- 13/06/2025
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00my walks take me to every corner of Britain as I seek out history embedded
00:07in the landscape in this country you're never very far from mysterious ruins the
00:15shadow of unwelcome visitors so from romantic moors to majestic peaks I'm
00:22really enjoying some serious walking each of my walks leads me through a
00:28different time and a stunning location to find the stories you can only really
00:34appreciate on foot this time I'm in the West Country marching in the footsteps of
00:41a rebel army in 1685 this rural area was the scene of one of the most remarkable
00:48uprisings in English history it's a story that's very seldom told but it ended with
00:53the very last battle on English soil the ragtag army had one goal to topple the
01:01last Stuart King
01:13from the Jurassic Coast to the Somerset levels my walk this week shows off much
01:20of what we love about the rural West Country but I've come to explore the
01:24tumultuous summer of 1685 a rebel March the Battle of Sedgmore and the infamous
01:32bloody assizes 17th century Britain had been consumed by civil war and anti-catholic
01:41persecution but by the time of my walk one man had had a long time to restore order
01:47the
01:50Charles II reigned for 25 years and should have guaranteed a stable Protestant future
01:55but a long marriage to Catherine of Braganza had failed to produce a child
02:01instead heir to the throne was Charles's brother James a confirmed Catholic and that spelt trouble
02:10the West Country would soon be the stage for a new national crisis
02:19I'm climbing Golden Cap in Dorset the highest point on the southern shoreline and a standout feature of the
02:33Jurassic Coast
02:38walking here in 1685 I could have seen the arrival of my walks lead character a man who set himself up as the nation's saviour
02:47that man was James Duke of Monmouth who was also the illegitimate son of Charles the second
02:54in June of that year he set sail from his base over there in Holland he sailed across the channel past where I am now and headed off in that direction into the Dorset town of Lyme Regis
03:05I'm setting off on the little-known story of the Monmouth Rebellion
03:15My walk sets off through Charmouth and heads towards Lyme where the Duke of Monmouth first landed
03:22Further west I'll find out how this remarkable coast has changed on my way to the Axe estuary
03:29Inland on day two I'll visit rebel towns before marching to the East Devon Hills and the campsite of Monmouth's growing army
03:39into Somerset and the region's power players come into focus
03:45Before Monmouth enjoyed a rapturous welcome from the people of Taunton
03:52On my last day it's Bridgewater and the army's route across the Somerset levels
03:58The Battle of Sedgmore was the decisive clash with a legacy for the whole country
04:04Back on the south coast I'm following Monmouth's voyage to Lyme
04:15But to find out what drew him here I need to uncover the big issues of his father's reign
04:21Charles the second was lucky to have been king at all
04:25The Royalists lost the Civil War to Oliver Cromwell in 1651
04:30And Charles fled through here, Charmouth, on his way to exile
04:39But in 1660 the people welcomed him back and he reigned for a quarter of a century
04:49So I'm meeting Professor Justin Champion to find out why the country remained deeply unsettled
04:56What was it about the way he ruled that they disliked so much?
05:01This is still a very hierarchical society
05:03Everything in the world is invented by God in a particular order
05:07It's in every Shakespeare play
05:09Everyone will know their order and degree
05:11And Charles buys into that
05:14He really goes overboard on claiming his divinity
05:17That he's appointed by God, he's top of the hierarchy, he's next to angels
05:21This absolute approach to kingship followed the Protestant tradition set up by Henry VIII
05:30But by 1685 absolute monarchy was synonymous with the hated French Catholic Louis XIV
05:37People genuinely thought that Charles was a Catholic, didn't they?
05:42They did and he didn't help himself
05:44He associated far too much in one sense with people who were recognisably Roman Catholic
05:49And he was a little bit of a libertine, he looked a little bit like Louis XIV
05:55So what was the problem with being a Catholic?
05:58Why couldn't you be a Catholic king?
