Foxby Hill, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, site of the Battle of Gainsborough in 1643 (during the English Civil War). On 20 July 1643, Lord Willoughby of Parham captured Gainsborough in Lincolnshire for Parliament. Gainsborough, on a crossing of the River Trent, was of strategic importance as a potential block against the Marquis of Newcastle's advance from the north; Parliament's Committee of Safety ordered Sir John Meldrum and Colonel Oliver Cromwell to reinforce Lord Willoughby, who was threatened by a strong force of Royalist cavalry commanded by Newcastle's kinsman Charles Cavendish. Meldrum's force encountered Cavendish's horse on the morning of 28 July. The Royalists were positioned on Foxby Hill, a sandy plateau to the south of Gainsborough. The Parliamentarians succeeded in gaining the high ground and routed the main body of the Royalists in a furious cavalry charge. While most of the Parliamentarians chased the fleeing Royalists, Colonel Cromwell realised that Cavendish had kept one regiment in reserve and was preparing to counterattack the undefended Parliamentarian rear. Rallying his own regiment, Cromwell allowed Cavendish's force to ride past, then turned the tables by leading his troops in a charge against the Royalist rear. The Royalists were completely routed and Cavendish himself was killed in the mêlée. Later that day, as Meldrum and Cromwell supervised the reprovisioning of Gainsborough, news came of another Royalist force approaching from the north. The Parliamentarian commanders sallied out with their cavalry and 400 of Willoughby's infantry, only to find themselves face-to-face with Newcastle's main army, commanded by the Marquis himself. Cromwell's troopers fought a disciplined rearguard action to cover the withdrawal of the Parliamentarians. Cavalry detachments commanded by Captain Ayscough and Major Whalley were ordered to retire alternately and succeeded in holding Newcastle's whole army at bay as the main Parliamentarian force withdrew to Gainsborough for the loss of only two men. The Parliamentarians were unable to hold out against Newcastle's main army. Lord Willoughby abandoned the town and retreated to Boston, but the skirmishing around Gainsborough gives an indication of the increasing sophistication of Parliamentary cavalry tactics, and of the leadership skills of Oliver Cromwell in particular.

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