In the pre-dawn hours of 28 August 1651, eighteen Parliamentary soldiers inched along a narrow board, that was stretched across a broken bridge, while the high waters of the Severn swirled below them. Their mission: to surprise the Royalist forces holding Upton-upon-Severn on the opposite shore and open the way to Worcester where the King’s army was garrisoned. Fourteen months of a Cromwell the Cat and Charles the Mouse game were finally coming to a head. Background Following the execution of his father, King Charles I, by Parliament in 1649, Charles Stuart  sought allies to reclaim the throne and found in Scotland a willing partner….