Battle[edit]

At around 4 pm, Brown and Sandys ordered an advance toward the city.[27] The
historian Richard Brooks suggests they had received intelligence that Byron was
preparing to leave Worcester.[16] Sandys led a small group of troops ahead, across the
narrow bridge and along a country lane which allowed no more than three riders
abreast.[28] Modern historians vary slightly in their account of the first stage of the
engagement: Brooks, Chris Scott, and Alan Turton have the Royalist dragoons already
prepared, lining the hedges of the lane. When the Parliamentarians advanced up the
path, the dragoons opened fire on them, causing Sandys's men to panic and bolt
forward into Wick Field; the musket-fire alerting the resting Royalist cavalry of their
approach.[16][29] Peter Gaunt and Trevor Royle describe all the Royalists as within the
field; the noise of the Parliamentarian horsemen alerted Rupert to their approach,
allowing him to quickly prepare his men for battle as best as he could.[27][28] He lined the
hedges with the dismounted dragoons while the cavalry was drawn up into open order
in the meadow. When Sandys and his cavalry troop emerged into the field, they were
faced with point-blank gunfire from the dragoons, giving the Royalist cavalry extra time
to prepare.[28]

The Parliamentarians attempted to regroup and return fire but were charged by
Rupert's cavalry. Sandys was mortally wounded during the initial assault. With no
support from their dragoons, which were stuck behind the cavalry in the narrow
country lanes, Sandys's troops were routed.[28][30] Fiennes said that he managed to
control his cavalry and hold fire until the charging Royalists were close enough "so that
their horses' noses almost touched those of our first rank."[16] Despite this, they were
isolated after the retreat of Sandys's men and forced to abandon the fight.[16] The
Parliamentarian dragoons made a rearguard stand on Powick Bridge to protect the
cavalry's retreat, but Rupert called off the chase at Powick.[31]