06:00There'd been a host of Catholic kings here and abroad over the centuries
06:03The back cloth to a lot of the anxiety about a popish absolute king
06:09Is that there's a French superpower that's liable to come and destroy English Protestantism
06:14So it's a little bit like a religious Cold War
06:17And that anxiety, it's difficult for us to really capture it
06:21If we were Ian Paisley, you can still hear in his no-popery commands
06:26That absolute fear that a Catholic king is infected by the Antichrist
06:32So 25 years previously, everyone's cheering, array, array, array, Charles has come back
06:37But now, 1685, the temperature's changed completely
06:41There is an absolute fear that if the next king of England is to be a Roman Catholic, we're in deep, deep trouble
06:48Thanks a lot
06:49Fantastic
06:50See you again
06:51February was the month when fears became real
06:56Charles II died suddenly aged 54
06:59And his Catholic brother duly took over as James II
07:03The events of my walk would now unfold remarkably quickly
07:10Two centuries ago, I could have reached Lyme via the beachside prom
07:19But these cliffs have become some of the most dangerous in the country
07:23And the coast path today takes me 800 metres inland
07:27I'm heading towards the Duke of Monmouth's landing site
07:33But what do I actually know about him?
07:36He was the illegitimate son of a very young Charles II
07:42I know he was a Protestant and that he was about to make a big impression
07:46As I reach Lyme, I've arranged to meet the author of Monmouth's new biography to learn some much-needed details
07:59Who was his mum?
08:01So his mother was called Lucy Walter, she was 18
08:05Charles met her during a really short window, just two weeks, when they overlapped in Rotterdam in 1648
08:12And Monmouth was the product
08:14What was she like?
08:15She was very beautiful and very beguiling
08:18And she worked her way through these kind of dishy young exiles
08:22But also ultimately quite a nasty piece of work
08:26She had been found attempting to murder her maid by jamming a knitting needle into her ear
08:31And was bringing him, Charles II, into disrepute
08:35Eventually, Charles had had enough
08:37And made several attempts to kidnap his own child
08:40And he finally succeeded when Monmouth was seven
08:43And in a terrible, terrible scene that was reported across the courts of Europe
08:47His officer literally tore the boy, the seven-year-old boy, from his mother in the streets of Rotterdam
08:53What was the impact of this bastard child on the court?
08:57The king adored him
08:59And that would be the absolutely overwhelming dynamic of their relationship
09:03Because he had all of his mother's beauty, none of her sort of viciousness
09:07And Charles II gave him an absolutely top title
09:10There were only seven dukes in England
09:11So to make this 12-year-old boy a duke was a real affirmation of his love for him
09:16Like Wilson Harry, he was put in the army, wasn't he?
09:19He was, he was, to everyone's complete amazement
09:23Because he had no training
09:25He was a tremendous success in the army
09:28But he rose to be Lord General, which means he was in charge of the entire English army
09:34So he was brave, he was good-looking, he got this fantastic personality
09:38He must have had some flaws
09:40He loved to be loved
09:42And that, I think, came from his relationship with his father
09:45Also, he loved to look wonderful
09:48And he spent an amazing amount of money on clothes
09:50And he knew that he looked fabulous
09:52On the other hand, he knew that that was one of his attributes
09:55And he knew how to work it
09:56And I have a feeling you rather like it
09:58I do, I do
10:02In June 1685, just four months after his father's death
10:06The 36-year-old Monmouth sailed up the Channel
10:10His mission was simple
10:12To topple his Catholic uncle, James II
10:15But he came to Lyme with a quite pitifully small fleet
10:20One .32-gun frigate
10:22Two fishing boats
10:24And just 83 men
10:29Like today, he'd have been confronted by the harbour wall
10:32Known as the Cobb
10:33Which has welcomed everyone from 14th century sailors
10:36To Meryl Streep in the French Lieutenant's Woman
10:43The Cobb had been fortified by cannon
10:46In the time of King Henry VIII
10:48And as Monmouth wasn't sure what kind of reception he was going to get
10:53He decided he wouldn't enter into Lyme that way
10:56Instead, he came round the other side
10:59To this beach here
11:01Which is now called, surprise surprise, Monmouth's beach
11:05The Duke needn't have worried
11:09He was in for a very warm welcome
11:12Monmouth, resplendent in green, arrived on the beach
11:16And called for silence
11:18Then he dropped to his knees
11:19Kissed the ground
11:21And thanked God for a safe crossing
11:23Then he unfurled his sword
11:25He was really hamming this up, wasn't he?
