ENTER YOUR EMAIL ON THE RIGHT FOR YOUR DAILY DOSE OF DORSET
 |
| Monmouth Beach, Lyme Regis, site of Britains last seaborne invasion. |
The beach beyond the Cobb harbour in Lyme Regis has a wild windswept character, completely at odds with the more benign tourist beaches nearer to the town. It makes a fitting location for Britain's very last seaborne invasion. One dark night in June 1685 a small fleet of ships landed a duke and 83 determined followers.
The duke was the Protestant Duke of Monmouth, Charles II's illegitimate son, who was pledged to wrest back the throne from his Catholic uncle King James II.
As he stumbled up the rough shingle Monmouth's spirits must have been high having been assured of enthusiastic support from the dissenting West Country. Very soon he'd gathered an army of 3000 supporters.
After a few days in Lyme he marched on to Taunton and rather optimistically declared himself king. Soon, though, his luck began to turn as other planned uprisings failed to materialise.
The turning point came soon after at Sedgemoor, on the Somerset Levels, where he met the Royalist army. The result was the route and massacre of his ill-equipped and ill-trained forces, so ill -equipped they were to give the rebellion its name- 'the Pitchfork Rebellion'. Monmouth fled the field dressed in shepherd's clothes.
Maybe it was the crown, but his disguise fooled no one and he was soon captured.
Retribution came swiftly- hundreds were hung, drawn and quartered after being condemned in what became known as the 'Bloody Assizes', while Monmouth parted with his head.
Lyme Regis did not to go unscathed, eleven men were executed in a most diabolical fashion on the very the beach which now bears Monmouth's name.
No comments:
Post a Comment