Three Oxfordshire Parishes is in Victorian Books.
1645. In May of this year Colonel Fairfax appeared before the town and took up his quarters at Marston: Godstow House was abandoned by the Royalist troops and burnt; Gaunt House, near Standlake, surrendered to the Parliament, and Cromwell gained some advantage at Islip and settled himself at Wytham and Colonel Brown at Wolvercote. Thus surrounded by a girdle of the Parliamentary troops, Kidlington lay at their mercy until June, when the King from Daintree sent a detachment of his own men and relieved Oxford, following himself and remaining in Oxford, at Christ Church, for a few days1. The bridge at Islip was destroyed by Fairfax after his withdrawal, but the garrison at Gaunt House remained, and in October the following circumstance is recorded, which we may well call the second battle of Kidlington:
1645. 'From our Garrison of Gaunt House, 8 miles from Oxford, it was certified that the Governor, Colonel Moore, being abroad with about 200 Horse on Friday last, met with about 500 of the Enemie at Kidlington, three miles from Oxford, and skirmished with them three hours, and at last put them to the rout and pursued them to the Gates of Oxford. Took prisoners, Master Sackville, the Earl of Dorset’s second son, Lieutenant Colonel Smith, one of the King’s pages, Prince Rupert’s chaplain, one gunner, one trumpeter, and 20 common soldiers2.'
The Master Sackville mentioned here was husband to the Baroness Norreys. He was taken to Chawley, near Abingdon, and there treacherously stabbed by a soldier; his body was carried to Wytham for burial3.
In November the King was again in Oxford 'during pleasure.' In a Commonwealth paper we read:
'That it is reported that his Majesty came on Tuesday night to Daintree with 300 horse, where the Earl ot Northampton came to him with 300 more, which conducted him to Banbury on Wednesday night, whence they report he went to Oxford.'
The expression used in the King’s Itinerary upon each return to Oxford 'at pleasure' reads like a mournful irony when it is remembered of what nature were his pleasures during this sad time. Harassed and vacillating between his wish for the good of the people and his wayward advisers, Charles at length took the unfortunate resolution of casting himself upon the chivalry of the Scotch. With only two companions, Dr. Hudson being one, he left Oxford privately upon the night of 27th April, 1646.
Note 1. The King’s marches, according to date, are from 'Iter Carolinum,' in Bodleian Library.
Note 2. Perfect Diurnall, Wednesday, Oct. I, 1645.
Note 3. Dunkin’s Billindoon and Ploughley, vol. 1, p. 113.