11:28And led his men into the town
11:30In front of them
11:31There was an unfurled banner
11:33Saying, fear nothing but God
11:39The crowd must have been stunned
11:41They now knew who this visitor was
11:44A Monmouth, a Monmouth
11:46The Protestant religion
11:47Some of them cried
11:5260 Lyme men pledged their support straight away
11:55But for everyone else
11:57There was a recruiting desk
11:59Set up at the town hall
12:00A declaration was quickly published
12:03To deliver the kingdom
12:05From the usurper and tyrant
12:07James Duke of York
12:09This was now an act of treason
12:12And there was no going back
12:14But before I leave Lyme completely
12:18I need to find out why Monmouth's mission
12:20Had to start here
12:22In 1680, a few years earlier
12:25Monmouth had come on a sort of
12:27Profile-raising trip
12:29A sort of progress
12:30To this part of the world
12:32And he'd had the most amazing reception
12:34And people were cheering in the streets
12:36And there's an amazing description of a girl
12:39A young girl who had scroffula
12:41Which is sort of glandular disease
12:42That it was believed
12:43The royal touch could cure you of
12:45And she grabbed his wrist
12:46Which was bare
12:47And she held it
12:48And he said, God bless you my child
12:50And she went away
12:52And a few weeks later
12:53She was completely cured
12:54And this was published
12:55In a pamphlet
12:56That was circulated all over England
12:58You know, which demonstrated
12:59Yes, he was in fact
13:01You know, the true king
13:02In the west country at least
13:04Monmouth was a 17th century pin-up
13:10I'm pressing on west of Lyme
13:12Along the Jurassic Coast stretch
13:14Known as the Undercliff
13:16These cliffs have changed
13:19Beyond recognition since 1685
13:23Major collapses in the 1800s
13:25Produced first meadows
13:27And now, since the decline in sheep farming
13:30Entirely new and almost untouched woodland
13:37This is just about the only place around here
13:39That's sufficiently light
13:40For me to be able to show you these
13:42They're reproductions of playing cards
13:46Which were very common in the late 1600s
13:48This set is about the Monmouth rebellion
13:52Although it's told very much from the royalist point of view
13:56They're fairly bloody
13:58As you can see from that one
14:00And this one is the Duke of Monmouth entering Lyme
14:04With 1500 men
14:06It's a bit of an exaggeration
14:07It was actually less than 100
14:08I'm not going to show you anymore
14:10Because I'll give away the whole story
14:12Monmouth dispatched his aides along routes like this
14:16To spread word of his arrival to local towns and landowners
14:20Many of whom the Duke had stayed with back in 1680
14:32I've now reached the axe estuary and the end of my first day
14:38Back in Lyme though, Monmouth was preparing to move his band of rebels out across the region
14:44Now he was in the west country
14:46Monmouth was banking on the news spreading
14:49He hoped that other disaffected regions would rise up
14:52Support him and distract the royal army
14:55Which would otherwise come down into the west and confront him
14:58But for now, well at least he got Lyme Regis pretty well sewn up
15:03It's my second day in the west country
15:15Following the Duke of Monmouth's bid to topple James II
15:19But so far I've got very little impression of the people who were going to help him do it
15:25So I'm heading inland to the rebellious town of Colleton
15:31Before joining Monmouth's march north through Axminster and along the east Devon hills
15:42The west country of 1685 was a powerhouse of the national economy
15:47Cloth and wool were big business
15:49And Colleton was one of Devon's commercial hubs
15:54But I'm here because it was the most rebellious town in the region
15:58Joining me in Colleton is something of a modern rebel
16:11Once known as the Bard of Barking
16:13These days Billy Bragg is a local boy with a lot of empathy for Monmouth's rebels
16:19History calls this rebellion sometimes the pitchfork rebellion
16:23But actually the people who went down weren't agricultural labourers
16:26They weren't working in the fields
16:28They were mostly what we might call today artisans
16:30You know they were tailors, carpenters, masons, people like that
16:35105 men, a quarter of the adult males of Colleton, quit the town to follow Monmouth
16:44These people were devout Protestants
16:48But followed a modern stripped down approach to worship
16:51That was as far removed from Catholicism as you can get
16:54This is revolutionary sponge this you know
17:00Monmouth would have eaten this kind of stuff
17:03It must have been a massive decision for those guys to go off on the march
17:09You know leaving home, making all those risks
17:12Why do you reckon they did it?
