The Battle of Freedom
Fields
Learning Objectives:
Learning Outcomes:
Knowledge:
Knowledge:
o To take control of the
o You will know the strengths
Royalist Army and decide on
and weaknesses of
a battle plan to take control
attacking Plymouth from
of Plymouth
different directions.
o Use your knowledge to write
a battle plan for taking
control of Plymouth.
Skills:
o Team work
o Oral Presentation
Skills:
o Present your battle plan
clearly to the class
The Story

It is December 1643, and the Civil War is
being fought throughout England. The
town of Plymouth, immensely important
because of its port and naval base, is
staunchly supporting the Parliamentarians.
It is of vital importance to the King that he
gains control of Plymouth and so he has
sent Prince Maurice and a Royalist army to
capture the town.
The Story continued

But the people of Plymouth have
defended their town successfully,
ringing it with defences, which the
Royalists have been unable to breach.
The Royalists have surrounded the
town and are trying to starve the people
of Plymouth into submission: The
Siege of Plymouth.
Your mission

You are a soldier in Prince Maurice’s army, and
he has trusted you with the difficult task of
finding out the best way to successfully attack
the town; the Royalist army is becoming restless
and Prince Maurice has promised them that they
will spend Christmas Day in Plymouth.
MAPWORK

The first thing that you need to do is familiarise
yourself with the area, and therefore you need to have a
map of the town, its surrounding villages, and (most
importantly) its defences.
ON YOUR MAP:
1. The Parliamentarian defences are marked as triangles
on your outline map – colour these in RED.
2. Your Royalist positions are marked as circles – colour
these YELLOW.
3. Next you need to find out details of the local villages.
Referring to the detailed map, transfer the names onto
your map, using the Seventeen Century spellings.
THE BATTLE OF ‘FREEDOM
Colour triangles
FIELDS’
red =
PARLIAMENT
Plymouth
Important information about the
area.



The Royalists control the countryside around Plymouth, and
Cornwall supports the King, but the Navy and therefore control
of the sea is in the hands of Parliament.
Defences are strongest to the North of the town – you would
lose many men if you attacked here, but Plymouth could then be
easily be taken.
Although the eastern and western approaches to Plymouth are
not so well defended, there are many tidal creeks in these areas
which it would be difficult to transport an army, horses and
weapons across.

PUT THIS INFORMATION ON YOUR MAP
THE BATTLE OF ‘FREEDOM
Colour triangles
FIELDS’
Royalists control the
countryside
red =
PARLIAMENT
Dangerous
tidal creeks
Dangerous
tidal creeks
but not well
defended
but not well
defended
Plymouth
Royalists control
Cornwall
Parliament controls the sea.
Advantages
Continue to
blockade the town
Storm the forts to
the north of the
town
Attack from the
East
Attack from the
West
Attack from the Sea
Another solution
Disadvantages
Decision Time



Now complete your table to show the
advantanges and disadvantages of each of the
battle plans.
When you have completed this you can decide
on the best possible plan.
You might also like to label your map to show
how the battle plan will progress.
 GOOD LUCK!