Battle of South Harting

Battle of South Harting
Part of the First English Civil War
South Harting viewed from the south in 1782
Date Night of 23–24 November 1643 Location South Harting, West Sussex Result Royalist victory
Belligerents
Royalists	Parliamentarians
Commanders and leaders
6 Unnamed officers	Colonel Richard Norton
Units involved
Detachment of the Earl of Crawford's Regiment of Horse	Colonel Richard Norton's Regiment of Horse
Strength
~ 120	~ 400
Casualties and losses
~ 6 killed 5–6 wounded	~ 6 killed "very many" wounded 2 captured

The Battle of South Harting was a skirmish that took place on 23 November 1643 in the village of South Harting, in West Sussex, during the First English Civil War between a Royalist detachment of the Earl of Crawford's Regiment of Horse who had quartered for the night in the village, and a Parliamentarian force consisting of Colonel Richard Norton and his own Regiment of Horse, who later that night came upon Crawford's men in the village by chance. It is notable for the nature in which the Parliamentarians were defeated; that being some 400 Parliamentarian dragoons routed by a clever act of deception carried out by just 6 mounted officers together with a boy, and helped to boost morale in Royalist circles at the time.

Background

During the invasion of Sussex during Lord Ralph Hopton's Southern Campaign of 1643–1644, South Harting was a strategic location for the Royalists being at the foot of a crossing over the South Downs which acted as the first line of communication between Royalist-controlled Oxford and Winchester, and Arundel — which Lord Hopton intended to take for the King. It was through South Harting from Petersfield, and then up the South Downs and past Sir William Ford's (Father of Sir Edward Ford) house and large estate at Uppark, and then back down the South Downs through North Marden, that Lord Hopton's horse advanced towards Arundel via. His foot took a different route bypassing the South Downs via East Meon to attack Lord Lumley's house at Stansted, just outside of Chichester. On 22 November 1643, Lord Hopton had recaptured Chichester for the King.

It was in the midst of a storm during the middle of the night of 23–24 November 1643 that 120 Royalist cavalry of the Earl of Crawford's Regiment of Horse entered the village of South Harting whilst headed in the direction of Arundel, having been detached from Basing House or Alton by Lord Hopton's chief cavalry officer Ludovic Lindsay, 16th Earl of Crawford, to reinforce Lord Hopton's invasion of Sussex. Due to their tiredness and hunger after having marched so far, combined with the fact it was now dark, cold, and raining, the Royalists decided to take up overnight quarter in the numerous houses in the village, with the 6 most highest-ranking officers and a boy taking quarter in Harting Place (the house of Sir John Caryll, a local ardent Royalist) near the Parish Church of Saint Mary and Saint Gabriel.

Skirmish at South Harting

Less than an hour after the Royalists had quartered in South Harting and settled down to sleep for the night, Colonel Richard Norton and all 6 troops of his regiment totalling some 400 Parliamentarian dragoons, approached the parish while unaware of the Royalists who were quartered in the various houses there. During Hopton's advance through Sussex, Colonel Norton's Regiment of Horse was employed as a fast and agile force used to harass Hopton's horse as they advanced on Arundel. Once in the village, the Parliamentarians soon became aware of the Royalist presence. Once realising his situation and the defencelessness of the sleeping Royalists, Colonel Norton immediately took advantage of the opportunity that had presented itself to him and his men to safely show proof of his, and his regiment's, valour. Colonel Norton had his men rank themselves into groups of 10 where they were to then set about covering every doorway of every house in the village so that in theory no Royalist could escape. Norton then had his men shout "Horse! Horse!" in the street, and with the Royalists mistaking the calls as coming from their own officers, while simultaneously not knowing of the presence of Norton's regiment in the village, some ran out of the doorways of their houses only to be shot at or killed once presenting themselves within sight of Norton's dismounted dragoons. Most of the Royalists, realising what was happening and knowing that they could not get themselves or their horses onto the street without being shot at, fled through back alleys on foot to save themselves, thus leaving the Parliamentarians in control of the village. The Parliamentarians then went about the village shooting into all the houses and at all people.

The 6 officers and the boy who were sleeping in Harting Place were alerted by the gunfire and commotion outside and quickly realised that the village and their men had been surprised by the Parliamentarians. The 6 officers left the house with the boy and mounted their horses. Rushing along Tipper Lane, they cleverly positioned themselves between the South Downs and their enemy. The 6 officers and the boy charged towards Norton's 400 dragoons in a seemingly suicidal act, shouting the signal "Follow! Follow! Follow!" as if they were leading a much larger force which, during the darkness of the night, would have given the Parliamentarians the impression that more of Lord Hopton's horse while on their way to Arundel, hearing the gunfire in the village, had been signalled back and were charging down the South Downs in an avalanche of overwhelming numbers which was soon to be on top of them. This ingenious act of deception was executed with such "fury and undaunted courage" that it struck complete panic amongst the Parliamentarians, so much so that they were routed and driven back through the village in disorder with some half a dozen being shot dead by the 6 officers in the process. Either realising what was happening or perhaps also falling for the deception as the Parliamentarians had, small groups of 2 to 3 Royalist soldiers who were still present in the village left their hiding places and came out to where the Parliamentarians were fleeing in disorder, attacking them as they went past. This chase of the Parliamentarians continued until the 6 officers, the boy, and the other Royalist soldiers who had come out of hiding, had forced them to flee over both hedge and ditch, killing as many of them as they had done of the Royalists; that being some half a dozen men according to the Royalist chronicler reporting on the engagement in the Royalist propaganda newspaper Mercurius Aulicus, although the recorded number killed was possibly exaggerated at the time for reasons of morale and politics.

Aftermath

An extract from the South Harting parish register marked on the left margin with an asterisk (*) records: "There were three souldiers buryed Novemb 24 1643"

2 of Norton's men were taken prisoner including the Trumpeter and "very many" were wounded. The Royalists suffered 5 or 6 wounded with the Earl of Crawford's own Cornet being described as more so than the rest but not dangerously so. The Royalists captured numerous of Norton's horses, all their arms they had left behind, and Captain Thomas Betsworth's suit of arms among other things. When the Parliamentarians had been informed of the lamentable nature of their defeat at South Harting — some 400 horse and dragoons being routed by 6 officers and a boy — one of Norton's men solemnly swore the following:

By God we deserve all to be chronicled for the veryest cowards that ever lived!

This incident naturally caused both amusement and delight amongst Royalist circles thus boosting morale, and dented the reputation of Colonel Richard Norton and his regiment at the time.

The South Harting parish register which would have been stored in the Parish Church of Saint Mary and Saint Gabriel records that on the following day: "There were three souldiers buryed Novemb 24 1643". Knowing the loyalty of the parish to the Royalist cause, it's possible that these "three souldiers" were Crawford's men who had been killed the previous night, although their specific allegiance is not stated.

As late as 1877, there was a local oral tradition that there was a fight in the Culvers field in South Harting involving "Oliver", probably meaning Oliver Cromwell and referring to the Parliamentarians fighting with Royalists there during the English Civil War.

References

• Bacon, George (1878). Sussex Archaeological Collections Relating to the History and Antiquities of the county, Volume 18. Lewis, East Sussex: Sussex Archaeological Society.
• Gordon, Henry Doddridge (1877). The History of Harting. London: W. Davy.
• Hall, Derek; Barber, Norman (1985). Norton's Horse: The History of a Hampshire Regiment During the First Civil War 1642-1646 (PDF). Hampshire: Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society.
• Thomas-Stanford, Charles (1910). Sussex in the great Civil War and the interregnum, 1642-1660. London: Chiswick Press.