08/07/2025
Plymouth District Officers marked the 340th Anniversary of the Battle of Sedgemoor which took place on 6th July 1685, at Westonzoyland near Bridgewater in Somerset. It involved the forces of King James II and those of James Scott, Duke of Monmouth. It was part of an attempt by the Protestant Duke, who was an illegitimate son of Charles II, to seize the throne from the Catholic King James II.
The battle started at 11am with the Duke's forces planning a night attack on the King's forces as they slept, but a combination of bad weather, wide drainage ditches to be crossed (the Bussex rhine) and a lookout party seeing the Duke's approaching army, resulted in the loss of element of surprise - the ensuing battle was a rout by the King's army over the Duke's.
Many died on the battlefield and were buried in mass graves, which remain undiscovered, many were imprisoned in the church and some died in there and others were hung in the graveyard. The Duke fled the battlefield and was captured in Dorset, taken to the Tower and eventually be-headed by the bungling executioner Jack Ketch.
The resulting Bloody Azzizes meant many hundreds were executed, imprisoned or sent to the colonies, never to return.
The event was of course a pre-cursor to the Glorious Revolution and part of the reason why some West Country people were slow to come to William's side, as the memory of the Azzizes were only 3 years before. The West Country had traditionally been strongly Dissenter and historically had been suspicious of the CoE as well as the RC church - part of the reason why both the Duke and also William landed here as they both expected good support from Dissenters.
