THE sound of musket fire rang around the centre of Coleford on a rain-soaked Saturday afternoon to mark the 373rd anniversary of the day when the English Civil War came to the town.

The event, which featured members of the Sealed Knot Civil War re-enactment society, was the seventh annual commemoration of the battle which saw an army of 2,000 Royalists descend on the town which then had just 500 inhabitants.

The action, on February 20 1643, saw the a small, local militia attack the much larger force and after two hours of fighting in the streets the three officers at the head of the Royalist force shot were dead and the rest of the troops headed towards the Parliamentary stronghold of Gloucester.

The commemoration started with Sealed Knot members in 17th century costume and headed by the Mayor of Coleford, Cllr Paul Kay parading from Mushet Walk to the clock tower where Ian Blyth of the Sealed Knot recounted the history of the battle.

Fellow yeoman of the Sealed Knot Keith James, who first suggested the annual memorial, then read a specially-composed prayer.

A posy of flowers was laid on the memorial stone in the centre of the town.

Muskets were fired several times by Sealed Knot members who had travelled from as far as Yorkshire and Aberdeen although the rain made priming the historically accurate weapons increasingly difficult.