WE'RE aproaching the 50th anniversary of the Second Battle of Worcester which, unlike the awful carnage of the first, was simply a war of words between Royalist and Cromwellian factions.

Monday, September 3, will, of course, mark the 350th anniversary of the actual battle of 1651, which left the bodies of thousands of Cavaliers and Roundheads strewn about local streets and fields.

Down the centuries since, the city fathers and local worthies have jealously cherished Worcester's traditional support of the Royalist cause, enshrined in the title The Faithful City.

Imagine, therefore, the horror and outcry exactly 50 years ago when the Cromwell Association officially applied to the city council to erect a memorial plaque to Cromwell "in a prominent place" in Worcester.

The controversial overtures were made by Mr HH Mitchell of Belle Vue Terrace, Malvern, who was then proprietor of Gertrude Mitchell's, the women's outfitters in High Street, Worcester.

A not-so-civil war of words was soon raging in the local and national Press and on radio, but, in the end, the council had to bow to the Cromwell Association's request. Councillors agreed that a "discreet and unobtrusive" plaque could be placed on a black and white property in Sidbury - No.56, which stood roughly opposite The Commandery, the Royalist HQ during the Battle of Worcester.

However, the hostilities were far from over, and an enraged group of city aldermen arranged a counter ceremony to erect a new plaque to Charles II.

And so it was that, at the very same time as the Cromwell Association unveiled its plaque in Sidbury, the aldermen gave the blessing to theirs on the faade of King Charles House in Friar Street - the property from which Charles II began his famous "flight" to France after the Battle of Worcester.

But in the Faithful City's traditional fervour over its Royalist links, people sometimes lose sight of the fact that Cromwell was the victor not the vanquished at Worcester.

His troops and superior strategy routed the Royalists, left their Commander, the Duke of Hamilton mortally wounded, and sent the King into exile.

The Sidbury plaque carries Cromwell's words after what was the last battle of the English Civil War - "It is, for aught I know, a crowning mercy."

Since No.56 Sidbury was demolished for road widening, the Cromwell plaque has occupied part of a wall on the south side of the Sidbury canal bridge.