Back in April of 2019 and with the anniversary of 'The Ruts' album The Crack in mind, we as a group, that is me, the artist Stewart MacArthur and Sheila Wiggins from Retro It Ain't sat around the table with a new artwork in mind. Growing up as teenager in the late 70's and early 80's the first Ruts album was very much not just musically but image wise, a big influence on me. The divides put upon us as a country over the result of the 2016 referendum set in process and leave

Woodbury Hill from the south. Picture courtesy of John Clift Flickr creative commons. Path to the top of Woodbury Hill "These fruits of civil; robberies and innumerable wicked actions committed by the barbarous soldiers, to the unspeakable misery of the poor county". Whitelock Protestant Mercury March-12-1645 One of the earliest Clubmen gatherings with writing declaration came via the NW Worcestershire Clubmen. A Declaration and Resolution document of March 5th 1645 read out

Tensions and fears of plunder, loss of provision and being pressed into the warring armies had in the English Revolution caused a meeting of the generality of those effected by quartered and passing through troops. Fairfax and Colonel Massie's arrival in Wiltshire and Dorset in June of 1645 saw the beginning of the Western Campaign. Tensions already heated were ramped up by an uptake of troops in the west. Goring and Lewis Dive were both now in the sights of Parliament. A qua

Parliamentary Newspaper 1645 A joining through the counties of Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Hereford by the people was forced upon them. As in other counties the Civil War had torn away the fabric of civility. Demands made by the people of the Counties not of Parliamentary or King were put to the warring sides. Both sides took issue with these risings of the generality, for they were a third force. Without warrant from either side they saw fit to show their strength a

What links Sir John Danvers his estate in Lavington, a Mr Merryweather with his pan and pestle and the signing of Charles 1st death warrant in 1649. Throw into that equation some Italian gardening and the Clubmen of 1645 and you have a tale, I suggest. With the Royalist garrison in Devizes under the command of Governor Sir Charles Lloyd in December 1644 a need to refortify the castle was in need. Massey the Parliamentarian commander had demolished parts of the castle when pre

The Clubmen movements of 1645 in Dorset were a direct reaction against Parliamentarian and Royalist armies. With troops from both sides garrisoned and passing through the County the generality in that County rallied against what was seen as a forced hand and to side with and choose a side for a quarrel of not their making. A rejection of a quarrel that was seen as most unnatural. The gathering of these Clubmen in large numbers were seen as unlawful. With speakers and with wri

Peace in this civil war, untitled 1642-1647 As Civil War began to take it's hold across the Country, prominent gentlemen in the county of Cheshire saw fit to see the said county of Cheshire stay neutral in this Civil War most horrid. So was the aim of both parties King and Parliament in Cheshire and agreed on. The Bunbury Agreement of December 23rd 1642 was a result of both sides having been engaged in several skirmishes in the county, and seeing this as undesired. The agreem

Anti Fracking protest in Balcombe 2013 The insufferable, insolent, arbitrary power that hath bin used amongest us, contrary to all our ancient knowne lawes, or ordinances of parliament, upon our persons and estates by imprisoning our persons, imposing of somes money, light horses and dragoons and exacting of loanes by some particular persons stept into authority whoe have delegated their power to men of sordid condition whose wills have ben lawes and commands over our persons

Lomers Ash shown on old map by Norden 1595. The Sussex Clubmen declaration of September 26th 1645 as with the Dorset, Wiltshire declarations before focused on the unaccountably of persons put upon them. The insufferable, insolent, arbitrary power that hath bin used amongest us, contrary to all our ancient knowne lawes, or ordinances of parliament, upon our persons and estates by imprisoning our persons, imposing of somes money, light horses and dragoons and exacting of loanes

Clubmen At Faulston and Langford. Faulstone Wiltshire, Garrison of Parliamentarian Troops. "They will obey no Warrants further than they are compelled" So General Fairfax observed when describing his encounters with the Clubmen of Dorset and Wiltshire. Not a thing looked on kindly by the Generals of the warring parties, Royalist and Parliamentarian alike The rendezvous and meetings between rival garrisons leaders and the Clubmen in June of 1645 would suggest it was so. June

