Skulls of the Marching Men

It was on an Autumn morning 
In sixteen forty-two
When soldiers of the Roundheads
Took up arms and forced a coup
Royalists loyal to the monarch of the day
Defended Scarborough castle
Many died so they say

By sixteen forty-five 
Roundhead forces closed on in
The castle walls were blasted 
Royalist soldiers died within
Charles their king in prison, no monarch from that day
Surrender negotiations 
People must obey

Monologue 1

Charles I was found guilty of high treason as a tyrant, traitor, murderer and public enemy.
He was beheaded on a scaffold, in front of the Banqueting house of The Palace of Whitehall on the 30th January in the year of our Lord 1649.
Charles 1st’s son, Charles II, was publicly proclaimed King on 17th February, 1649.

The next three hundred years
Scarborough Castle walls were still
Visitors arrived 
And walked upon the hill
The skulls of soldiers... lay...quiet beneath the loam
Until Billy started digging 
And took them for his own


Monologue 2

Charles II was monarch in name only. The Parliamentarians led by Oliver Cromwell presided over a de facto republic government. Charles II was exiled to France after being defeated by Cromwell’s army at the Battle of Worcester in 1651.
And finally in 1660, two years after the death of Cromwell, the monarchy was restored and Charles II returned to Britain to regain his royal title as King.

Billy stashed the heads
In a trunk below his bed
His whole life blighted by whispers of the dead
And As he breathed his last
The words rattled from his chest
The skulls of the marching men
Would finally be laid to rest