Memorial Type:

Memorial - Other

Does the monument still exist?

No

Installation Date:

1985

Inscription:

OUR FORCES WILL NOT FLIE THROUGH EIGHTY MUSQUETEERS THEY CONFLICT WITH THE ENEMIE TO OUR GREAT LOSSE. GOD FIRES OUR MAGAZINE UPON THE COMMON AT HOUGHTON CHAPPEL 1642.

Allegiance:

Parliamentarian

Memorial Notes:

Battle of Warcock Hill, a local skirmish during the English Civil War that took place on Westhoughton Common on December 15, 1642. The mural by Richard Smith was completed in 1985 and shown in photograph above market hall in March 1996. Men taken during the battle on Hart Common by the Royalists in 1642 were commemorated by a mural, but it has since been removed or painted over. A 2017 social media post from the Westhoughton Local History Group shared a picture of the mural and mentioned, "Below is a mural depicting the battle, it used to be on the wall at Westhoughton Market Hall". The exact circumstances or date of its removal are not specified, but it is no longer at the market hall location.