17:13Well they were non-conformists rebelling against James II's Catholicism
17:17But you have to understand in the 17th century religion was politics
17:22The people who are going down there are going down there because they don't believe in the hierarchy
17:28That's come back with the restoration
17:30And also because they're aspirational people
17:32They want the opportunity to get on in life
17:34And I don't think they'll get that
17:35We're talking about people from Somerset, people from Dorset
17:38Some even came from London
17:40There was a guy named Daniel Faux involved in the rebellion
17:44Who later changed his name to Daniel Defoe
17:47The Daniel Defoe
17:48The Daniel Defoe
17:49Was involved in the Monmouth Rebellion, yeah
17:53These rebels were impressive
17:56No longer would they simply accept a king's divine authority
18:01They believed a monarch must uphold the will of his people
18:06And they were prepared to fight to achieve that
18:14Monmouth was the popular Protestant figurehead they needed
18:20And after four nights in Lyme, he was on the move
18:23His force now numbered around 1500
18:27And he marched them inland
18:29At this point, the king declared Monmouth a traitor
18:34The Lyme Regis Declaration was ceremoniously burnt in public
18:39And the unimaginably large sum of 5,000 pounds
18:44Was placed on the rebel duke's head
18:52It's not a bad view, is it?
18:54That's the Axe Valley sweeping all the way around there
18:58Into Axminster
19:02That's the view that the rebels would have had
19:04And Axminster was the first key point they were aiming for after Lyme
19:13Also aiming for Axminster
19:15Were the county militias of Somerset and Devon
19:20These were part-time, locally trained regiments
19:23Set up as the first line of national defence
19:26But the Devon militia commander feared his men might be ambushed by rebels hiding in hedgerows
19:36And cancelled his advance to Axminster
19:43The Somerset militia though did turn up here
19:45Although it was in dribs and drabs
19:47Whereupon absolutely no fighting took place whatsoever
19:51Either the Somerset men tactfully retreated
19:55Or just as likely they changed sides and joined the rebels
19:58The militias failure left the rebels triumphant
20:14They moved swiftly through the town
20:20And headed to the hills in search of a suitable camping ground
20:25There was to be no camping from Monmouth though
20:28He headed straight to a manor house
20:30That's remarkably unchanged since 1685
20:34I've asked permission to drop in on the present owner
20:38Of Coakston Hall
20:40Hello, welcome
20:45Nice to see you
20:49Terry, come on through
20:51This room looks pretty spectacular
20:55This has always been the dining area
20:57That was the original parlour next door
20:59From where we've just come
21:00And then you've come through into the banqueting suite
21:04These two pillars here are Elizabethan
21:07And they were almost certainly here
21:09When the house was first built in 1590
21:12So the Duke of Monmouth may well have sat in this room
21:15And had a meal
21:16Bount have done
21:19Monmouth didn't just put his feet up here at Coakston
21:23He persuaded his host Richard Cogan
21:25To join his rebel force
21:28This is the master bedroom
21:30This has always been the master bedroom
21:32So he'd have slept here
21:33I like these panellings
21:35Yeah, that's an Elizabethan gallery
21:36That's the original timbers
21:38When built it would have been glazed
21:40So that you could look out onto the courtyard below
21:43Or he might have looked through the window over there
21:46To see the sunrise coming up over a lovely old yew tree
21:49Which would have been there because it's about 400 years old
21:51It is a fantastic house this, you're so lucky
21:55Until the bills coming
21:57The Duke's followers, you'll recall, didn't have windows to look out of
22:05Because they were camping
22:07Nice view, isn't it?
22:08I'm heading north along the ridge overlooking the axe valley
22:18This is where Monmouth's army came for their first nights out of Lyme
22:23They settled on the highest point, Bewley Down
22:27Where I've made a rather special arrangement
22:30Here, Paul, get your men lined up then
22:33Let's have a look at you
22:35This is the Taunton garrison
22:38Who bring the events of summer 1685 back to life
22:43Engineer Alan and teacher Mike are civilian rebels
22:47Typical of the men who came from towns like Colleton
22:50Retired civil servant Paul, meanwhile, wears the uniform of the Somerset militia
22:56A new recruit picked up in Axminster, perhaps
22:59This is the kind of thing that you would have had in the camp, presumably
23:03Yes, that's the simple fare that would have been available
23:07Bread, cheese, butter if you're lucky, cider
23:10That would have been about it
23:12But they've really been lugging barrels of cider along
23:15Oh, yeah, it's sterile
23:17It keeps the troops healthy because they're not drinking the water
23:19Which could be brackish, could be poisonous
23:21So it was quite a tough life being a rebel
23:22I think with Monmouth army, the tent would be a great luxury
23:27They had very few
23:29But the rest of the guys would have been sleeping on the ground?
