Cholmondeley



'''Nothing remains of the once spectacular Cholmondeley house which once stood in what is now Grosvenor Park. One of the buildings on the eastern side of St Johns was St Anne’s, a fraternity guild house and chapel. The guild was dissolved in 1547 and the building wa purchased by Sir Hugh Cholmondeley and converted into his town house. This house was supposedly the scene of a violent skirmish in 1641, immediately prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. According to the commonly told tale, a party of armed "Catholics" were intercepted here by the City trained band. The resulting fire fight left several dozen dead and the rebels either captured or fled. However a look at the general circumstances tends to support the view that the skirmish never, in fact, took place.'''

Sir Thomas Aston (29 September 1600 – 24 March 1645)
Aston was born in Shropshire, the eldest son of John Aston of Aston, Cheshire and his wife Maud Needham, daughter of Robert Needham. His uncle was the soldier Arthur Aston. He matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford on 28 March 1617, aged 16, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts on 8 July 1619. In 1620, he was called to the bar by Lincoln's Inn. Aston was created a baronet of Aston, in the County of Chester by King Charles I of England on 25 July 1628. He was appointed High Sheriff of Cheshire in 1635. In April 1640 he was elected Member of Parliament for Cheshire in the Short Parliament.

Sir Thomas was a staunch churchman and loyally attached to the monarchy, and in the civil and ecclesiastical troubles he took his part. The portentous rise of nonconformist sentiment excited alike fear and anger. When what was known as the Cheshire petition against episcopacy (organised by Calvin Bruen and similar to the "Root and Branch petition") was in circulation, Sir Thomas and his friends set about the preparation of a counter-petition or remonstrance. Sir Thomas was attacked as the framer of the document in an "answer" which he denounces as the work of "some brain-sick anabaptist" and this appears to have provoked him to the hasty compilation of a quarto which is sufficiently described on its title- page:


 * "A Remonstrance against Presbytery, exhibited by divers of the nobilitie, gentrie, ministers, and inhabitants of the County Palatine of Chester, with the motives of that Remonstrance, together with a short survey of the Presbyterian discipline, showing the inconveniences of it, and the inconsistency thereof with the constitution of this state, being in its principles destructive to the laws and liberties of the people. With a briefe review of the institution, succession, jurisdiction of the ancient and venerable order of bishops found to be instituted by the Apostles, continued ever since, grounded on the lawes of God and most agreeable to the law of the land. By Sir Thomas Aston, Baronet. . . . Printed for John Aston, 1641' (B.M.), 4to."

Bruen counted on the backing of the Protestant "patriot" party among the county gentry led by Sir Richard Grosvenor and Sir Richard Wilbraham - a relative of the Hardwares and Bruens - who ensured that the petition was passed on to Sir William Brereton, who read it before the House of Commons in February 1641. This enraged the local pro-ceremonialist crypto-Catholic faction led by Viscount Cholmondeley and Earl Rivers, of which Thomas Aston (A rival of Brereton) was a part. Chester lawyer John Werden was the most outspoken of Aston's supporters, he detested Bruen's faction and fulminated against members such as "Mr Boden", curate of Wydenbury and "a notorious adulterer". Werden was also scandalised by the iconoclasm inflicted on the windows of Neston church by Brereton's niece.

The committee that was to hear Aston's case was packed with hardened puritans and supporters of "Root and Branch" reform. It was headed by Sir William Brereton. Petitions, both real and faked, shot back and forth. Aston even managed to get some people thrown into prison, but his arguments came to nothing before the House of Lords. In part this was due to the the coalition of Wilbraham/Booth/Grosvenor taking advantage of the situation an asserting their claim to a position as speaking for the county of Cheshire. News of stirrings of unrest in Chester were discussed by the House of Lords on 20th April 1641:


 * "..some tumults and disorders within the county palatine and city of Chester whereby divine servive hath beeen disturbed and disquieted or otherwise neglected.."

.. and issued an order that..


 * "..the divine service be performed and as it is appointed by the act of parliament of this realm and all such as shall disturb that wholesome order shall be severely punished, according to the law and that the parsons, vicars and curates in several parishes shall forebear to introduce rites or ceremonies that may give offence otherwise than those which are established by the laws of the land.."

Robert Cholmondeley (1584-1659)
The Cholmondeleys had been established in Cheshire since the thirteenth century. Cholmondeley’s grandfather, Hugh, was six times sheriff (once for Flintshire), an MP, deputy lieutenant, custos rotulorum and vice-president of the Council in the Marches of Wales. Cholmondeley’s father did not have such a distinguished career but was knight of the shire for Cheshire in 1584 and married well, acquiring Holford Hall in the process. Like many of the Cheshire gentry, Cholmondeley was educated at Queen’s College, Oxford. He matriculated in 1600 and succeeded to the vast Cholmondeley estates the following year. As lord of the manor of Nantwich, he was one of the county’s wealthiest landowners, and increased his holdings by marrying the co-heiress of John, Lord Stanhope.



