Battle of Winceby talk tonight

My good pal Lincolnshire Tom just sent me the link to a talk on the Battle if Winceby this evening at 19:30 BST. I’ve signed up.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/that-famous-fight-and-most-glorious-victory-at-horncastle-tickets-156479270711

Post Script.

I logged onto the Winceby talk earlier this evening and found it very informative. The speaker, Dr Jon Fitzgibbons of the University of Lincoln. was clear, and spoke slowly - very useful if you were taking notes. He opened with the statement that Oliver Cromwell died of his wounds on 11 October 1643. Pause. In fact what Dr Fitzgibbons was referring to was a letter from Sir William Widdrington, the Royalist governor of Lincoln, to the Earl of Newcastle, giving an account of the battle wherein Widdrington reported that Colonel Cromwell had been killed. Indeed Cromwell’s horse was shot from under him and despite getting up, the future Lord Protector was seen to be knocked down by (some believe) by Sir Ingram Hopton. This set up a counter-factual question….which was left hanging.

Dr Fitzgibbons set the battle in the strategic context (Lincolnshire being a border ‘no man’s land’ between the Parliamentarian Eastern Association and Northern Royalists; the siege of Hull, the various sieges of Lincoln, Gainsborough and Newark). He also mentioned this was the first battlefield collaboration between Cromwell and Sir Thomas Fairfax, a significant and successful partnership.

A lot of attention was given to the possible location (noting the uncertainty) and discrepancies over the numbers engaged and the casualties reported by different elements of both sides. Dr Fitzgibbons did note that, to his knowledge, there has been no archaeological digs on the favoured site to discover whether there was physical evidence.

Overall very worth listening to (during the first half I was driving). There some clear maps showing context, pre-battle operations and possible tactical moves during the battle. I didn’t stick around for any Q&A as I had a pre-booked swimming session with a limited time. All good stuff.

Next up in these Society for Lincolnshire History  and Archaeology talks is one on the folklore around harvests. That’s very tempting for me. I suppose these webinars are one of the side benefits of lockdown. It means Yellowbellies in far flung places can get to hear these things.

Sapping weather

I’ve had three days in the garden being a sapper, or more accurately a demolition engineer. The future command post should be arriving in the second half of August, and we have a lot of rearranging to do in the garden first. As the other half was working at the weekend I decided to tackle the old wooden fence at the back of the garden which was held in place by spare timbers propping it up from one side, and the grip of creeping plants on the other. Of course I’d chosen the hottest weekend so far to do it. And I’m not used to honest graft being a desk wallah. Evening swims have been a way to loosen up rather than exercise.

The tool cabinet and various other bits had to be relocated. Other things had to be moved to make space for the cabinet. One thing leads to another. I can’t believe how many empty plant pots there were dotted around the place.

Much hacking of undergrowth (or overgrowth to be correct) was necessary before the fence could be pulled down. The wood was sorted for disposal and the growing stuff cut and piled ready for the green waste wheelie bin. When it’s current load has been emptied. Visits have been booked for Tuesday and Wednesday to the local dump or “Recycling Centre” as the council calls it.

Today the shed came down, and the work of dismantling the pieces for disposal commenced. Naturally only half the screws heads were in a condition to be unscrewed, so there was more brute strength needed than theoretically necessary. There was a lot of stuff to be sorted and assessed for disposal or retention. If you’re passing, help yourself to the bits and pieces in the front yard.

Bamboo on the right to be thinned out and relocated to the rear and middle left.

Is it a collapsed shed or an art installation?

Later we’ve got to dig a trench (beware of enfilading fire from the defenders) for the bamboo which will be dug up and placed we’re the fence was. The trench needs to be lined to stop the bamboo spreading laterally. The soil can be used to help level off the ground a bit. Then more bamboo will be moved to screen the new location for the composters. More sapping.

It’s going to be a busy week. No wargaming, but it’s going to help me game more freely in the future.

Late edit: up and out early this morning delivering stuff to the dump and then back preparing the lines in the baking sun for the new HQ. The officer has gone off with the transport to get some heavy equipment from stores and I found I’d been locked me out of the NAAFI when I went for a break. So stuck with nothing to do I did what any Tommy worth his salt, parched and without access to tea would do, I sat down in the shade and switched on the wireless. I listened to the second half of We Have Ways of Making You Talk, episode 316. As if I wasn’t already in the mood the programme finished with Lale Andersen singing Lili Marlene. Ausgezeichnet!

More castle pieces

When I’d finished preparing the Jenga-block walls and painted the original Leven castle pieces I realised I was a bit short of what I was planning on. So I whizzed off an order to Mr Leven for some more, including a few bits I thought might work for a ‘Vauban fortress’. Sadly the latter didn’t entirely work out but the pieces are still useful for their original design purpose.

Here are the bits and bobs, together with the previous walls. Hopefully I’ll get to paint them at the weekend.

A couple of railway tunnel entrances will be handy for  a fortress gateway.

Some very fine harbour walls, in the role they were built for. 

Castle keep, some curved walls, a couple more towers, and a nee gatehouse

Another view of the same with the harbour walls in the guise of a Demi-lune. I was hoping these would be useful for making a bastion, but the footprint (about 70mm) is too big for my 6mm ground scale but OK for the 10mils.

The quality of the Leven pieces is rather good, and they came very well protected. Just a bit of filing of edges required to get some of them to fit smoothly together.

One final phase of the castle will be to make some round towers for the outer wall. Just waiting for the kitchen foil to be used up.