23:30Sleeping on the ground, sleeping in hedges
23:32And if you're lucky, you might have a bit of canvas, you could stretch over
23:34Give a bit of shelter from the rain, but most of the time, open to the elements really
23:37At least half of Monmouth's force would have had access to a musket
23:42Many more, a pike
23:44But hundreds had to get creative with a scythe blade
23:47Essentially an adapted farming implement
23:51There were surviving letters from the time that the royalists were terrified, quite rightly I think
23:56Of facing a weapon as terrifying as that
23:58Now we actually do think that Monmouth's men mustered here or hereabouts, don't we?
24:03Yeah, yeah
24:04You'd have thought he might have wanted to put his men up in the local towns and villages
24:07Monmouth would attempt to avoid actually billeting his army directly in the towns
24:11Because of the damage they're likely to do, trying to find firewood
24:14So it was a kind of hearts and minds exercise, that you didn't want to hack off the local people
24:18So you kept them away?
24:19Absolutely right, he wants to recruit them
24:21He sent his quartermouthers into the town to get food and pay for it
24:25Though he paid for it with a script that could only be redeemed when Monmouth actually had some money
24:30When he became king, so if he didn't, they got nothing
24:33Ta-da, fire
24:35The army was here for just 48 hours
24:39Monmouth couldn't let them outstay their welcome
24:41So just like me, they quickly passed into their third county
24:47Look, Somerset
24:50In less than a week, Monmouth had beaten a path through Dorset and East Devon
24:56And met with remarkably little resistance
25:00That's my overnight stop tonight, charred
25:03Which presented the rebel army with another 99 volunteers
25:08It seems Monmouth could attract all the tailors and shoemakers he liked
25:13But what he needed was the West Country's really big players
25:17I've reached the halfway point of my walk, following the Monmouth rebels of 1685
25:33So far we've seen rhetoric, enthusiasm, commitment and an awful lot of scythes
25:38But how can you take all that and turn it into something which can bring down a king?
25:45I've left the Axe Valley and I'm following the River Isle downstream towards Ilminster
25:51And the key estate of White Lackington
25:53Then it's west to the Somerset cloth town of Taunton
25:57A triumphant high point for the rebel army
26:03Monmouth knew that success could come in one of two ways
26:11Either he could muster enough men and firepower to comprehensively thrash the king on the battlefield
26:16Or else he could draw so much support from all over the country that the king's ability to rule would just disintegrate
26:26With well over 3,000 men, Monmouth's firepower was building nicely
26:32But to win nationwide support, he needed some political big beasts on his team
26:38Land and wealth still spoke volumes in 1685
26:42And since his west country tour five years earlier, Monmouth had believed that in Ilminster he had important allies
26:59Monmouth arrived here in Ilminster on the 17th of June
27:02Where he was met by Charles Speak, a member of a renowned west country family
27:06The Speaks were land owners, they were politically minded, they were non-conformist through and through and they knew Monmouth well
27:15Monmouth and the Speaks were ideal partners
27:19He had the star status, they had the money and the connections
27:24Just outside Ilminster, I'm heading to the Speaks family estate
27:29And its centrepiece, the rather charming White Lackington Manor
27:38In Monmouth's time, head of the family George was MP for Somerset
27:43The present owner meanwhile, has written a history of the estate
27:50George was a bit of a rebel wasn't he?
27:52He was, and his wife Mary was even worse
27:55The Bishop of Barth and Wales said she was the most dangerous woman in the west
27:59She was very ardent protestant dissenter
28:02And held illegal religious gatherings, all for freedom, as long as it wasn't Catholicism
28:07The Speaks knew Monmouth quite well, didn't they?
28:10They did, when Monmouth did his PR tour in 1680
28:13He came and stayed at White Lackington Manor for popping in and out for all of his time in the south west
28:17And the reason I brought you here is because, on his first day here, he had lunch underneath this spreading chestnut tree
28:24Which isn't spreading any more, of course
28:26And he was being watched by 20,000 people, so the records say
28:30The Monmouth tree began live sometime around the Norman Conquest
28:34By the time of Monmouth's promotional tour, it was over 500 years old
28:39It fell over on Ash Wednesday, 1897, and it's still lying there
28:43Every little world has got a memory of a year
28:46Probably one of those little splinters remembers Monmouth being right here
28:50I'd rather like that
28:52What kind of support did the Speaks give Monmouth when the rebellion kicked off?