' Back Cover of the 1st Clash LP, The Clash Growing up and as a teenager through the late 70s early 80s, with the dawning of the Thatcher era, The Clash so titled their 1st album as observed by them, the word clash was used to great extent in the news. An ideological, and in many ways a physical Civil War was playing out, minus the cannonball and powder-flash. The image from the back cover of the 1st Clash album showing a scene from the Notting Hill riots of 76 was very much

It "Alienated those whose hearts were best affected to the Kings service". The Earl Clarendon wrote in his memoirs when referring to plundering by troops quartered . The inhabitants of towns, villages and parishes affected by troops through the English Revolution can be seen with the plight imposed on them by Royalist troops in South Brent ( Brent Knoll) in March 1645. Brent Knoll in Somerset, known as South Brent in 1645. Colonel Ayscough rode into South Brent with a troop o

Place Yard 1647, courtesy of the Guildhall Library The Clubmen movement with its call for a stop to the Civil War and a return to talks with King and Parliament has at its core a rooting in the provinces, and that is where its strength of power was held in 1645. The demands made and the non-acceptance of a state defined by warring parties and a winner takes all shaping of a country was a challenge and problem for both warring parties. An organised assembly (association) such

"The Desires and Resolutions" demands made by the Clubmen were agreed and penned at Gore-hedge Corner" which has become a place in the mists of time and somewhat of a holy grail in the search for. (speaking for myself) The account we have of the Clubmen of Dorset and Wilts, the written declaration of their places of birth is one of those frustrating historical place names, which could have many probable locations or none known now, and which maybe lost in history. A large bod

Woodbury Hill from the south. Picture courtesy of John Clift Flickr creative commons. Woodbury Hill Clubmen video. The NW Worcestershire Clubmen Declaration and Resolution document of March 5th 1645 was read out on Woodbury Hill. Presented by a Mr Charles Nott, a parson of Shelsley to a gathering of a 1000 Clubmen. The declaration was in response to the continuing plunder and violence by soldiers in the county. C.D Gillbert author of The Worcestershire Clubmen of 1645 referen

The bells of St Mary's of Shroton , Iwerne Courtney Dorset. Seen here courtesy of John Taylor & Co "Bellfoundry" where restoration of the ground floor 9 cwt ring of six was undertaken. St Mary's Church Shroton. The bells of St Mary's Church in Shroton have undergone restoration. Work on the bells was carried out by John Taylor & Co "Bellfoundry Loughborough. With the church links to the Clubmen, a look at the part bell ringing played in the Clubmen movement is of considerable

The Putney Debates, which were first held in 1647 returned in 2017 to their original home of St Mary's Church, Putney. Hosted by The Foundation for Law, Justice and Society (FLJS), the debate centred around the topic of "Constitutional Crisis in the United Kingdom" Four sessions were held over a period of two days, with a variety of speakers on each panel. In session two the topic of debate on day one was titled Changing and Strengthening the Role of the People. Part of the

Looking over Monkton Up Wimborne, home of George Hawles, one of the Clubmen leaders who met Fairfax in Dorchester as part of a deputation with a petition. The petition titled the Humble Petition of The Inhabitants of Dorset was presented to King and Parliament on July 8th, with the King in reply from Ragland July 9th. On 2nd of July 1645 Fairfax was again in Dorset, and by July 3rd had marched from Blandford to Dorchester, on what was described as "a very hot day." Col Syden

Pic Wolveton Hall Dorset. Trenchard's residence. Bingham married Frances Trenchard, daughter of John Trenchard "The cavaliers have kept great Christmases after the usual time with sets of fiddlers, a fine way to draw in the people in time of need". A copy of a letter to John Thurloe, secretary to the council of state in Protectorate England and spymaster for Oliver Cromwell. Delivered by Parliamentarian John Bingham, MP for Dorset in 1654, 1656 and 1658. The observations pass

Clubmen come face to face with Cromwell's New Model Army: Duncliffe Wood. During the English Revolution (Civil War) the Clubmen of Dorset and Wiltshire had many rendezvouses in these counties. Large bodies of people would gather, in places like ancient woodland and hillforts to air their grievances (plundering was rife by both Royalists and Parliamentarians) arising from a war "most horrid and unnatural." Calling for the two warring parties to cease this war and for peace an