The Times Weather Reports

Only recently and more or less accidentally did I check the column to the right of the weather reports in The Times newspaper.

Occasionally when looking for a weather report I quickly glanced at the comments for the area which was likely to affect travels that day, but rarely read the script on the weather page beyond the actual reports. 

However, recently almost by accident, I started to read the column in dark print alongside the weather graphs and summaries. Today's report for example is fascinating and the above is a copy of the Tate Gallery portrait of part of the Monmouth Rebellion at Sedgemore:

 Weather Eye: Night fog turned surprise to chaos at battle of Sedgemoor

1685 was a volatile time in England. Charles II had died and was succeeded by his brother James II — but James was Catholic, leading to fears that Anglicans would be persecuted under his rule. Instead, many Protestants argued that the Duke of Monmouth was the legitimate heir to the throne because he was the son of Charles II, even though he was illegitimate.

On June 11, Monmouth returned from exile to overthrow James and gathered a rebel army in the West Country. But this was a motley band of poorly trained men, badly equipped to take on royalist troops and when the king was alerted to Monmouth’s return he quickly dispatched forces to head off the rebels.

The Battle of Sedgemoor was a resounding victory for James, but only three years later he was deposed by William of Orange in the Glorious Revolution of 1688.

 Monmouth’s army camped on the edge of Sedgemoor, moorland on the Somerset Levels criss-crossed with ditches. With the odds stacked against him, Monmouth planned a surprise attack across the moorland in darkness on the night of July 5 hoping to catch the royalists off-guard. At 11pm the Rebels set off silently, but rain, fog and darkness made their progress treacherous, and even though a local man guided them across the moors, they became lost. Even worse, one of their guns accidentally went off, alerting the royalists to the attack and so the rebels lost the crucial element of surprise.

“At 2 a Clock this Morning (securely sleeping) Our Camp was Rouzd by the near approach of the Rebells; a darke Night and thick Fogg, covering the Moore,” reported Edward Dummer, serving with the royal artillery train.

Monmouth now had to commit to battle and launched a cavalry attack, but in the fog and darkness the horsemen lost their way and rode into a royal cavalry patrol and turned in front of the royal army, who opened fire. The rebels fled headlong into their own foot soldiers creating even more chaos. Although Monmouth rallied his forces they were hopelessly outgunned, and by dawn the rebels had been routed.

 The Battle of Sedgemoor was a resounding victory for James, but only three years later he was deposed by William of Orange in the Glorious Revolution of 1688.

The Times should in my view make rather more than presently that newspaper does of  the the journalist's fascinating "weather" column.