Crabchurch Conspiracy 2020
Crabchurch Conspiracy Weymouth , Saturday 29th February 2020
After devoting a lot of time to launching the 13th century blog this year's Crabchurch Conspiracy event,was sufficient enough to get 'A Burnt Ship' back into life.
At the start of 1645 the twin coastal towns of Weymouth and Wycombe Regis were held by Parliamentarians under the command of Sir William Sydenham and his two brothers Francis and Thomas. At midnight on 9th February two Royalist forces made up of men from Portland attacked and seized the two main local forts at Nothe and Chapelhay. Within an hour Major Francis Sydenham organised a counter attack in a bid to retake the Chapel fort. This failed and Francis died the following morning from his wounds. The Parliamentarians managed to still hold on to Melcombe. After a number of days of facing bombardment, the Parliamentarians, numbered around 1,300 men, received news that a Royalist army under Lord Goring of some 8,000 men were going to take back the towns William Sydenham let the Royalist forces advance into the town streets where they were successfully ambushed . A contingent of Irish Royalists suffered particularly high casualties, as they were driven into freezing water by the quayside.
The result was a significant Royalist defeat. A number of the Crabchurch Conspirators, who had planned to let the Royalists into the two towns, were severely dealt with. And around 500 lives were lost in the fighting. If 'Crabchurch' had succeeded then a vital port would have fallen into Royalist hands.
So it was great to attend the 'Crabchurch Conspiracy' day at Hope Chapel, Trinity Street, on Weymouth's South Harbourside on Saturday 29th February. Local historian Mark Vine has researched the Civil War and its impact on Dorset for decades now and written a book on the subject . Mark has also worked with local rock band The Dolmen in releasing a CD dedicated to 'The Crabchurch Conspiracy'. His dedication has led to whole episode being taken seriously as an important part of Dorset history, and acknowledged by people researching and re-enacting the Civil War elsewhere. I organised an interview with Mark Vine for this blog in 2017.
The first 'Crabchurch' was in 1995, and been held most years since then in Weymouth . A combination of history talks, music, and Civil War re-enactment over a weekend have taken place. This year took the form of a one day event. Starting with a history bookfair, followed by talks, from Professor Ronald Hutton, writer Kitt Berry, and comedian Bishop Bray. Then in the evening The Dolmen performed 'The Crabchurch Conspiracy' album. Sadly, it will be the last 'Crabchurch' . However Mark Vine is working on a 'Crabchurch' novel.
The first talk was by Kit Berry, who lived in Portland for many years and also taught at local schools. Now most known for her series 'The Stonewylde' novels. Kit gave readings from a novel that she is writing titled 'The Raven Himself' set in Portland, looking at 'Crabchurch' from a Royalist point of view.
Professor Ronald Hutton followed with a talk titled 'Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector Saint or Sinner' and was superb. Ronald has the knack of thoroughly but sometimes quite gently challenging his audience's preconceptions, coming up with new ways of viewing Cromwell's personality and his policies once in power. The talk was filmed by Haydn Wheeler from Clubmen 1645 and uploaded on to Youtube
I missed Bishop Bray's talk, so can not comment.
Local Celtic- rock band The Dolmen performed the 'Crabchurch Conspiracy' CD, with actor John Dixon narrating this history of the affair, put on a magnificent show. All extremely talented musicians. Live, the whole 'Crabchurch' set became more hard hitting , tracks were developed and extended. Talloch ,the band' s singer reminded the audience that we were yards away from where some of the worst fighting took place. The tragedy of civil war with folk from nearby towns set against each other, the Royalist Irish soldiers thrown off the harbour side. the courage and horror that war generates , all seemed to come over well from the band's performance. Though the book and CD lyrics are written more from a Parliamentarian stance, the dedication and the losses incurred by soldiers who took the Royalist side are certainly respected.
It was also a pleasure to meet a number of fellow history enthusiasts , especially from the aforementioned Clubmen 1645 website.
Links
The Dolmen Band website 'The Crabchuch Conspiracy' CD is available from them, also can be found on 'Spotify' .
Dorset Echo feature 5th February 2020 publicising 'Crabchurch Conspiracy' 2020
Kit Berry website
Clubmen 1645
Crabchurch Conspiracy Blog from 2018
Other Michael Bully projects
13th century history blog Launched this year.
