Latest developments
Fundraising for Holly
When members of Colonel Robert Hammond’s Regiment of Foote discovered that the Sergeant of Pike’s daughter, Holly, was suffering from a tumour demanding treatment in the USA, they approached the trustees of the Naseby Battlefield Project to make Mill Hill and the Battlefield Trail available for a sponsored march.
On Sunday 20 November two groups set out to make triumphant procession the length of the battle area; from the south came the New Model Army while the royalists set off to march from the north. There was an encounter, from which no reliable witness has survived, near Sulby Hedges. In thickening fog and a chilly wind, the two parties were retrieved in powered wagons to regain the main camp before nightfall.
Meanwhile, in camp, visitors from the 21st century had the opportunity to see food being prepared, slow-match ignited from flint and tinder, and musket, pistol and cannon firing.
Some £2,000 was raised from sponsorship, donations and a raffle to enable Holly’s family to make the journey to Florida and keep her company in the weeks the treatment will take.
Following the event, Jon Courtney-Thompson wrote;
"Dear Friends,
I wanted to write and thank everyone that has supported the Naseby Battlefield Charity Weekend, it all happened yesterday, and despite the fog and cool temperatures we had a hugely successful day.
Special thanks from me go to:
· The members of Colonel Robert Hammond’s Regiment that worked so hard in the cold, and have all contributed to raising so much money for our young member Holly Brooks.
· The Trustees, Friends and Battlefield Guides of the Naseby Battlefield Project
· The Board of Directors, and Members of The Sealed Knot that have supported and contributed in so many ways to the success of the event.
· Everyone that made the effort to attend the event, to raise sponsorship and took part in a gruelling five hour march! We salute you!
Overall, it looks like we raised about £2,200.00 through contributions, sponsorship and donations, which is a magnificent achievement at such short notice and in the middle of November. (This may be a conservative estimate, as many people have made personal donations unaccounted for in these figures).
Its days like this when I am so proud to be part of a group that can achieve such magnificent results, for the benefit of a little girl that most of you will have never met. The generosity and depth of concern shown by everyone is truly inspiring, and I give you all my sincere and humble thanks for everything you have all done.
I Remain Your Humble Servant,
Yours in the cause,
Jon Courtney-Thompson
Lieutenant-Colonel, Commanding Officer
Colonel Robert Hammond's Regiment of Foote"
Sulby Hedges Nature Trail Opened
On a beautiful, sunny day, 28 September, the Heritage Lottery funded Sulby Hedges path was declared complete and open. It was celebrated with the participation of six primary schools and a home education group, undertaking investigations of the hedges, grasslands and dry pond under the direction of staff from the Open Air Laboratories division of the Field Studies Council under Louise Parker and of members of the Northamptonshire Natural History Society.
The Natural History Society has, through the services of Patricia Olive and John Smeathers, produced the explanatory text and detailed photographs for the information boards now installed so that the casual visitor can become aware of the richness of the wildlife in this lovely part of the Northamptonshire countryside.
The schools taking part were Welton, Loatlands, Ridgeway, East Haddon, Guilsborough and Naseby, and the IFLOW home education group also attended.
The official opening was undertaken by Mrs Jo Underwood, President of the Northamptonshire Natural History Society who spoke of their hopes for further 
cooperation with the Naseby Battlefield Project in placing more information points at other interesting places around the battlefield trail. She was speaking from the Sulby Hedges viewing platform, a key point I the story of the battle itself, overlooking the site of Colonel Okey’s action against the royalist cavalry on 14 June 1645.
The decisive battle of the English Civil War was fought in these fields and so a visit offers both military history, political history and natural history in a single location.
Planning Permission is Granted
The Daventry District Council Planning Committee met on Wednesday 20 July 2011 to consider the application for outline permission to build a ‘Living History’ Visitor Centre just to the south of the registered battlefield. The recommendation of the planning officer was that it should be turned down on the grounds that the setting of the battlefield would be adversely affected and that greenfield development was contrary to planning policy.
Lord Naseby advocated the Battlefield Project’s view that the structure would be concealed from sight from the battlefield itself and that the value of this heritage asset would be enhanced. He was supported by Cllr Chris Millar, who is both Leader of the District Council and represents a constituency including Naseby on the County Council. The importance of the battle was recognised by all speakers and the contribution to the economic and heritage well-being of the county and the country was cited as a basis for setting aside the view of the planning officer. The application was approved by eleven votes to one.
