Records show that there were a number of Crayford, Royalist, rebels. Crayford’s Rector Edward May, parish clerk Thomas Andrews, blacksmith William Parry, hop-dresser George Binny and bricklayer Dan Esterson were joined by fellow Crayfordians Thomas Laurence, and Richard Wiles in their contempt of Parliamentary rule.
The Kent Petition: A Consequence of the Plum Pudding Riots
Following the First Civil War (1642 – 1645), Parliament passed ordinances against the recognition of fast days and religious festivals. This was undoubtedly as unpopular in Crayford, as it was in Canterbury, where attempts by the Mayor to force tradesmen and merchants to open for business as usual on Christmas Day 1647 resulted in a riot which had to be suppressed by the New Model Army. The ringleaders of this insurrection had been imprisoned at Leeds Castle and subsequently tried by the County Commissioners, but the carefully selected jury refused to find a verdict, saying that the charges were invalid. Not willing to let the matter drop, the County Commissioners then said that the decision would be referred to Parliament. Meanwhile, petitioners in Kent implored Parliament to disband the Army and declared their support for the King. The people of Kent were fed up with war and wanted a return to how things had been before the war began in 1642.
The Kent Petitioners stopped at Blackheath
The County Commissioners tried to suppress the petitioners but found little local support in Maidstone, in fact, local support for the petition in a place like Crayford grew, and a body of men under Edward Hales were raised to take the petition to London. They marched along Watling Street and were undoubtedly joined by Crayford rebels Thomas Laurence and Richard Wiles. They were met at Blackheath by Lord Fairfax and some 7000 men of the formidable New Model Army, who refused to allow them to pass. The Royalists retreated, followed by Fairfax.
Amongst those supporting Edward Hales’s Kent petition were likely to have been Crayford’s Royalist rebels. Chief of them was rector Edward May, parish clerk Thomas Andrews, blacksmith William Parry, bricklayer Dan Esterson, and hop-dresser George Binny joined the Kent petitioners on their march to Blackheath. The petition urged the King and Parliament to find a way to make peace. Crayfordians were fed up with a war that had taken the lives of many local men and impoverished the town through crippling taxes imposed on them to maintain the New Model Army. For five years, Crayford people had had to deal with war, plague and famine. The Parliamentary crackdown on Christmas was the last straw. They had had enough!
The Royalist Rebel Richards: Wiles and Willcocks
The Kentish Royalist rebels cry on the march along the Dover Road through Crayford to Blackheath had been:
‘For Kent, King Charles and Christmas!’
They hoped their petition would restore Charles I as king. However, the mood soon changed when everyone realised that Fairfax and his New Model Army had been sent to stop them. Reluctantly, they retreated over Shooters Hill to Bexley Heath and foraged for arms as they fell back towards Crayford. The two Richards, Wiles and Willcocks, were seen with swords drawn and muskets primed as the first shots were exchanged with the New Model Army scouts forcing the Royalists to fall back through Crayford to muster their forces at Dartford. Meanwhile, the New Model Army camped for the night at Eltham.
General Fairfax’s New Model Army Muster on Crayford Heath
At dawn, on 31 May 1648, the New Model Army arrived on heathland close to William Draper’s home at May Place. They had in their possession eight abandoned rebel guns. This area, then called Crayford Heath, was where Fairfax had decided to launch his attack on the Royalist rebels. Fairfax had chosen Crayford as a rallying point, as it stood on high ground overlooking the Dover Road to Dartford. Draper must have been relieved to see the New Model Army arrive as he had found himself outnumbered locally by Royalist rebels that included Edward May, his rector!
Political and religious differences had damaged the morale of the New Model Army. However, the Kent rising restored their unity. It was one thing they could all agree on. The ‘ Man of Blood.’ King Charles, must be finally defeated and brought to justice. He had to pay the price for making war on the people. The first step in bringing this about was to destroy the Kentish rebels who had been reported to be at Holy Trinity, Dartford where they had seized its gunpowder store.
The Royalist rebels had fallen back to Northfleet, so they could build their defence at the point where the Dover Road crossed the River Ebbsfleet. Before the battle, on 1 June 1648, Puritan Sir Antony Weldon, the Chair of Parliament’s Kent Committee, had prepared to meet his end. Weldon was in his sixties and waited in his manor house at Swanscombe for the Royalists to arrest or kill him. He was determined to defend his home and die if necessary for his cause.
Meanwhile, Crayford Royalist Thomas Laurence had gathered stolen horses to take to Lord Goring the leader of the Royalist rebels at Rochester. The Royalists also raided Cobham Hall for weapons to defend themselves from the impending New Model Army attack. Major Childs, the Royalist leader at Northfleet, ordered his six hundred rebels to prepare a defensive position by the bridge at Northfleet. Childs had organised one particularly nasty trap. He had ordered his men to conceal razor-sharp plough harrows in the muddy River Ebbsfleet to tear apart any Roundhead Cavalry trying to outflank the Royalist rebels.
New Model Army Horse leave Crayford to attack the Royalist Rebels
At Crayford, Fairfax ordered Major Husband with three hundred horses and a hundred infantry to attack Major Child’s six hundred Royalist rebels at Northfleet bridge. When Major Husband tried to outflank the Royalist defenders, by wading the River Ebbsfleet further along the river, the hidden plough harrows tore the body of his horse open. A similar fate met the rest of the New Model horse. Husband then ordered the Roundheads to charge straight at the rebel’s barricade on the bridge. However, the bulk of the Royalists managed to retreat to Gravesend. By the time Husband’s men arrived the town was deserted as the rebels had left via Malling for Maidstone. One survivor was Sir Antony Weldon, although he died soon after on 27th October 1648.
What followed the action at Northfleet was the Battle of Maidstone later that same day.
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