Remember SirThomas

The last battle of the Civil War in Lancashire was fought outside on August 25, 1651. And, on that far-off day at three o'clock in the afternoon, the knight was killed in Wigan.

The conflict, The Battle of Wigan Lane, has entered in to local folklore.

Killed in the last battle of the Civil War, Sir Thomas has often been cited as the man who shot dead Richard Perceval on July 15, 1642, and so registered the first bloodshed of the Civil War.

A portrait of the Royalist for years hung in Tyldesley Town Hall and now, brilliantly restored, adorns the council chamber wall at Leigh Town Hall -- less than 100 yards from the warlord's last resting place in Leigh Parish Church.

The son of Edward Tyldesley of Morleys (one of Journal-land's more historic locations between Leigh and Astley), he was commanding a Royalist force under the Earl of Derby, which was defeated by Colonel Robert Lilburne and his Parliamentarians.

In the contest in Wigan-lane, besides Sir Thomas Tyldesley, Lord Widdrington, a colonel, two majors, and a number of other officers fell, and five colonels, four lieutenant-colonels, a major, four captains, two lieutenants and four hundred men, were made prisoners.

Sir Thomas, who had fought at Edgehill and at the Battle of Marston Moor, and the Earl of Derby each had 300 horsemen under their command at Wigan lane.

The fight was a series of charges up and down the lane, with cavalry fighting at close quarters and sniper fire from the Parliamentarians hidden in the hedgerow.

During the battle, Tyldesley was unseated from his horse (some say his horse was shot from under him) and he was fatally wounded by another shot as he attempted to mount another steed.

His body was carried from the battlefield and buried that same night in the Tyldesley Chapel, at Leigh Parish Church. The Earl of Derby was also wounded, but managed to slip away, being hidden in the Old Dog Inn in Wigan Market Place.

As Tyldesley was being buried, the Earl was winging his way to the King at Worcester, only to be taken prisoner while seeking refuge in the Isle of Man.

On his way north to his execution in October 1651, the Earl spent the night in Leigh at the King's Arms, long-ago demolished, which stood to the north of the parish church.

Before his own death, he asked to be allowed to see the grave of his friend Sir Thomas, but his request was denied.

A monument in Wigan Lane, erected after the Restoration, and located a short distance before Wigan Infirmary on the rise out of Wigan town, marks the spot where Tyldesley's most famous son was killed.

Born in 1592, Sir Thomas spent time abroad as a soldier, some say serving in Germany others with the Spanish army in Flanders. The family seat was at Myerscough Hall near Garstang -- where King James 1 had hunted in 1617, and where Charles 11 stayed in 1651 on the way to regain his father's throne. He was knighted in 1643 for his bravery and action in storming Burton on Trent.

A pillar was erected in 1679 by one of his officers on Wigan Lane, at the spot were Sir Thomas fell, with an appropriate inscription which reads:

AN HIGH act of gratitude which conveys the memory of Sir Thomas Tyldesley to posterity, who served King Charles the First as Lieutenant Colonel at Edge Hill Battle after raising regiments of horse, foot and dragoons. And for the desperate storming of Burton-Upon-Trent over a bridge of 36 arches received the honour of Knighthood. He afterwards served in all the wars in great command was Governor of Lichfield and followed the fortune of the Crown through the three kingdoms, and never compounded with the rebels, though strongly invested. And on the 25th August AD 1651 was here slain. Commanding as Major General under the Earl of Derby, to whom the grateful erector Alexander Rigby, ESQ. was cornet: And when he was High Sheriff of this county AD 1679 placed this high obligation on the whole family of the Tyldesleys, to follow the noble example of their loyal ancestor.