitted to losing 240 men in this encounter. After re-equipping his army at Easington, Leven decided the weather had improved sufficiently to push against the Royalists in Durham. On the 8th he moved onto Quarrington Hills where he took up a position threatening Newcastle's lines of communications. This made the Royalists position untenable so they retreated towards Bishop Auckland. the Marquis then decided to make a stand on the river Tees at Piercebridge, the scene of a skirmish fought by his troops in 1642. However, before he had time to move into his new position a messenger caught up with him with news of a Royalist disaster at Selby, which changed the situation entirely. With Selby gone, York was now under extreme danger from the Parliamentarian forces operating in Yorkshire under Fairfax. Faced with this prospect, Newcastle decided to to march straight to York. Leven decided to persue Newcastle, leaving behind him a highly tenuous supply line. The retreat must have been a nightmare for the Royalists, with Scots cavalry continually harassng their rearguard. On the 16th April the Scots persued Newcastle as far as Thornaby, where they then turned off and rendezvoused with Sir Thomas Fairfax's Parliamentarians at Wetherby on the 18th. Meanwhile, in the North-East, the garrison of Newcastle Upon Tyne were causing problems for the Scots left behind to watch the town. A sorte out of the town succeeded in taking Morpeth, albeit having to abandon it almost straightaway. The fort at Soth Shields was also taken and the Scots forces occupying Sunderland threatened. However a second Scots army under the Earl of Callendar had crossed the border on 25 June and the remaining Royalist cavalry under Sir Robert Clavering set out at the order of Prince Rupert to assist in the relief of York.

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