On this day, from midnight on the 27th February 1645, a large Royalist army commanded by George, Lord Goring, attacked the twin towns of Weymouth & Melcombe in Dorset, determined to overthrow the Parliamentarian garrison therein.

Outnumbered six to one, the Weymouth garrison commanded by local man, Colonel William Sydenham, fought so gallantly that they overcame the much larger Cavalier force, killing almost 500 of them on that one single night, only losing themselves, about a dozen men.

It remains one of the forgotten battles of the English Civil Wars, but had it not been for the tenacious and skillful leadership of Colonel William Sydenham and the bravery of his men, the English Civil Wars could have turned out very differently and therefore too, so would the future of our country.

It was thought that the King, Charles 1, intended to land a large French Catholic army in…