TALK of The Battle of Evesham and one automatically thinks of the August 1265 encounter when Simon de Montfort faced Prince Edward and was killed in one of the bloodiest conflicts ever fought on English soil.

But there was another important Battle of Evesham some 400 years later which Broadway historian the Rev Richard Massie Collins has researched for his book A Cavalier Among Roundheads? on one of his ancestors Major General Sir Edward Massie

In 1645, Evesham was the last Royalist stronghold between Gloucester and Warwick. If Parliament could capture it they could cut off Royalist supplies from Wales.

Mr Collins' account makes fascinating reading. "On May 7 1645 Charles had already passed through the town on his way to Droitwich and Leicester from Oxford. If Massie took Evesham this would at least prevent Charles retreating to Oxford. So on May 23 Massie started out with 500 infantry and a cavalry brigade. He gathered more recruits at Tewkesbury and, with 200 men from Warwick meeting at Evesham, Massie had mustered a force 2,000 strong. The Royalist garrison at the town numbered only 700."

The Evesham garrison was under the command of Colonel Robert Legge, an old friend of Massie, who refused to surrender and told Massie he would defend as long as he could.

Massie deployed his forces so he avoided the error of de Montfort who was caught in the loop of the River Avon and was mown down. Massie placed a strong force in Bengeworth on the South East beyond the bridge. Then he placed five sections at Twyford on the North side so that they could storm the defences. He also sent a troop of dragoons towards Fladbury on the Worcester road to prevent Royalists coming from that direction.

The idea was to storm the palisade and ditch, which was so long as to make it impossible to be fully defended, by throwing bundles of faggots into it and then using ladders from the Fladbury end to scale the rampart and await an opportunity to advance.

Legge's men, however, did not prove to be an easy conquest. Twice they charged and fired on Massie's men so heavily that they were driven back. For a while it looked as though Massie might be defeated after all. But the forces on the northerly point had not suffered so much fire. They managed to clear the earthworks and make a breakthrough. The 100 dragoons dispatched to Fladbury poured down through Greenhill into the town. Facing this new situation Legge rallied his troops and again made an attack, sending Massie's men back up Greenhill.

Once more it looked as if Legge's troops would succeed in defending Evesham. But a cheer from the town centre signified that Legge's men were being attacked from the rear by the Parliamentary contingent who had crossed the bridge from Bengeworth. So "the strong garrisoned Evesham was taken in a storm of fire and leaden hail."

The battle had lasted one hour and Massie took 500 prisoners. Colonel Edward Rous, of the Rous Lench family, was put in charge of the garrison for Parliament.

A Cavalier Among Roundheads? costs £9.95 from S & D Jelfs, High Street, Broadway, The Village Bookshop, Sudeley Castle Bookshop, The Almonry Museum, Evesham, and Gloucester Library and Museum.