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THE REAL 1642 ENGLISH CIVIL WAR
was in fact an uglier reality than the fascinating side of 1642 life shown at LITTLE WOODHAM.
King Charles 1 had been forced to start recruiting for his Royalist Army at Nottingham on 22nd
August 1642 BECAUSE the very first bombardment of the Civil War had already taken place on poor little GOSPORT, from the Portsmouth Batteries.
Already happening the Portsmouth Governor had seized the Royal Citadel & Dockyard of
Portsmouth in the name of the King.
Parliament had replied by sending a “Roundhead” Court of Guard to occupy Gosport and
build a firing platform for cannon on the shore opposite old Portsmouth Town (south of today’s high-rise Flats). The Portsmouth gunners replied with a nightime bombardment on Gosport.
The first death of the Civil War was recorded in the Alverstoke Parish Register on August 1642
as Peter Baker. He had unwisely lit his lantern to help him continue his work on the firing platform...
Volunteers are still needed to keep “Little Woodham” going. Leaflets of open times are at
Gosport Town Hall. Also www.littlewoodham.org.uk
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