The 370th Anniversary Crabchurch Conspiracy Concert at Weymouth Pavilion.

Saturday 28th February 7.30pm

The Crabchurch Conspiracy is the name given to a Royalist plot in Weymouth during February 1645 at the height of the English Civil War.

It ended with the Battle of Weymouth eighteen days later and the deaths of over five hundred people.

February 2015 sees the 370th anniversary of this momentous Dorset event which, if it had ended differently, would have literally changed English history as we know it.

As part of the town’s annual commemoration, internationally renowned Celtic Rock band, The Dolmen will perform their seminal album ‘The Crabchurch Conspiracy’ Live on stage with TV historian and academic writer Professor Ronald Hutton, Stonewylde author Kit Berry & Cap’n Steve Howl.

The evening will also have a talk by Professor Hutton on the subject of Oliver Cromwell.

The Crabchurch Conspiracy Concert 2015 … where music meets history .. and magic is born.

Click here to buy tickets for the evening show for only £10 from the Weymouth Pavillion box office.

Buying the Crabchurch Conspiracy Book.

Click below to buy your own copy of the book via Paypal, or pop along to one of our events and order in person!

The 370th Anniverary of The Crabchurch Conspiracy

Planning is well under way for the commemoration of the 370th Anniversary of the Crabchurch Conspiracy, Weymouth & Dorsets’ bloodiest ever conflict.

The organising team meet regularly and the excellent Ocean Room at Weymouth Pavilion has been booked for the Crabchurch Concert on the 28th February 2015, featuring THE DOLMEN … Professor Ronald Hutton … Kit Berry … & Cap’n Steve Howl.

We are able this year to reduce the price of tickets to just ten pounds and everything looks set for an amazing commemoration over the weekend of 27th February – 1st March.

The weekend kicks off in fine style with a concert by Scotland’s finest and most famous Celtic/Medieval rock band SAOR PATROL and there will also be re-enactments, a living history display, a mock trial & the execution by hanging of the captured Crabchurch Conspirators.

Stonewylde author Kit Berry will be visiting schools along with the chair of the Dolmen Grove Diane Narraway and Colonel William Sydenham himself, Steve Piper in full 17th century costume, where they will be encouraging local kids to produce artwork and writing on a Crabchurch theme and teaching them all about their local Crabchurch history.

On the evening of the Crabchurch Concert itself, Professor Ronald Hutton will be giving one of his famous and most excellent talks. This year his subject is Oliver Cromwell. This will take place prior to the Dolmen’s concert where he will join them with Kit Berry on stage to perform the Crabchurch Conspiracy album live.

Please buy your Crabchurch Concert tickets here. http://www.weymouthpavilion.com/page24.html

The Weymouth Old Town Hall Bell .. by The Dolmen

This link will take you to cdbaby where you can listen to a short clip of the song especially written and recorded by The Dolmen to celebrate the re-hanging of the original Town Hall bell.

Please download the full song which is over 9 minutes worth of Dolmen magic and ALL funds made will go towards the continued refurbishment of this superb old building which was in the forefront of the Battle of Weymouth and still bears the scars of battle today.

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thedolmen8

New Dolmen Song to Commemorate Old Town Hall Bell.

This coming week will see the re-hanging of the Weymouth Old Town Hall bronze bell back into the tower where for centuries, the lives of old Weymouthians were played out below.

The bell was hanging there on that cold, dark night of the Battle Of Weymouth, 27th February 1645 and for the preceding 17 days of intrigue, siege and bloodletting, collectively known as the Crabchurch Conspiracy.

It witnessed the thousands of cock-sure troops of the Royalist General, George, Lord Goring as they poured through the destroyed Weymouth town gate at midnight on the 27th and on down into the old High Street towards the quay, assured, as they thought, of an easy victory over the vastly outnumbered ‘Roundheads’, but, where more than two hundred of them were to die in an ambush set by the Parliamentarian leader Colonel William Sydenham, just a few minutes later. Eye witnesses said the street ran red with their blood.