Work will now start on the detailed planning of the building, its content and the thirty-six acre site pledged to the charity by a small group of supporters. The raising of funds to discharge their loans and transfer control of the land to the Project is an immediate priority.
Northampton Chronicle front page
Northampton Chronicle Page 7 Story
Benefactors’ Day
Sunday, 12 June, was the occasion of the annual celebration of the Battle of
Naseby, the anniversary of which falls on 14 June. The opportunity was taken to
commemorate the first of the fallen of the British Army, that is, the men of the New
Model Army who fought here in 1645, and also to mark the 90th anniversary of the
Royal British Legion.
Patron of the Naseby Battlefield Project, Lord Naseby, performed the wreath- laying ceremony at the 19th-century Obelisk monument, supported by Captain John Pickering of the Royal Anglian Regiment. The Director General and Master of the Armouries, Lieutenant General Jonathon Riley and many of the Project benefactors and supporters were present.
Click here to read more...
Professor Richard Holmes, CBE, TD and bar
29 March 1946 – 30 April 2011
Richard Holmes did not confine his work to academic, writing and broadcasting activity, but actively encouraged the preservation and appreciation of military heritage. Nor did he confine himself to his study and library; he rode and walked the ground to gain understanding of the ‘micro-terrain’ that was the environment of the private soldier. In the case of the Naseby Battlefield Project he told the trustees 'I am yours to command.' He was true to his word, cheerfully turning out at inconvenient hours to speak to local officials and politicians in support of the undertaking. His presidencies of both the Battlefields Trust and the International Guild of Battlefield Guides bear witness to his concern with saving threatened battle sites and with high quality interpretation of them.
Two things in particular made him stand out from his peers. First his wit, which gave an unexpected zest to his talks; it was exciting to hear him speak. Second, his consistent placement of reason above rank in his discourse; he never spoke down to you and backed his opinions with evidence and argument with which one was able, even invited, to take issue.
With the death of Richard Holmes the Naseby Battlefield Project has lost a friend and counsellor of great value. We will miss him.
Martin Marix Evans
Deputy Chairman
The BBC's History of the World at Naseby
The fascinating and successful series of broadcasts taking listeners through the collections of the British Museum sparked a local initiative in which BBC Radio Northampton took part. Martin Marix Evans was invited to speak about the Sibbertoft Hoard – the find of coins made near the location of the Royalists baggage train now on display in the museum at Northampton. The interview continued to cover the lead die or dice discovered near the Royalist final stand and, from near that location, a love-token. These items were the personal possessions of combatants and bring them to life in the listener’s imagination. The recording, first broadcast on 9 March 2010, is made available by courtesy of BBC Radio Northampton.
The Radio Interview - BBC Radio Northampton recording.
Naseby Battlefield awarded over £30,000 from Heritage Lottery Fund
The Naseby Battlefield Project has been awarded £30,700 by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), for a series of works that will transform visitor access to the battlesite.
Viewing platforms will be created on the west of the battlefield, together with interpretation recounting the events of 1645, when parliament’s New Model Army destroyed the main field army of King Charles I.
The platforms will also provide information on the natural heritage of the ponds and ancient hedgerows, which shelter rich ecosystems.
The Naseby Battlefield Project will also work with landowners Bill and Jenny Tarry who are granting permissive access for the first time to Sulby Hedges - the place in which Colonel John Okey set the battle of 14 June 1645 in motion by opening fire on Prince Maurice’s cavalry. Ten new volunteer guides will also be recruited and trained to provide tours of the battlefield.
These project works have been developed to meet the needs of the wide range of visitors to the battlefield, particularly drawing on the experience of school visitors. With the active help of the Field Studies Council's Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) scheme, The Naseby Battlefield Project will work with school groups to carry out pond-dipping and hedgerow study work which will show what is there and what needs to be interpreted to visitors.
Chris Heaton-Harris MP responded to the news by saying:
“I am very pleased to see money towards this tremendous project. It’s heartening to see Naseby being recognised for its historic and cultural significance. I think it will end up being a valuable educational asset.”
Martin Marix Evans of The Naseby Battlefield Project, said:
“For some visitors, especially schoolchildren it is a novelty. They can see sheep grazing, buzzards circling, deer running and meadow wildflowers in their natural setting, perhaps for the first time. Further, the battlefield enthusiasts are often in the company of family members with interest in wildlife. These, and a host of other observations, have made it clear that the battlefield offers a richer, wider opportunity than historical study alone.”
