In the time of the Civil War the district between Lyme Regis and Axminster appears to have been a regular battle-field for the contending parties, as Lyme Regis had been fortified in 1643 and taken possession of by Sir Walter Erie and Sir Thomas Trenchard in the name of the Parliament, while Axminster was in the possession of the Royalists, who looked upon the capture of Lyme as a matter of the highest importance.  In 1644 Prince Maurice advanced from Axminster with an army of nearly five thousand Royalists and cannon and attacked Lyme from the higher end of that town; but although they had possession of many fortified mansions which acted as bases or depots they were defeated again and again.  The inhabitants of the town were enthusiastic about what they considered to be the Protestant cause, and even the women, as in other places, fought in male attire side by side with the men, to make the enemy think they had a greater number opposed to them.  The lion’s share of the defence fell to the lot of Captain Davey, who, from his fort worked his guns with such amazing persistence that the enemy were dismayed, while during the siege the town was fed from the sea by ships which also brought ammunition and stores.  After righting for nearly two months and losing two thousand of his men Prince Maurice retired.  The cannon-balls that he used, of which some have been found since that time on or near the shore, and in the outskirts of the town, weighed 17-1/2 lb.

One of the defenders was Robert Blake, the famous Admiral, who afterwards defeated the Dutch in a great battle off Portland.  He died in his ship at Portsmouth, and his body was taken to Greenwich and afterwards embalmed and buried in Westminster Abbey.  But Charles II remembered the part Blake had taken in the defeat of the Royalist forces at Lyme Regis, and ordered his ashes to be raked from the grave and scattered to the winds.

As may be imagined, in the fights between the two parties the country-people suffered from depredations and were extensively plundered by both sides.  This was referred to in a political song entitled “The West Husbandman’s Lamentations,” which, in the dialect then prevailing, voices the complaint of a farmer who lost six oxen and six horses: 

  Ich had zix Oxen t’other day,
  And them the Roundheads vetcht away—­
    A mischief be their speed! 
  And chad zix Horses left me whole. 
  And them the Cabballeeroes stole,
    Chee vore men be agreed.

We were rather disappointed when we arrived at Axminster, for, having often heard of Axminster carpets, we expected to find factories there where they made them, but we found that industry had been given up for many years.  We saw the factory where they were formerly made, and heard a lot about Mr. Whitty, the proprietor.  He had made two beautiful carpets, and exhibited them in London before sending them to a customer abroad who had ordered them.  They were despatched on