World War 2 poetry
After devoting a lot of time to launching the 13th century blog this year's Crabchurch Conspiracy event,was sufficient enough to get 'A Burnt Ship' back into life.
At the start of 1645 the twin coastal towns of Weymouth and Wycombe Regis were held by Parliamentarians under the command of Sir William Sydenham and his two brothers Francis and Thomas. At midnight on 9th February two Royalist forces made up of men from Portland attacked and seized the two main local forts at Nothe and Chapelhay. Within an hour Major Francis Sydenham organised a counter attack in a bid to retake the Chapel fort. This failed and Francis died the following morning from his wounds. The Parliamentarians managed to still hold on to Melcombe. After a number of days of facing bombardment, the Parliamentarians, numbered around 1,300 men, received news that a Royalist army under Lord Goring of some 8,000 men were going to take back the towns William Sydenham let the Royalist forces advance into the town streets where they were successfully ambushed . A contingent of Irish Royalists suffered particularly high casualties, as they were driven into freezing water by the quayside.
The result was a significant Royalist defeat. A number of the Crabchurch Conspirators, who had planned to let the Royalists into the two towns, were severely dealt with. And around 500 lives were lost in the fighting. If 'Crabchurch' had succeeded then a vital port would have fallen into Royalist hands.
So it was great to attend the 'Crabchurch Conspiracy' day at Hope Chapel, Trinity Street, on Weymouth's South Harbourside on Saturday 29th February. Local historian Mark Vine has researched the Civil War and its impact on Dorset for decades now and written a book on the subject . Mark has also worked with local rock band The Dolmen in releasing a CD dedicated to 'The Crabchurch Conspiracy'. His dedication has led to whole episode being taken seriously as an important part of Dorset history, and acknowledged by people researching and re-enacting the Civil War elsewhere. I organised an interview with Mark Vine for this blog in 2017.
The first 'Crabchurch' was in 1995, and been held most years since then in Weymouth . A combination of history talks, music, and Civil War re-enactment over a weekend have taken place. This year took the form of a one day event. Starting with a history bookfair, followed by talks, from Professor Ronald Hutton, writer Kitt Berry, and comedian Bishop Bray. Then in the evening The Dolmen performed 'The Crabchurch Conspiracy' album. Sadly, it will be the last 'Crabchurch' . However Mark Vine is working on a 'Crabchurch' novel.
The first talk was by Kit Berry, who lived in Portland for many years and also taught at local schools. Now most known for her series 'The Stonewylde' novels. Kit gave readings from a novel that she is writing titled 'The Raven Himself' set in Portland, looking at 'Crabchurch' from a Royalist point of view.
Professor Ronald Hutton followed with a talk titled 'Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector Saint or Sinner' and was superb. Ronald has the knack of thoroughly but sometimes quite gently challenging his audience's preconceptions, coming up with new ways of viewing Cromwell's personality and his policies once in power. The talk was filmed by Haydn Wheeler from Clubmen 1645 and uploaded on to Youtube
I missed Bishop Bray's talk, so can not comment.
Local Celtic- rock band The Dolmen performed the 'Crabchurch Conspiracy' CD, with actor John Dixon narrating this history of the affair, put on a magnificent show. All extremely talented musicians. Live, the whole 'Crabchurch' set became more hard hitting , tracks were developed and extended. Talloch ,the band' s singer reminded the audience that we were yards away from where some of the worst fighting took place. The tragedy of civil war with folk from nearby towns set against each other, the Royalist Irish soldiers thrown off the harbour side. the courage and horror that war generates , all seemed to come over well from the band's performance. Though the book and CD lyrics are written more from a Parliamentarian stance, the dedication and the losses incurred by soldiers who took the Royalist side are certainly respected.
It was also a pleasure to meet a number of fellow history enthusiasts , especially from the aforementioned Clubmen 1645 website.
Links
The Dolmen Band website 'The Crabchuch Conspiracy' CD is available from them, also can be found on 'Spotify' .
Dorset Echo feature 5th February 2020 publicising 'Crabchurch Conspiracy' 2020
Kit Berry website
Clubmen 1645
Crabchurch Conspiracy Blog from 2018
Other Michael Bully projects
13th century history blog Launched this year.
World War 2 poetry
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