Standoff at Turnham Green

Timeline

1. 1642Reading · BerkshireAfter the Battle of Edgehill, the Royalist army continued eastward, occupying Reading and other places and advancing on London. The capital fell into panic, and the London militia and Parliamentary forces urgently deployed defenses in the west of the city.
2. 1642Turnham Green · LondonBoth sides, each numbering roughly twelve to fourteen thousand, formed up on the open ground at Turnham Green. There was sporadic artillery fire and small-scale skirmishing, but Charles I judged that a forced attack on London would result in heavy losses and ordered a full withdrawal at dusk.
3. 1642Oxford · OxfordshireThe Royalist army withdrew toward Oxford, abandoning plans to capture London in the short term; the Parliamentarians consolidated the capital's defenses, and the civil war entered a prolonged stalemate. The royal court subsequently used Oxford as its wartime capital.