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Mar 4, 2019
5 min

The Worcestershire Clubmen Declaration. 5th March 1645

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

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Neuters, neutrals, a let's talk route to achieve change has always been seen fit.

Haydn Wheeler

Nov 19, 2017
13 min

Neuters, neutrals, a let's talk route to achieve change has always been seen fit.

Neuters neutrals and waverers, is a term used with broadness in meaning and had manifested itself by many in language to describe the imposition of many at the outbreak of the English Revolution . The language used to label is decided on many occasions by ones opposing side or sides in an argument. In a war both opposing sides of that war can agree a dislike or a chance to recruit where neuters and waverers are concerned. Indeed, a Puritan cry from the pulpit through the Engl

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Haydn Wheeler

Jun 12, 2017
4 min

"Peace and Safety of the County"

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

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"Great oppression's, Cruel plunders" and The Commons.

Haydn Wheeler

Apr 14, 2017
7 min

"Great oppression's, Cruel plunders" and The Commons.

' 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

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Haydn Wheeler

Mar 19, 2017
3 min

"Which Side Are You On" Need Not Apply.

1642. As it was said "The Quarrel Was More Between Parliament And King" not the people. The reversal of the phrase of Paul Weller's lyrics in (The Jam) song Going Underground. "The Public Gets, What The Public Wants" being changed mid verse to "The Public Want, What The Public Gets", evokes a fiery anger shot across the public's bows shouting the frustration "your choice need not be what your given" and the frustration with being led to believe that what we are given is what

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"Let that be a warning to join, keep out of unlawful assemblies"

Haydn Wheeler

Mar 8, 2017
8 min

"Let that be a warning to join, keep out of unlawful assemblies"

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

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Haydn Wheeler

Mar 3, 2017
3 min

"The neutrality of the Clubmen"

Clubmen banner and Levellers banner held in Burford on Levellers Day 2016. "Rotten-hearted nauseous Neutrals" was the description given by contemporary biographer John Vicars of the Western Clubmen in his accounts of Parliamentary activities in "England's Parliamentary Chronicle 1645-1646". This colourful take on the Clubmen is nothing out the norm with regards to how warring factions within a war and especially a Civil War deal with a neutralist party. Weathercocks is a term

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Haydn Wheeler

Feb 28, 2017
4 min

And Where is Gore-Hedge Corner?

"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

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Haydn Wheeler

Feb 21, 2017
4 min

The Worcestershire Clubmen Declaration. 5th March 1645

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

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"By Ringing Of Bells" Peace and Safety Across the County.

Haydn Wheeler.

Feb 9, 2017
6 min

"By Ringing Of Bells" Peace and Safety Across the County.

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

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Haydn Wheeler

Feb 5, 2017
2 min

"Many voices of the people"

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

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"These Clubmen would knock them on the heads as they should fly for safety."

Haydn Wheeler

Jan 3, 2017
5 min

"These Clubmen would knock them on the heads as they should fly for safety."

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

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"The cavaliers have kept great Christmases after the usual time with sets of fiddlers".

Haydn Wheeler

Dec 24, 2016
6 min

"The cavaliers have kept great Christmases after the usual time with sets of fiddlers".

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

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Cromwell Meets With Clubmen at Duncliffe Hill 1645 “a place full of wood and almost inaccessible”,

Haydn Wheeler.

Nov 20, 2016
3 min

Cromwell Meets With Clubmen at Duncliffe Hill 1645 “a place full of wood and almost inaccessible”,

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

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Thomas Young, "a man more eloquent than trustworthy you could say."

Haydn Wheeler

Nov 19, 2016
7 min

Thomas Young, "a man more eloquent than trustworthy you could say."