28:56Not a lot, actually
28:58Really? No, really very little
29:00George Speake, the old man, he said he was too old and withdrew
29:04So they left Monmouth to his fate
29:06This was a bitter blow for Monmouth, and the Speaks weren't alone either
29:14Edmund Priddo at Ford Abbey had welcomed the Duke in 1680
29:19So too William Strode of Barrington Court
29:23But when the rebellion came, their support largely evaporated
29:27The problem was everyone knew James II was the lawful king
29:35Four months into his reign, the gentry was still deciding just how bad he might be
29:43Monmouth was far from buried though
29:46He still believed the people were with him
29:49I'm following his progress across Somerset's black downhills
29:53This is a piece of traditionally cultivated grass meadow
29:57But there's only 22 hectares of this kind of environment left in Somerset
30:01Although in Monmouth's time, it would have stretched all the way, way, way, way
30:06Towards that hill, beyond all those cultivated fields
30:12The Barrington Hill Nature Reserve gives you a hint of the landscape back in 1685
30:17The grass is cut just once a year for hay
30:21But come June, and you'll find the place a home to wild flowers
30:26Even orchids
30:30Monmouth passed through here safe enough
30:33But his rear guard ran into a spot of bother
30:36See this hill here, Barrington Hill
30:39This is where we are
30:41And if we're Monmouth's men
30:42There's this little stream here, which is at the bottom of this slope
30:47About 20 of Monmouth's horsemen rode down and engaged with 20 other horsemen
30:54This minor cavalry force was the vanguard of the Royal Army
31:00A skirmish took place
31:03Fire was exchanged
31:04And Monmouth lost four men on what is still known as Fight Field
31:10James II had dispatched a cavalry regiment as soon as Monmouth left Lyme
31:16It was commanded by John Churchill, a local man who'd once served as Monmouth's junior officer
31:22His job was now to monitor his former boss and contain him in the West Country
31:28But for now Monmouth was on a high
31:37He entered Taunton, the Somerset capital of merchant wealth
31:42To the greatest reception he'd received so far
31:44It's said East Street was so packed it was difficult for Monmouth to make his way through the street
31:56Flowers were thrown
31:58And hundreds wore a sprig of greenery
32:00The now accepted badge of the rebel movement
32:05Overlooking Market Cross in the centre of town
32:08Was a small row of buildings which are little changed today
32:12Except that now, you can see it
32:14You can meet here for a coffee
32:18What was it about Taunton that made it such fertile ground for the rebels?
32:22It was a place of great independence of spirit
32:25It had embraced puritanism
32:27It was against the policies of the Anglican Church
32:30And it was also a very prosperous place
32:32And it was here on his second full day in town
32:36That a radical decision was made
32:38Monmouth was proclaimed king
32:40It's extraordinary, isn't it, that just outside this coffee bar
32:42Someone was proclaimed king of England
32:45Well, yes, it doesn't often happen in a provincial town
32:48The crowds gathered in their thousands, the whole of Taunton was there
32:52And it was one of Monmouth's own captains who proclaimed him James, the new king of England
32:58The status of king might help galvanise support from the west country gentry, or so it was thought
33:04But even some of Monmouth's officers weren't convinced it was a good idea
33:09It's an extraordinary thing to do
33:11It was high treason, the highest of treasons, and it was a very risky strategy
33:15Believe it or not, this is where the Duke of Monmouth was proclaimed king, this is where the market cross used to be
33:26Buoyed by his new status, Monmouth drove his army on
33:31I'm following the river Tone on my way to the Somerset levels
33:40Monmouth, though, made a beeline for the key city of Bristol
33:44But things didn't go his way
33:47The brilliant June weather turned wet
33:50And Monmouth's untrained, unprepared volunteers were getting rained on day and night
33:54Churchill's cavalry stalked his every move, while to the east, the king's full army was now heading towards him
34:05An assault on Bristol was now out of the question, so Monmouth played to his strengths
34:12He returned here to rural Somerset
34:15Tomorrow I'll reach the levels where the decisive battle took place
34:33I've reached my final day following the Duke of Monmouth and his rebels across the west country
34:38After a night outside Taunton, the Bridgewater and Taunton Canal is my route into the Somerset levels
34:48But first, the canal will take me to the town that became Monmouth's final stronghold
34:56Then I'll retrace the rebels' journey across the levels to their fate at the Battle of Sedgmore
35:03And look at a legacy that was both bloody and profound