Internationally renowned Dorset Celtic Rock band, THE DOLMEN, who have long been supporters and chief fund-raisers for the Weymouth Old Town Hall Refurbishment Project have written and recorded a new song to commemorate the return of the old bell to its rightful place and it will be released for download on CDbaby any day now.

I will publish the link as soon as it is available on here … so please download it and enjoy the musical mastery of Taloch Jameson and his band as they add yet another tuneful addition to this wonderful old town’s folk memory.

Book Review by Joe Jenkins

Tags

crabchurch conspiracy, Dorset History, english civil war, Professor Ronald Hutton

I saw this book and requested a copy for review due to my interest in history, and particularly British history. Nothing has changed this country more than the British civil wars, and it is an area in which I have an interest, though I am not usually interested in war as a subject matter.

The Crabchurch Conspiracy deals with a small slice of life during the English civil wars, when Weymouth was taken out of Roundhead hands by the Royalists, all due to information and man-power from within the town.

My Review … By Joe Jenkins.

To be honest, I came to the book thinking that it would be another local history that would be of little interest to those not living in the area. I lived in Weymouth, where the book is set , for six months back in the late 80s, so had a feeling of the area. However, I couldn’t be further from the truth.

Not only is the book of interest to anybody with even a passing interest in the mid 17th Century, but it is also extremely well written, which is far from the norm when it comes to such books. Non-Fiction, particularly local non-fiction, is notoriously filled with errors and bad English, but The Crabchurch Conspiracy is not only well written, but is a joy to read.

What I like about he book is that it isn’t long for the sake of being long. Mark Vine has provided the information and not bolstered it up with boring narrative that does nothing but make the author look like they are just attempting to show how clever they are. Within the book, there are sections where other sources are provided, such as the diary of Peter Ince, a preacher of the time, but this isn’t overly done. However, for those who have an interest in this diary, it is provided in full at the end of the book.

This brings me to the additional information at the end of the book. As well as the previously mentioned diary, it also includes a mini-biography of the major players surrounding the Crabchurch Conspiracy, which I found extremely interesting. There are also may other sections giving further information.

In addition to this, the book has the added benefit of having the foreword written by Professor Ronald Hutton who is, in my opinion, the best source when it comes to this era of Britain’s shameful past.

If I were to find fault with the book, it would be very difficult, as it is an extremely good read. However, the paragraphs not being indented was not so good, though after a short time, I got used to this and didn’t even notice. of course there is also the misprint on the back cover where it says Dorset is England’s most beautiful County, as I think this should have said Somerset 😉

Overall, I would say that if you have an interest in history, Dorset, The West Country or good writing, then this is a book that you should read.

Where Do I Find It?

The book is available directly from the author, who you can contact on the Facebook page for the book. The official Crabchurch Conspiracy page … or from the website http://crabchurch.co.uk/

Colonel James Heane … Another true character from the Crabchurch story.

Lieutenant Colonel James Heane (Haynes):

A distinguished soldier, he eventually took over as commanding officer of Sydenham’s old regiment and also as Governor of Melcombe. Charles II, a fugitive after the defeat of his army at the Battle of Worcester in 1651, attempted to find shelter for the night at Bridport, a small Dorset market town twenty miles west of Weymouth, famed for supplying the ‘Bridport Dagger’, or, hangman’s rope. Charles 11 wrote that he and his companions found the town to be “full of red-coated soldiers”. These were definitely Heane’s troops, who were of course by then a part of the red coated New Model Army, and they were known to be in Bridport on that particular night, prior to marching to Weymouth. At Weymouth they embarked upon a voyage to Jersey with the sole objective of bringing about the capitulation of the very last Royalist stronghold in Britain.
The Cavalier commander on that Channel Island was the ‘resourceful’ Sir George de Carteret, who held out for several weeks, even dabbling in piracy to boost his coffers. Finally, with the arrival of a huge mortar from Portsmouth, the Roundheads were at last able to end the siege of his stronghold in Elizabeth Castle, where de Carteret had made his base. One shot from the monster weapon went straight through the roof of the family chapel, carried on through the floor and on in to the garrison’s arsenal below. With that, Sir George knew that his time was up and immediately discussed terms for surrender. That done he cordially invited Heane and his fellow Parliamentarian officers to a banquet which was to be held on the night before he was due to hand over tenure of his castle to them.
However, de Carteret, a stickler for etiquette, would not allow any of the enemy to enter his fortress until the agreed and appointed hour for surrender had arrived on the following morning. So instead, he had his servants set up a full banquet table, complete with the best silver and candelabras, on the rocks that surrounded the castle.
De Carteret, Heane and their fellow guests ate their meal by moonlight as the waves lapped about their rocky perch!

