23 September 1642 The Battle of Powick Bridge Worcester was fought, the first major cavalry engagement of the English Civil War. A royalist victory. A petition of note was sent on the 4th of September 1642 by the citizens of Worcester to the mayor Edward Solly, with concerns of what was occurring throughout the country which read.
Cavaliers and Soldiers in divers parts of the Kingdom <where they come> have plundered the towns, bloodily killing the kings peaceable subjects, rifling their houses and violently taking away of their goods and in some places deflowered women.
Pic Bob Embleton. Ref Worcestershire Under Arms: An English County During the Civil Wars By Malcolm Atkin