A failed rising - or a hoax?
According to some accounts, s part of the Irish rising of 1641, a conspiracy was attempted by Lord Cholmondeley and some of his fellow Cheshire Papists. It had supposedly been ordered by Parliament that all Papists should be disarmed, but those in Cheshire refused to obey so the Trained Bands (the local Militia) were employed to search for the culprits with instructions to destroy the houses of any who declined to yield. The events have been reported as follows:


 * On 20 November, the Papists, having obtained news of this intention, gathered themselves together at the Cholmondeley mansion, and in the night sallied out and commenced to attempt to batter down the walls of the city. Unsurprisingly, this made "a very great noise" and soon drew the attention of the City Watch, who were "very much amazed" but, being mostly elderly men, retreated to the city gate where they loudly cried out "treason, treason, against the city!". By the time the Trained Bands were alerted, most of the party had escaped, but two stragglers who were captured said that the rest were running to Lord Cholmondeley's house. They were pursued and taken at the gate as the guard on duty at it had thought the fugitives belonged to the Trained Band and would not allow them to pass through to safety. The fugitives were arrested and a strong guard left at the house so that none of the Papists there might leave. After the prisoners had been "lay'd fast" the Trained Bands returned to the house and demanded admittance which was refused. Muskets were discharged at the house and when part of it had been battered down, Lord Cholmondeley escaped by a postern door which opened on to the fields. Most of the Trained Band then went into the house and searched it, and coming into a private wood-house there, to their horror came face to face with 50 Papists with charged muskets. These were discharged and 25 of them were killed. The Papists retreated through a back door out of the wood-house but were met by the remainder of the Trained Band and a battle ensued. At length the Papists were routed and "trusted to the swiftness of their feet", but 19 of them, including their leader, Henry Starkey, were nontheless shot in the back. These unfortunates were later "buried in the highway together". (see: Tracts relating to the civil war in Cheshire for the full text)

The above account is based on the: "True Relation of a Bloody Conspiracy by the Papists in Cheshire. Intended for the Destruction of the Whole Country, London, 1641"

This was one of many fantastical tracts which appeared at the time: pamphlets describing various plots, conspiracies and planned attacks were quite numerous. It is hard to tell today how many were written and published, and it is impossible to guess their impact based on circulation. A survey of these prints leaves a strong impression on the contemporary reader. Their amount, language, and contents did indeed create an atmosphere of danger. The fear factor, backed by virulent hatred, must have been extremely strong, particularly in London, where most of these prints were published and circulated. The prints show certain ingenuity. First of all, even though they were printed in London, they cover large territories in England and Ireland: Darbyshire, Ireland, Scotland, Dublin, Worcester, Cheshire, Lancashire, Dorset and Hull to name a few. The speciﬁc cations of the described assaults are also fascinating, as they range from primitive personal attacks on a particular English patriot to planting bombs to blow up a speciﬁc house, the House of Commons, or a whole town. Authors describe hidden Catholic lords who have amassed arms, munitions, and many horses in a special cave dug under a castle. Here, in Chester we have the faintly ridiculous story of catholics hatching a plan to pull down the walls of Chester.

There did however appear to be plots active in Chester:


 * "Oct 30 Deposition at Chester by Thomas Cremer of Gray s Inn in the county of Middlesex gentleman before Thomas Cowper the Mayor and other Justices that on Tuesday last he met one Magenes, brother to Lord Magenes, at widow Boston's house in Neston, who said that he was going to Ireland (being lately come from Spain) to see Lord Macquere, that he hoped the Irish would drive the Scots out of Ireland, and that he had returned £800 or £900 out of London into Ireland to raise forces for the King of Spain; he further deposes that there was another in Magenes' company calling himself Readman who drank a health to the confusion of the Protestants in Ireland, and that Magenes said that, since the business was discovered, he would go to London with Cremer if he would lend him some money Signed by Tho Cremer and by Thomas Cowper mayor and others is Randle Holme" (DCC/47/5) - Overleaf: Further Information by the said Thomas Cremer, that on the previous Thursday, hearing of the Rebellion in Ireland, Magenes had expressed himself "very glad and joyfull of the Niwes" and said that he would give anything to be there; on the Friday, however, hearing that Lord Macqueire was taken, he told Cremer that since it was discovered he would go to London with him if he would lend him some money

