If you Google Alice Lisle you will find out that it is a “pub serving food with Sky TV in Ringwood”. You may like Sky TV with your food or food with your Sky TV, and it is a lovely pub, often frequented by friendly New Forest donkeys. But make sure if you visit the Alice Lisle that you find out more about its unusual name.
I am 68 and I would like to think that I have a bit of courage left in me, but in no way could I hold a candle to Dame Alice Lisle. At the age of 71, she risked terrible consequences to help two fugitives. She had, apparently, led a blameless life. But she was the widow of a Parliamentarian in the English Civil War who was made a peer by Oliver Cromwell, and she may have sympathised with non-Conformist Protestants.
On 28th July 1685, at her home in Moyles Court near Ringwood, the elderly Alice sheltered two men, John Hickes, a non-conformist minister and Richard Nelthorpe, a lawyer. They were on the run after the defeat of the Duke of Monmouth at the Battle of Sedgemoor.
The fugitives were discovered the following day, and she was arrested. Alice was tried by the notorious Judge Jeffreys. It is reported that he bullied the jury into a guilty verdict, although they were inclined to believe that she was a frail and naïve old woman who had acted out of kindness rather than political motivations. Jeffreys sentenced her to be burnt at the stake. The King (James II) showed some mercy in allowing her to be beheaded.
Alice was the first person to be tried in the Bloody Assizes, that left body parts hanging all over the Mendip Hills. Why did this atrocity happen? Because, the English Civil War did not really end in 1646, or 1648, or 1651, or even on the Restoration of Charles II in 1660. There were plots during Charles II’s reign and when his openly Catholic brother James became King in 1685, Charles’ eldest illegitimate son, the Duke of Monmouth sailed from exile in Holland to claim the throne.
Monmouth was reported to be popular and courageous. He had been promised help which never came, but in the 25 days after he landed in Lyme Regis, he raised a rebel army of 10,000. Alas, they were poorly equipped. The Monmouth rebellion is also known as the Pitchfork Rebellion, and pitchforks were little use against the guns of the king’s army. The brave men of the west country were soundly beaten. Spare a prayer for them when you drive past the Sedgemoor Service Stations on the M5!
Some died in battle, some were killed as they fled, others were imprisoned in appalling conditions until the Bloody Assizes. Hundreds of men were hanged, drawn and quartered – such a cruel method of execution! The quarters were publicly displayed all over the region as a warning to others who might dislike the king. The “luckier” of the rebels were transported as slaves to the colonies.
Monmouth escaped as far as Ringwood, where he was imprisoned before being taken to London for execution. How must he have reflected on his actions? He must surely have been bitter that help that was promised did not show up. Did it occur to him that he had made his move too soon? The opponents of James’ succession certainly feared that he would be as autocratic as his father, but after only a few months of his rule, James hadn’t yet shown his true colours. The Bloody Assizes did send a clear message to the country. It angered and disgusted people, but still, there was no serious move against James until his second wife bore a son.
A few Parliamentarian plotters then invited William of Orange and his English wife Mary, James’ Protestant daughter, to invade. Perhaps the Dutch Stadtholder remembered what happened to Monmouth, because he did not rely on “help” – he brought a huge number of ships and troops. This event is called “The Glorious Revolution”. It could also be called the last invasion of England, superseding the Norman Conquest. Or it could be called the last major event of the English Civil Wars between Crown and Parliament. Or was it? There were attempted invasions from James via Ireland in 1690, by his son via Scotland in 1715, and his grandson, the famous Bonnie Prince Charlie via Scotland in 1745/6.
So, what happened to Alice? She was beheaded by an axeman outside “The Eclipse” pub in Winchester on September 2nd 1685, and her body was taken back to her parish church of Ellingham for burial. She was the last woman in England to be executed by beheading. One of the first acts of Parliament after William and Mary took the throne reversed the verdict of treason on Alice Lisle.
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Photo: Blue plaque on the house where the Duke on Monmouth was imprisoned in Ringwood.