35:08On the 3rd of July 1685, Monmouth marched his rebels into Bridgewater
35:16He'd failed to capture Bristol, and now, with the Royal Army just miles away
35:22He was returning to rural Somerset, the bedrock of his support
35:29The rebels were at a low ebb
35:32The rain-sodden march to Bristol and back had seen hundreds of men quietly desert the army
35:45But spirits were lifted, with rumours that up to 10,000 farm workers in rural Somerset
35:51were now prepared to sign up
35:52Through sheer numbers alone, this sort of offer couldn't be sniffed at
36:02When Monmouth got back to Bridgewater, he found that the promised 10,000 men were more like 160 men
36:08But ever the professional, he ordered his officers to drill the troops, defend the town, and get the weapons mended
36:15His intention was to quit the south-west and march away from the Royal Army, past Bristol to Gloucestershire
36:22Where his hearts and minds exercise could begin afresh
36:29The march north never happened, because the afternoon before, a local farm worker called Godfrey turned up at the rebel camp
36:37With news that the King's Army was camped just four miles east of here, at a place called Western Zoyland, deep in the heart of the levels
36:43So Monmouth and his key men met here at St Mary's Church to make the biggest decision of the whole campaign
36:54Monmouth took advantage of the best viewpoint in town
37:00Where I'm heading now, with my expert guide to the events of Sedgmore, General Jack Deverell
37:06Mind your step, Tony, because it's quite a jump over here
37:10God, you can see a heck of a lot, can't you?
37:15It's a great view
37:17If you look half right from where you are, you'll see some tall poplar trees, and there's the grey tower of Western Zoyland Church
37:24It's so near, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, it's really wide
37:28Godfrey, of course, was sent back to find out the state of the King's Army
37:33And he came back with some interesting information
37:35First of all, they had not put up any earthworks or dug any trenches
37:38Secondly, it was clear they weren't in a defensive position
37:42Monmouth seizes the opportunity, and he conceives of this very imaginative night attack
37:47Monmouth's men were surprisingly heartened by this audacious plan
37:53If nothing else, they still believed in Monmouth's brilliance as a military leader
37:57At 11.30pm, they set off from Bridgewater in the dark
38:04We need to understand that he brought three and a half thousand men, three thousand infantry, and six hundred horses down this track
38:12The column would have been somewhere between two and a half and three kilometres long
38:16Monmouth's army actually outnumbered the Kings, but he lacked weapons and training
38:21His plan was to send his cavalry on a commando raid around the side of the King's camp
38:30To launch a surprise attack
38:33But the Somerset Levels strike me as one of the most puzzling places to fight a battle
38:38There are huge wetland regions criss-crossed by drainage ditches barely above sea level
38:45Unliable to flood, as we saw in February 2014
38:53In the dark early hours of the 6th of July 1685
38:57The prominent black ditch was the rebel army's handrail
39:00By keeping it on their left, they edged silently closer to Western Zoyland
39:07As they crossed Langmore drain, a shot rang out
39:11It is not clear whether that was an accidental discharge from within Monmouth's army
39:17Whether it was an act of treachery, both I think are unlikely
39:20It was more likely that they'd been seen by a King's army sentry
39:25And that was exactly the sort of bad luck that Monmouth did not need
39:28But he'd succeeded in getting just a few hundred metres from the enemy
39:33Before they knew anything at all
39:36The final challenge for the cavalry was the drain known as the Bussex Rean
39:42Once crossed, they could charge straight into the panicking royal forces
39:47But for whatever reason, they couldn't find a crossing point
39:52When they failed to cross the Rean, the cavalry commander turned the cavalry to the right
39:59And effectively marched them straight in front of the King's infantry
40:03Who were lined up in that field
40:05So they were sitting ducks?
40:07They were, and they had about five or six volleys fired at them
40:10From the King's infantry
40:11And they then panicked and bolted and collided with their own infantry who were forming up in that field
40:19So, unfortunately, Monmouth's cavalry had done exactly to Monmouth's infantry
40:26What he hoped that he would be doing to the King's infantry
40:29Monmouth's master plan was in tatters
40:35He was left with musketeers and scythemen
40:41Many of whom, it was said, fought bravely and effectively for some hour and a half
40:47But by first light, there was only going to be one winner
40:51Almost a thousand of the rebels were mown down while fleeing inevitable defeat
40:57Could he have won?