Emma Sayer, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund East Midlands, said:
“Naseby is recognised as the most significant battle of the English Civil War, and 12,000 people visit the site each year. This project will transform access to the battlefield, creating new opportunities for visitors to learn about and explore the history and natural heritage of the site”
The extension of the existing battlefield trail is scheduled for completion by autumn 2011. The full trail can be travelled with the aid of the downloadable guide to be found at www.naseby.com – the battlefield.
Melvyn Bragg films at Naseby
On 16 November 2010 the Cromwell Monument, overlooking the battlefield of Naseby at Broadmoor, was the setting for filming part of Melvyn Bragg’s new television programme. The subject is the influence of the Bible on the soldiers of the English Civil War and the publication of the Soldier’s Bible, an abbreviated, low-price edition for the common soldier.The field of Naseby was therefore considered to be a crucial location in the unfolding story being told.
Lord Bragg was welcomed by Naseby Battlefield Project trustees Martin Marix Evans and John Kliene and presented with a ‘Friends’ pack to mark his becoming an honorary Friend of the Project.
The filming went on to capture a campfire scene and the firing of a cannon by Colonel Robert Hammond’s Regiment of Foote. The finished programme is expected to be broadcast on BBC2 at 8pm on Saturday 12th March.
Naseby Battlefield Trail wins Heritage Award
In 2008 the Naseby Local History Society nominated the Naseby Battlefield Project for the new Nationwide Community and Heritage Awards for the creation of the self-guided battlefield trail. The Project was honoured with a Regional Award. The awards were sponsored by a partnership of the Heritage Lottery Fund and Nationwide.
International Guild of Battlefield Guides visits Naseby
The professional association of people and companies which guide visitors to battlefields all over the world selected Naseby as the field of conflict to feature as the centrepiece from the autumn conference this year.
The delegates also included members of the Battlefields Trust and the British Commission for Military History. Some forty visitors gathered at the Highgate House Hotel in Creaton on Friday 1 October to hear the Naseby Battlefield Project’s Deputy Chairman, Martin Marix Evans, give a talk on the battle and the Guild’s founder member Chris Scott describe the basics of 17th-century warfare. On Saturday Peter Burton led the group over the battlefield in a series of walks that revealed the vital influence of terrain on the progress of the fight that took place on 14 June 1645 and in which autocratic monarchy was overthrown.
A highlight of the day was the appearance of a troop of Sealed Knot reenactors which surprised the visitors with a volley of fire from concealed positions, much as Colonel Okey’s Dragoons had attacked King Charles I and his army in the battle itself.
The conference led not only to numerous declarations that the battlefield would, in future, become a regular tourist destination for the Guides, but also in the award of the Guild’s logo as a symbol of the high standard the Naseby Battlefield Project has shown in the creation of the battlefield trail and the viewpoint-by-viewpoint interpretation of the historic events.
Battlefield Trail extended to Sulby Hedges
At a brief ceremony on a perfect autumn day, a new viewpoint was inaugurated on Naseby battlefield on 30 September. Thanks to landowners Bill and Jenny Tarry, a permissive path, leading from the Kelmarsh road just south of Sibbertoft down to Sulby Hedges, has been made available. The first viewpoint has been constructed near the northern boundary of the ‘T’ field where a corner of Little Old Close has been fenced off and a pond has been restored.
This place is close to the location of a massive oak tree which used to stand nearby, and was called King Charles’s Oak. Tradition has it that it commemorated the place at which the king was attacked during the battle.
Sally Westaway planted a new oak tree in memory of her late husband Mike, a native of Naseby and founding member of the Naseby Battlefield Project. Mike was largely responsible for the revaluation of the history of the battle, showing much of the 19th and 20th century opinion was mistaken. Sally and Mike’s sons, Tim and Scott, together with the grandchildren and other relatives attended the event.
The interpretation board was unveiled by Mrs Isabel Stonyer who spoke movingly of the importance of the place in her youth and today. She provided photographs of the original tree and of herself and friends climbing it in the 1920s which now appear on the board. Lord Naseby gave an address recalling his friendship with Mike Westaway and Peter Burton spoke of the historical significance of the site.
Plans are now in hand to extend the path and build a further viewpoint, as well as to add interpretation of the environment and its wildlife.
Another award for the Naseby Battlefield Project
NBP chairman Richard Putt collected the award in the ‘Work with Children and Young People’ class of the 2010 Northamptonshire Heritage Awards at a celebratory dinner at Kelmarsh Hall on 22 July.
