EDGE

HILL  , an elevated ridge in Warwickshire, England, near the border of Oxfordshire . The north-western face is an abrupt escarpment of the lias, and the summit of the ridge is almost level for nearly 2 m., at a height somewhat exceeding 700 ft . The escarpment overlooks a rich lowland watered by streams tributary to the Avon; the gentle eastern slope sends its waters to the Cherwell, and the ridge thus forms part of the divide between the basins of the Severn and the Thames . Edge Hill gave name to the first battle of the Great Rebellion (q.v.), fought on the 23rd of October 1642 . Charles I., marching on London from the north-west, was here met by the parliamentary forces under Robert Devereux, earl of Essex . The royalists were posted on the hill while the enemy was in the plain before Kineton . But the rash advice of Prince Rupert determined the king to give up the advantage of position; he descended to the attack, and though Rupert himself was successful against theopposing cavalry, he was checked by the arrival of a regiment with artillery under Hampden, and, in the meantime, the royalist infantry was driven back . The parliamentarians, however, lost the more heavily, and though both sides claimed the advantage, the king was able to advance and occupy Banbury .