41:00He could have done
41:02It was a very, very daring, very imaginative plan
41:05I think it was more contemporary in the 17th century
41:08He was badly let down by his cavalry commander
41:11Had he been able to scatter the royal cavalry
41:13I think he might have won
41:15It is extraordinary to imagine, isn't it, looking out on this terrain now
41:19That such a significant battle took place here
41:21Yeah, yeah, except every so often we are reminded of it because people find musket balls
41:27300 plus years ago, those were fired by people intent on killing somebody else
41:33It's a sobering thought
41:36500 rebels were rounded up and brought to the village of Western Zoyland
41:43They were tied together and led into the church
41:46But Monmouth wasn't among them
41:52With just two or three companions, he'd raced away south-east
41:57Disguised in the most basic country clothes he could find
42:01In order to try and make sure that he wasn't captured, Monmouth went on alone, leaving his friends behind
42:07But a couple of days later, one of them was picked up by some soldiers
42:11And he told them where he'd last seen the Duke
42:14It wasn't long before they found a yokel fast asleep in a ditch
42:19Somewhere near Ringwood in Dorset
42:20Except that the yokel was carrying a star of the Order of the Garter
42:26The search was over
42:33Monmouth and the West Country had failed to change the rule of law and religion
42:38And the justice meted out was brutal
42:41Before they left, the King's officers hung 22 of the rebel prisoners from trees and gallows around Western Zoyland
42:54As the army returned to London, so too did Monmouth to await the fate of a traitor
43:00Look at this, a copy of the final letter Monmouth ever wrote when he was in the Tower
43:13I declare that the title of King was forced upon me
43:17And it was very much contrary to my opinion when I was proclaimed
43:21Having declared this, I hope the King who is now will not let my children suffer on this account
43:27And to this, I put my hand this 15th day of July 1685
43:35Monmouth
43:40Later that day, Monmouth went to the scaffold
43:44A month after the rebels had been defeated
43:48The King sent his Lord Chief Justice, Judge George Jefferies
43:52Down to the West Country to try the rebels
43:54It became known as the Bloody Assizes
43:58The 1600 people were tried in nine days
44:02Over 300 were sentenced to death
44:05850 to transportation
44:08To work as forced labour in the plantations of the West Indies
44:17Across the West Country, hangings took place in public places
44:21Like Taunton
44:24Monmouth Beach in Lime Regis
44:28And even the Red Post at the border of Somerset
44:31And such brutal retribution did little more than prove everyone's worst fears
44:40About the tyrant James II
44:41After four days and 72 miles
44:44I'm ending my walk at Burrow Mump, an ancient levels landmark
44:52Where the final stages of the Monmouth Rebellion are laid out before you
44:55You see that spire, that's St Mary's Church, so that is Bridgewater
45:03And over there is the Church of Western Zoyland, just by where the battle took place
45:09And way, way, way, way over there is Glastonbury Tor
45:13And the march north that Monmouth never made
45:15Monmouth's mistake was to rebel too early
45:23Instead, he laid the stage for the real winners of this whole saga
45:28His cousins
45:31William and Mary, the Protestant power couple
45:35Came on their own mission to topple Mary's father
45:38They invaded the West Country in November 1688
45:44And support for James II simply disintegrated
45:49The joint monarchs were crowned in 1689
45:54And swiftly signed the Bill of Rights
45:57The Glorious Revolution had occurred
46:01So Britain secured its Protestant future
46:04And enshrined the notion that never again could a monarch rule without the will of its people
46:12James Duke of Monmouth and his rebel army are now just a tiny chapter in British history
46:19And that's really rather sad
46:21Because although the rebels had different religious leanings and political opinions
46:26I believe that above all they followed the Duke because they wanted to see a Britain that was ruled by Parliament
46:32Not by an absolute monarch
46:36And in that respect, their legacy is very great indeed
46:40If you want to follow in my footsteps, you can download a guide to my walk by going to www.channel4.com
46:498 o'clock tomorrow night, the Great Wall of China
46:59How long is it really? How was it built? Why did the wall evolve?
47:03Secret history promises answers
47:05Well, next time I went, box office records were smashed
47:08The monster film hit that deserved all it got
47:11The Inbetweeners
47:12The In pasando
Recommended
47:20
|
Up next
47:10
46:46
59:00
0:12
47:01
46:59
1:27
1:04:05
46:38
6:05