The winning project was the creation of a series of audio downloads to allow battlefield visitors to become ‘ear-witnesses’ to the events of Saturday 14 June 1645, listening in to Fairfax and Cromwell discussing where to deploy the New Model Army, for example.
The ten tracks, entitled The Sound of Battle: Naseby 14 June 1645, are each individually crafted to be relevant to a specific battlefield location, and are now available on the Project’s website, www.naseby.com.
The tracks were scripted, cast and performed by students of Abbeyfield Performing Arts Specialist School, working with the professional sound engineers of The Lodge Recording Studios in Northampton and the historians of the Naseby Battlefield Project. The narrative sections were spoken by the famed actor, Robert Hardy who gave his services as a donation to the enterprise and worked with the students as a colleague to produce a product of originality and quality. The work as a whole was managed by educational consultant Sara Mair for The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council’s Renaissance East Midlands.
The Naseby Battlefield Project’s previous accolade was won in 2008 when it was declared a regional winner in the Nationwide Community and Heritage Awards.
Other News
Royal Horse Artillery at Naseby
On 23 July 2009 officers of the Royal Horse Artillery along with officers from other regiments rode across the Naseby battlefield in a Staff Ride led by General Cubitt. This was a serious exercise giving members of the staff the opportunity to consider an historic battle and hone their command skills. They held their regimental lunch close to the Royal Observer Corps lookout on Wadborough Hill.
Naseby has become a favoured venue for Forces staff rides and it was exciting to see cavalry in action once more on the battlefield of Naseby.
Mike Westaway, 1927-2009
We regret to announce that in November Michael Westaway died after a long battle with cancer.
Michael Westaway, later joined by Peter Burton, laid the foundation of the archaeological knowledge of the Battle of Naseby as a result of more than twenty years' patient metal detecting work. Each find location was carefully recorded long before battlefield investigators began to make rules; Mike understood full well that the pattern of finds would tell its own story. The work provided Glenn Foard with the from-the-ground evidence to put forward the locally-developed interpretation of the action of 14 June 1645 in the book Pryor Publications brought out in 1995, making Naseby the first British battlefield to be evaluated on the basis of archaeological findings.
Michael was a member of the Battlefields Trust and a founder trustee of the Naseby Battlefield Project. But to many of us he was far more than that. He was a wise, generous and humorous friend we will miss very much indeed. We are planning to dedicate a new viewpoint site to his memory and hope to open it during 2010.
Sealed Knot Training at Mill Hill
Over the weekend of the 17th and 18th of April the Royalist Army of the Sealed Knot camped at Mill Hill and carried out training exercises including pike and musket displays. Two weeks later it was the turn of the Sealed Knot’s Army of Parliament.
The Mill Hill site, in which the Sealed Knot has a financial investment, is now their regular annual spring training ground. Skirmishes are staged on Sunday afternoons for visiting Naseby Project V.I.P’s. For those wishing to see Civil War action we recommend a day at the English Heritage Festival of History. See our Events Diary for details.
Living History Centre Planning Application submitted
Northamptonshire County Council has generously provided a grant of £30,000 which enabled the NBP to commission Attract Marketing of Kenilworth to put together a planning application for the Proposed Living History Centre at Naseby.
The location of the Centre has changed from that envisaged earlier. It has now been proposed to site the building in the top NW corner of the lower of the two fields at Mill Hill (see the site plan). The position is far enough away from the A14 to reduce traffic noise, it also enables the use of the lower ground, close to the A14, as a reenactment area. An archaeological investigation of the new location was carried out and revealed nothing of significance.
An outline planning application was presented to Daventry D. C. in April of this year. A number of questions have been raised and our consultants are currently answering these.
Lord Naseby raises financial support
Lord Naseby, formerly Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons and a Patron of the NBP since its formation, has taken on an active fundraising role in the Project. Lord Naseby has recruited a significant number of benefactors to provide ongoing administrative funding for the Project. Annual donations, with Gift Aid, have been pledged for a period of at least three years to cover ongoing costs of staff, maintenance, publicity and the like. This is a vital contribution which will ensure that the NBP can continue its campaign to construct a permanent Visitor Centre at Naseby and further benefactors are being invited to join us. The Trustees would like to thank Lord Naseby for this generous support and look forward to his active involvement in the next phase of work at Naseby.
On May 23rd the Benefactors visited Naseby for the day where they were given a morning talk on the battle and the work of the NBP by John Kliene. After lunch John led a tour of the main interpretation sites including the two viewpoints. We expect that this will become a regular event to keep our benefactors fully informed on progress at Naseby.