Later events
In the summer of 1642 came the final split between the King and Parliament and both sides made preparations for raising an army. Throughout the summer Commissioners of Array for the King and Deputy Lieutenants for Parliament attempted to raise the Trained Bands and to seize the magazine in every county. During the confusion caused by the troops waiting to be shipped from Chester to Ireland to suppress the rebellion there, Sir William Brereton, the Parliamentary representative in Cheshire, turned to what was virtually recruiting. He found himself opposed by Sir Thomas Aston and all the resident Cheshire nobility and he failed in his attempt to secure Chester for Parliament. At this time Aston was probably the recognized representative of the King in the county and was able to present the latter with a list of men willing to serve in the King's army. The King decided to base this army at Shrewsbury and when he arrived there on 20 September 1642 he wrote to Lord Kilmorey, Lord Cholmondeley and "the other of the subscribers for Horse in Cheshire" telling them to deliver their horses into the charge of Aston who was to bring the forces raised to Shrewsbury to join with the main body of the army. Charles made it unnecessary for Aston to leave for Shrewsbury as he instead came to Chester and it was from here that he issued, on 26 September, an order for the seizure of arms and horses from those people who had carried out Parliament's Militia Ordinance in Cheshire. These were to be delivered to Aston who was able to leave with the King at the head of three troops of horse.



Aston obviously conducted himself satisfactorily in the campaign culminating in the Battle of Edgehill because an order from Prince Rupert in January 1643 refers to him as a colonel of a regiment of cuirassiers, and two days later on 19 January the King announced that he was sending Aston as a major-general to Cheshire and Lancashire. Aston's orders were simply stated by Prince Rupert; he was to take his regiment to Shropshire, raise forces of horse and foot there, and then defend Cheshire against the Parliamentary force that was heading to the county from London under the leadership of Brereton. He was also to seize arms and ammunition for the King's use and "put into execution the laws and customs martial upon all offenders.....for the better preventing of disorders, plunderings and outrages which are often committed by soldiers." He was told to achieve this and return to the main army by 15 March unless he received orders to the contrary.

The preparations for Aston's march and arrival in Cheshire reveal the King's interest in keeping Cheshire Royalist. The authorities of the areas that Aston was to pass through on his way from Oxford to Cheshire were ordered to provide food and lodgings for his men. The Cheshire Commissioners of Array were also given explicit orders as to what they should do to help Aston. The King explained to them that, as the Parliamentarians had rejected the Bunbury Agreement and were sending a force to Cheshire, he was sending Aston and his regiment of horse to protect the county. The commissioners were to assemble the trained bands and summon Quarter Sessions to decide on a method of raising money to pay the soldiers. They were also to help Aston raise a regiment of dragoons and seize arms from "malignants" to arm them. In addition the parishes were to supply them horses.

Parliament also realised how important Cheshire was and sent Brereton to raise support for its cause. Geographically Cheshire lies between the Pennines and the Welsh hills and so whoever controlled Cheshire controlled the north – south corridor. For Parliament the control of Cheshire would mean separating the King's northern supporters from the King and his army at Oxford. It could also stop the King bringing in reinforcements from his Irish army through the port of Chester.

When Aston arrived in Shropshire he found that there were only 60 dragoons instead of the 600 promised. The authorities promised him another 200 and so he decided to wait for two days before moving on to Cheshire. During this time he was ordered to Stafford to help the sheriff there (perhaps against the Moorlanders who had risen for Parliament). However Aston did not neglect his prime objective and ordered the Cheshire Commissioners of Array to defend Nantwich with 150 musketeers and to inform him of Brereton's progress. Neither order was carried out and Aston was not informed until it was too late to arrive at Nantwich before Brereton.

Conclusions
Overall the evidence (or rather lack of it) suggests that the "Cholmondeley Revolt" never happened.

Related pages

 * Brereton;
 * St Johns;
 * Bruen;
 * Grosvenors;
 * Grosvenor Park;

Sources and Links

 * Politics, Religion and Popularity in Early Stuart Britain;
 * Report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts;
 * Grosvenor Park Excavations 2011;
 * THE CHOLMONDELEY FAMILY;
 * Robert Cholmondeley, 1st Earl of Leinster;
 * 'SUCH A TWIN LIKENESS THERE WAS IN THE PAIR':AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE PAINTING OF THE CHOLMONDELEY SISTERS;
 * The Defence of Episcopacy on the Eve of Civil War;
 * THE CAMPAIGN OF THE IRISH ROYALIST ARMY IN CHESHIRE, NOVEMBER 1643 JANUARY 1644;
 * Tracts relating to the civil war in Cheshire;