On the same day Newcastle raised the siege of Hull and retired to York. In the middle of the following winter came Sir Thomas's greatest test when he was ordered to raise the siege of Nantwich. I shall pass over the difficulties Fairfax experienced in assembling his relief force and in campaigning in the depths of winter. Instead I shall start on the morning of the battle with the situation as it presented itself to him.

Nantwich sits astride the river Weaver and as a result of this the Royalist commander, Lord Byron, had been forced to divide his forces on either side of the river. His position was not helped by the fact that the two river crossings available to him were both some distance from the town. One, a temporary plank bridge replacing one destroyed by the defenders of Nantwich was two miles to the north and the other, a stone bridge, was two miles to the south. Byron was aware of Fairfax's approach from the North West and had begun to assemble his forces on the west bank of the Weaver via the northern bridge. His plan was to meet Fairfax at Acton church which had been fortified. Unfortunately for him a thaw set in and during the night the temporary northern bridge was washed away and the water meadows around Nantwich flooded. This left his forces still on the East bank with a long march to the southern crossing and another long march back up to Acton, a total of about eight miles.

What Fairfax could see was that the Royalist forces were split in two and that he had some time before they could unite. Following a council of war it was decided to attack the Royalists at Acton church before Byron could assemble all his force there. It should be remembered that Fairfax's force was far from superior to Byrons, both had about 3,000 foot while Fairfax had about 1800 horse to Byron's 900. Unfortunately Fairfax's baggage and rearguard were slow and by the time he was ready to attack the rest of Byron's forces were beginning to arrive at Acton. Fairfax now decided to march across Byron's front to Nantwich where he could obtain reinforcements to take on Byron the next day. Led by pioneers cutting passages through hedges Fairfax's force started their march.

Taking advantage of this the Royalists first attacked Fairfax's rear and then his front. A confused battle developed with Fairfax fighting on two fronts about a quarter of a mile apart. After about two hours and the intervention of 700 or 800 musketeers from the garrison of Nantwich, who attacked from the rear the Royalists fighting Fairfax's front, much of the Royalist foot gave up the fight and broke, the remainder being driven into Acton church where they surrendered the following day, The Royalist horse took very little part in the battle, mainly covering the retreat of the foot that managed to extricate themselves.

Fairfax could, once again, be said to have been lucky. One military writer has described his decision to cross Byron's front as "attempted military suicide." But was the battle of Nantwich simply a lucky deliverance from the consequences of rashness? His initial plan, to attack the forces at Acton church and destroy the enemy piecemeal, was sound.

When the arrival of the rest of Byron's forces rendered this plan unfeasible, even for him, what were the options open to him? He could have retreated and failed to relieve Nantwich, but this is not even worthy of consideration given Fairfax's character and contempt for odds. He could have tried to reach Nantwich by a different route but that did not guarantee being able to avoid battle. As it was, he was only a mile and a half from the town and Byron's forces were probably still deploying. A quick sprint across Byron's front before he could react was a gamble but represented his best chance of achieving his objective of relieving Nantwich. And how much of a gamble was it? He needed help from the garrison to be sure of defeating Byron and the closer to the town he got, if not actually into it, the more likely help was and the easier for it to come to him, He was probably also aware that, due to Royalist mistakes, the approach between him and Nantwich was lightly defended, making help from the garrison easier still. And that help did come, the attack of the 7 or 800 musketeers on the Royalist forces attacking Fairfax's front was almost certainly decisive, causing the collapse of those Royalists and allowing the rear to be helped in turn.

And then there was the terrain. Fairfax wrote of fighting from hedge to hedge. Lord Byron wrote "The place of battle was in an enclosed field, where horse could do little service," his brother Robert wrote "our army was drawn in several enclosures, there our horse could do no good, nor we help one another."

Indeed it is clear that the Royalist horse were effectively neutralised by the terrain. Lord Byron again "The ground was so enclosed the horse could do no service, and some of them, who were struck with a same fear, so disordered the rest, that though they did not run away, yet it was impossible to make them charge."

On the other hand Fairfax's horse had only fought one battle in open country, Winceby. They were used to fighting in enclosures and lanes, as at Seacroft, Adwalton, the retreat from Beverly and numerous raids, assaults and skirmishes. Indeed Fairfax makes much of the effectiveness of his horse. "..our foot, at the beginning, gave a little ground: but our horse recovered that by beating the enemy horse out of the lanes that flanked our foot, " and "..the horse, commanded by Sir Wm Fairfax, did expose themselves to great danger to encourage the foot, though capable of little service in these narrow lanes."

Little service perhaps, but more than the Royalist horse and possibly decisively so.

Was Fairfax's decision to march across Byron's front a gamble? Certainly it was, but it was one that increased the odds in his favour and in the end decisively so. [47]

April 1644 found Sir Thomas back in Yorkshire and taking part in the storming of Selby. This attack followed what might be called the classic pattern of attacks on towns by the Fairfax's. That is a vigorous assault by infantry to open up a way into the town for the horse to finish the job. Once again we find Sir Thomas leading from the front, too far in front, where, as he put it, "my horse was overthrown, being single a little before my men who presently relieved me." [48]

Marston Moor