Langston House - Bridge Street - Evesham, Worcestershire - UK Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

This house
is part of the
mansion of
the Langston family.
Here
King Charles I
stayed in July
1644

"Hanging almost unseen over two shop fronts in Bridge Street, this signboard recalls an eventful month during the Civil War and marks the site of a seventeenth-century inn called the Dolphin.

Langston House, later to become the Dolphin Inn, comprised the premises now occupied by the O2 Store, formerly David Grieg Ltd, and those latterly occupied by Hunter’s Tea Stores. The west wall of David Greig’s is the outside main wall of the old mansion whose extent is clearly shown by the overhanging eaves and the projecting bays of the upper storey.

When the prominent gable end was expose during alterations in 1933, an ornamental panel executed in old plaster was discovered; the verges also were decorated. Charles I came to Evcsham and lodged there 4th July 1644.

En route from Oxford to Worcester, the king had skirmish with parliamentary troops under the command of General Waller at Cropredy Bridge, near Banbury, only five days previously. Erroneously assuming that Waller had been defeated in the encounter, the king addressed a conciliatory message to Parliament during his brief sojourn in the town:

To the Lords and Commons of Parliament, CR.

We are deeply sensible of the miseries and calamities of this our kingdom and of the grievous sufferings of our poor subjects do most earnestly desire that some expedient may be found out which by the blessing of God may prevent the further effusion of blood and restore the nation to peace; from the earnest and constant endeavouring of which, as no discouragement given us on the contrary part shall make us cease, so no success on ours shall ever divert us.

For the effecting whereof, we are most ready and willing to condescend to all that shall be for the good of us and our people; whether by way of confirmation of what we have already granted. or of such further concession as shall be requisite to the giving of a full assurance of the performance of all our most real professions concerning the maintenance of the true reformed protestant religion established in this kingdom, with due regard to the ease of tender consciences, the just privileges of parliament, and the liberty and propriety of the subject, according to the laws of the land: as also by the granting a general pardon without, or with exceptions, as shall be thought fit.

In order to which blessed peace we do desire and propound to the lords and commons of parliament assembled at Westminster, that they appoint such, and so many persons as they shall think fit, sufficient authorised by them, to attend us at our army, upon safe conduct to come and return (which we do hereby grant). and conclude with us how the premises and all other things in question betwixt us and them may be full settled; whereby all unhappy mistakings betwixt us and our people being removed. there may be a present cessation of arms, and as soon as may be a total disbanding of our armies, the subject have his due, and we be restored to our rights.

Wherein if this our offer shall be accepted, there shall be nothing wanting on our part which may make our people secure and happy. Given at our Court at Evcsham, the fourth of July, 1644.

The offer was not accepted; it promised too little and was made too late; Parliament returned no answer and the slender hopes of a Treaty of Evesham were shattered. Meanwhile, Waller had moved west from Banbury, captured Sudeley Castle and advanced to Broadway. The king, doubtless cognisant of de Montfort’s fatal procrastination in 1265 when similarly deployed, partially destroyed the outer defence works of the town, broke down the bridge and prudently withdrew the whole garrison to Worcester on Thursday, 6th July.

Clarendon, in his History of the Rebellion, l839 (vol. ll, p-379) describes the next stage in the campaign:
Waller with great expedition marched to Evesham, where the evil inhabitants received him willingly; and had. as soon as the king left them. repaired their bridge over the Avon, to facilitate his coming to them; which he could not else so soon have done.

A few days later. Waller left Evesham, with the obvious intention of besieging the king at Worcester. But. by a series of skilful manoeuvres, Charles evaded his pursuers and returned in haste to Evesham, intent upon rejoining his army at Oxford. Evesham, left unguarded by Waller, offered no obstacles to this second incursion by the king's men within a fortnight. But the townsfolk were not to escape retribution for their unseemly alacrity in receiving Cromwell’s men. The "evil inhabitants“ were directed by Charles to provide him with £200 and one thousand pairs of shoes, which commands “without any long pause" were submitted to and performed he again broke down the bridge and headed for Oxford. on or about 17th July.

In January 1928, when structural alterations were being made in that portion of the old mansion which is now 58, Bridge Street, an interesting relic came to light. A workman discovered behind a wainseot an iron lozenge-shaped pikehead. seven inches long and about an inch and a quarter across its broadest parts with a fragment of wooden shaft left in the socket.

By what accident it was lost we shall never know but it may well be a link with those royal visits to Evesham in 1644. For many years the pikehead was in the possession of the late H.W. Mayer, owner of that part of Langston House for many years. Its present whereabouts are unknown to me, but I hope that a permanent repository for such ancient finds may soon be established at the Almonry. so that the public may be made more aware of Evesham’s historic past. Fortunately, the Langston house itself is scheduled as an ancient monument and thus preserved.

The occupants of the house during the Civil War lost none of their zeal for the royalist cause despite the success of Parliament and the subsequent defeat and execution of their royal guest.

Langston House became the Dolphin lnn - bearing a sign which could readily be interpreted as Dauphin or Crown Prince by loyal supporters of the future Charles II, exiled in France during the Commonwealth and destined to return in triumph in May, 1660."

SOURCE - Evesham Inns and Signs by T.J.S. Baylis [ISBN 9780955848728] p.67

Type of Historic Marker: hanging sign Age/Event Date: 07/04/1644 Give your Rating: Historical Marker Issuing Authority: Not listed Related Website: Not listed

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