Friends became enemies on the battlefields of the British Isles during the Civil Wars
ON THE COVER: RUSTY ALDWINCKLE/SEALED KNOT X3, ALAMY X1, GETTY X3, DANIEL KATZ GALLERY/LONDON X1, COVER IMAGE ENHANCEMENT - CHRIS STOCKERDESIGN.CO.UK/ON THIS PAGE: ALAMY X1
From the windows of the History Revealed offices, high on the 14th floor of an office block in Bristol city centre, a long hill dominates the horizon. It’s hard to imagine today, but 374 years ago, men loyal to the King were making their way up that very hill to attack parliament’s forces. Today, the thought of thousands of British men, ready to fight each other to the bloody death, seems terrifying. But that’s exactly what happened in towns and countryside all over the British Isles, in an epic series of wars that left families and friends torn apart. In our cover feature this issue (p24, Julian Humphrys discovers how the commanders of the opposing sides that day were former comrades-in-arms, now facing each other on the battlefield.