Battle of Nantwich events

Battle of Nantwich events at the Museum

Nantwich was under siege from Royalist forces in December 1643, 370 years ago. This culminated on 25 January 1644 with the Battle of Nantwich in which Parliamentarian forces led by Sir William Brereton and Sir Thomas Fairfax put the Royalists to rout.

The people of the town celebrated by wearing sprigs of holly in their hats hence Holly Holy
Day. From then on Parliament controlled Cheshire.

A number of events at Nantwich Museum lead up to the Holly Holy Day commemoration of the battle on Saturday 25th January 2014:

• On Saturday 11th January Neil Tew, a member of Crewe & Nantwich Wargame Club, will be exhibiting his wargame table.
• On Saturday 18th January there will be two specialist talks dealing with the background to the Civil War and the battle itself: Professor Ann Hughes, Director of Research for the Humanities and Social Sciences at Keele University will be speaking on 'Nantwich, Ireland and the British Civil Wars' at 11.30am. At 2.00pm Dr Ian Atherton, Senior Lecturer in history at Keele University will speak on 'The Battle of Nantwich'.

Both talks are scheduled to last 1 1/2hours. Tickets can be purchased at the museum
and cost £4.00 per talk or £6.00 for both talks (Museum Members £3.00 per talk; £5.00 for both talks.)

On Holly Holy Day, Saturday 25th January:

• At 10.15am and 11.30am there will be Civil War Tours of the town starting at the museum and costing £2.00 per person.
• Between 10.30am and 11.30am members of the Sealed Knot Society will lead a Musketry Demonstration at the museum.
• From 11.00am until 3.00pm there will be events for children.

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