Offerton, site of Civil War skirmish

HER Number:
25

District:
Sunderland

Site Name:
Offerton, site of Civil War skirmish

Place:
Offerton

Map Sheet:
NZ35SW

Class:
Defence

Site Type: Broad:

Site Type: Specific:
Battlefield

General Period:
Post Medieval

Specific Period:
C17

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
Early in March, probably between the 6th & 8th, there occurred the first of two inconclusive skirmishes between the Scots army, encamped at Sunderland, and the Royalist forces. Though the various secondary accounts do not altogether agree it seems likely that this action took place on the south side of the Wear some 2.5 miles west of Sunderland. The Royalists are said to have shown themselves on top of a hill 3 miles from Sunderland. Mitchell locates the event in a large field west of Hylton Road - "the field is still known as the 'battlefield', and the remains of the trenches on the high ground at the south are locally known as the rifle pits". The Ordnance Survey commissioners declared this to be the field known as Penny Well, now built over.

Easting:
345

Northing:
548

Grid Reference:
NZ345548

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 25 >> J.W. Summers, 1830, History of Sunderland, pp. 418-419 E. Mackenzie & M. Ross, 1834, A Historical View...of Durham, Vol. I, pp. 262-3 C.S. Terry, 1899, The Scottish Campaigns in Northumberland and Durham (Jan - June) 1644, Archaeologia Aeliana, 2, XXI, pp. 165-173; M.M. Meikle and C.M. Newman, 2007, Sunderland and its Origins - monks to mariners, pp 126-128 W.C. Mitchell, 1919, History of Sunderland, p. 59 Ordnance Survey archaeological record cards, JHO, 1952, Civil War battle (site) - 1644; M.M. Meikle and C.M. Newman, 2007, Sunderland and its Origins - monks to mariners, pp. 126-128; The National Archives, SP16/501 ff. 26r-27v; Calendar of State Papers, domestic series, 1547-1625 (1856-72), 1644, 42-3; Casulaties - An Exact Relation, 4-5; Late Proceedings of the Scottish Army, 11-15; Diary of Robert Douglas, 52-3