Castle Hill in Shaftesbury, scene of the capture of Thomas Young and Clubmen leaders, 1645. Thomas Young of Manston. Speaking of the ringleaders of the Clubmen at a meeting with General Thomas Fairfax in Dorchester on the 3rd July 1645, Rushworth says "the deputation to him was led by men of good name, it contained a Trenchard and a Hollis, John St Loe, Peter Hopkins esquire, master Robert J Avlet and Master Thomas Young, an attorney, a man more eloquent than trustworthy, F (

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Clubmen, Grovely Wood, "they will not suffer them to fight, but make them drink together",

Haydn Wheeler

Nov 6, 2016
5 min

Clubmen, Grovely Wood, "they will not suffer them to fight, but make them drink together",

Grovely Wood in far distance as seen from A36, Scene of Clubmen meeting 1645 Ebsbury Hill, incorporating Grovely Castle General Fairfax's account of the Clubmen while he was stationed in Blandford talks of them wearing the white ribbon. He relates how when the two sides of the armies meet they "The Clubmen," are in great number as at Salisbury, "they will cease them to fight but to make them drink together, in his words they will not suffer them to fight, but make them drink

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The Western Husbandman's Lamentation Half Penny song, March 1645

Haydn Wheeler

Oct 24, 2016
2 min

The Western Husbandman's Lamentation Half Penny song, March 1645

Sketch by Stewart MacArthur "And them the Roundheads fetched away, A mischief be their speed. And had six horses left me whole, And them the Cavaliers stole" On the above section of verse the King and Parliament were both agreed when it came to plunder. With the soldiers of both King and Parliament through the English Revolution in quarter, and passing through the Counties, they had in common agreement the act of plunder. With the unruly troops from both sides a ditty in noti

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Haydn Wheeler

Oct 23, 2016
2 min

Goring's men were killed in a skirmish.

View from the village of Godmanstone, near Dorchester Dorset, seen here from Cowdon Hill. At the end of February 1645 several of Royalist Goring's men were killed in a skirmish with the local villagers. The troops after being quartered in the village had made a enemy of the inhabitants by the plunder of their goods. Plundering was now becoming a call for unity in the county of Dorset and across the SW, for order to be restored. Goring and his troops ( known as "Goring's Crew"

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Warrant of the Wiltshire Clubmen, Buxbury Hill, May 26th 1645.

Haydn Wheeler

Oct 23, 2016
1 min

Warrant of the Wiltshire Clubmen, Buxbury Hill, May 26th 1645.

Following the Clubmen, meeting and agreement of May 25th 1645 'Desires And Resolutions' declaration, where 'certain directions for the present behaviour were made'. The Hillside of Buxbury ( Buxbury round barrow, Buxbury Hill ) saw a second meeting of Clubmen. By nine o'clock 26th May 1645 a warrant of the Wiltshire Clubmen called on the inhabitants of Dinton village (birthplace of Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon) to appear. Situated less than four miles to the south of

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Monmouth Led the Clubmen, Wearing the White Apron.

Haydn Wheeler

Oct 21, 2016
4 min

Monmouth Led the Clubmen, Wearing the White Apron.

Sheila Wiggins above holding the flag and motto of the Clubmen in Bridgewater. The Clubmen were in name again at the time of the Monmouth Rebellion. The Somerset Clubmen who had gathered on the borders of the Poldens in 1645 were again in name in 1685. On the march into Bridgewater on July 3rd 1685 Lord Grey led the army and The Earl of Monmouth led the Clubmen, he did this as a "mark of a particular favour." ( Clubmen wearing white apron) were reported. Meetings of Clubmen w

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Desires and Resolutions of the Clubmen 1645

The Third Sort, Greater in Fortune and in Number

The Worcestershire Clubmen Declaration. 5th March 1645

Neuters, neutrals, a let's talk route to achieve change has always been seen fit.

"Peace and Safety of the County"

"Great oppression's, Cruel plunders" and The Commons.

"Which Side Are You On" Need Not Apply.

"Let that be a warning to join, keep out of unlawful assemblies"

"The neutrality of the Clubmen"

And Where is Gore-Hedge Corner?

The Worcestershire Clubmen Declaration. 5th March 1645

"By Ringing Of Bells" Peace and Safety Across the County.

"Many voices of the people"

"These Clubmen would knock them on the heads as they should fly for safety."

"The cavaliers have kept great Christmases after the usual time with sets of fiddlers".

Cromwell Meets With Clubmen at Duncliffe Hill 1645 “a place full of wood and almost inaccessible”,

Thomas Young, "a man more eloquent than trustworthy you could say."

Clubmen, Grovely Wood, "they will not suffer them to fight, but make them drink together",

The Western Husbandman's Lamentation Half Penny song, March 1645

Goring's men were killed in a skirmish.

Warrant of the Wiltshire Clubmen, Buxbury Hill, May 26th 1645.

Monmouth Led the Clubmen, Wearing the White Apron.