Tour Through the Eastern Counties of England | Page 8

Hythe, close to the houses, it is navigable for hoys and
small barques. This Hythe is a long street, passing from west to east, on
the south side of the town. At the west end of it, there is a small
intermission of the buildings, but not much; and towards the river it is
very populous (it may be called the Wapping of Colchester). There is
one church in that part of the town, a large quay by the river, and a
good custom- house.
The town may be said chiefly to subsist by the trade of making bays,
which is known over most of the trading parts of Europe by the name
of Colchester Bays, though indeed all the towns round carry on the
same trade--namely, Kelvedon, Witham, Coggeshall, Braintree,
Bocking, &c., and the whole county, large as it is, may be said to be
employed, and in part maintained, by the spinning of wool for the bay
trade of Colchester and its adjacent towns. The account of the siege,
A.D. 1648, with a diary of the most remarkable passages, are as follows,
which I had from so good a hand as that I have no reason to question its
being a true relation.

A Diary: Or, An Account Of The Siege And Blockade Of Colchester,
A.D. 1648.

On the 4th of June, we were alarmed in the town of Colchester that the
Lord Goring, the Lord Capel, and a body of two thousand of the loyal

party, who had been in arms in Kent, having left a great body of an
army in possession of Rochester Bridge, where they resolved to fight
the Lord Fairfax and the Parliament army, had given the said General
Fairfax the slip, and having passed the Thames at Greenwich, were
come to Stratford, and were advancing this way; upon which news, Sir
Charles Lucas, Sir George Lisle, Colonel Cook, and several gentlemen
of the loyal army, and all that had commissions from the king, with a
gallant appearance of gentlemen volunteers, drew together from all
parts of the country to join with them.
The 8th, we were further informed that they were advanced to
Chelmsford, to New Hall House, and to Witham; and the 9th some of
the horse arrived in the town, taking possession of the gates, and having
engineers with them, told us that General Goring had resolved to make
this town his headquarters, and would cause it to be well fortified. They
also caused the drums to beat for volunteers; and a good number of the
poor bay-weavers, and such- like people, wanting employment, enlisted;
so that they completed Sir Charles Lucas's regiment, which was but
thin, to near eight hundred men.
On the 10th we had news that the Lord Fairfax, having beaten the
Royalists at Maidstone, and retaken Rochester, had passed the Thames
at Gravesend, though with great difficulty, and with some loss, and was
come to Horndon-on-the-Hill, in order to gain Colchester before the
Royalists; but that hearing Sir Charles Lucas had prevented him, had
ordered his rendezvous at Billerecay, and intended to possess the pass
at Malden on the 11th, where Sir Thomas Honnywood, with the
county-trained bands, was to be the same day.
The same evening the Lord Goring, with all his forces, making about
five thousand six hundred men, horse and foot, came to Colchester, and
encamping without the suburbs, under command of the cannon of St.
Mary's fort, made disposition to fight the Parliament forces if they
came up.
The 12th, the Lord Goring came into Colchester, viewed the fort in St.
Mary's churchyard, ordered more cannon to be planted upon it, posted
two regiments in the suburbs without the head gate, let the town know
he would take them into his Majesty's protection, and that he would
fight the enemy in that situation. The same evening the Lord Fairfax,
with a strong party of one thousand horse, came to Lexden, at two

small miles' distance, expecting the rest of his army there the same
night.
The Lord Goring brought in prisoners the same day, Sir William
Masham, and several other gentlemen of the county, who were secured
under a strong guard; which the Parliament hearing, ordered twenty
prisoners of the royal party to be singled out, declaring, that they
should be used in the same manner as the Lord Goring used Sir
William Masham, and the gentlemen prisoners with him.
On the 13th, early in the morning, our spies brought intelligence that
the Lord Fairfax, all his forces being come up to him, was making
dispositions for a march, resolving to attack the Royalists in their camp;
upon which, the Lord Goring drew all his forces together, resolving to
fight. The engineers had offered the night before to entrench his camp,
and