Sadly, James Heane was killed in a duel in the Caribbean a few years later.
***

For St George’s Day.

Tags

crabchurch conspiracy, Dorset History, Professor Ronald Hutton, St george's Day

Part of a speech made by Colonel William Sydenham and portraying sentiments that many a present day politician would do well to take note of.

“WE LIVE AS PARLIAMENT MEN BUT FOR A TIME, BUT WE LIVE AS ENGLISH MEN ALWAYS. I WOULD NOT HAVE US SO TENDER OF THE PRIVALIGE OF PARLIAMENT AS TO FORGET THE LIBERTIES OF ENGLISHMEN”
William Sydenham speech to Parliament 1656

That which Religion drives a man to ……

Tags

crabchurch conspiracy, Dorset History, english civil war, Professor Ronal Hutton

February 18th 1644: Now promoted to Colonel, William Sydenham’s regiment rout the Irish Lord Inchiquin’s troops somewhere near Poole, killing some and firing their magazine. Two pieces of ordnance and 8 prisoners are taken… Sydenham then decided to give the defeated Irishmen “as much quarter as they gave the Protestants in Ireland”.
One of the eight was given his freedom … but only in exchange for performing the execution of his comrades …
The man was forced to personally hang each of the other seven before being allowed to go free and to no doubt relay back to Inchiquin and his officers the strength of purpose inherent in the Dorset Parliamentarians, whose lands they hoped to subdue in the King’s name.
The Earl of Essex was said to have backed William in his actions, declaring that the unfortunates were “true papists” and that he “would have no quarter allowed to those”. Such atrocities were alas, commonplace on both sides and outlined in the starkest manner imaginable, the religious differences of the time, sadly still with us today.

The Executions on the Nothe

Tags

CrabchurchConspiracy, DorsetHistory, englishcivilwar

On this day, 3rd March 1645, just 4 days after the Battle of Weymouth, some of the captured Crabchurch Conspirators were taken up to the Nothe headland overlooking Weymouth Bay and tried for their crimes, namely, the attempt to betray and overthrow the parliamentary garrison commanded by Colonel William Sydenham.

At least two were executed on the spot. Captain John Cade, an ex royalist sea-captain and, the former constable of Weymouth, John Mills.

This brave man, Mills, unrepentant to the last was ‘immortalised’ in the diary of the puritan regimental preacher of Sydenham’s garrison, Peter Ince. He wrote … “He (Mills) most desperately, without any sign or token of sorrow or repentance, when he was upon the ladder, desperately threw himself off not showing any signs of humiliation or calling upon God, for mercy on his soul, but carelessly, in a most desperate manner died, not so much as praying to God to receive his soul”.

He then went on to write about the other conspirators … “There be not many of the villains left, as their sin hath found them out, divers of them are slain, Fabian Hodder and others are in prison at Poole and other places, not yet tried, and some are run away”.

Hodder, the chief architect of the conspiracy, never did meet the hangman, as he somehow managed to escape from Poole Gaol before Sydenham could come for him, the man he blamed for the death of his brother, Francis. Hodder made his way to the continent, only returning after the restoration of Charles 11.