Walking Through History
England's Last Battle - West Country
Season 4 Episode 6 of 6
Tony Robinson hikes up from Lyme Regis on Dorset's Jurassic Coast to the Somerset Levels in the footsteps of a ragtag rebel army led by the young Duke of Monmouth, the illegitimate son of Charles II. He sailed in from Holland around Lyme's famous Cobb with a handful of soldiers, believing the people would support him in overthrowing the newly crowned James II, who was also Monmouth's uncle, but, more importantly, Roman Catholic. The year was 1685 and the country was riven by anti-Catholic feeling mixed up with revolutionary zeal. Monmouth marched through the fiercely independent towns of Devon, gathering support from artisans and farmworkers. Meeting up with Billy Bragg in Colyton, Tony learns about the kind of people prepared to risk their lives for the Monmouth Rebellion