English: Towards Roundway Down, near Heddington The photograph is unremarkable and I wouldn't have taken it but for the historical significance of the area hereabouts. In the far distance just to the left of the clump on the horizon are two telecoms masts. They are located on Morgan's Hill almost 4 kilometres away to the north-east. Between Morgan's Hill and the viewpoint on the plateau is Roundway Down. In 1643 during the English Civil War a famous battle took place between Royalist forces on the one hand and Parliamentary forces on the other. The battle was engendered by the siege of Devizes where Royalists were contained by a Parliamentary army. In response, the King sent a cavalry unit accompanied by two artillery pieces. As that unit came over Morgan's Hill and advanced south-west it met the Parliamentary forces. It seems that the battle was somewhat one-sided, perhaps because the tactics adopted by the Parliamentarians were inappropriate for the circumstances. In any event, the Royalists prevailed and drove many of the enemy in disarray towards the viewpoint where they literally fell off the battlefield down the steep face of Beacon Hill. The Parliamentarians took months to recover from the defeat.

For views of what became known as 'Bloody Ditch' see https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1535586 and https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1535578 For a closer look at Morgan's Hill see https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1536928

A useful oversight of the battle area is in this pdf http://documents.kennet.gov.uk/Tourism/roundway/walkthebattlefield/walkbattle.pdf

Keywords: Bloody Ditch, English Civil War, Battle of Roundway Down, Royalist victory.