Early in the Civil War, Edgbaston Hall, along with Hawkesley House, now the site of a council housing estate in Longbridge, was a stronghold of Colonel John Fox, the so-called "Jovial Tinker". The Edgbaston Garrison musters from August 19, 1645 to April 30, 1646, can be found among the accounts of the Warwickshire County Committee, which was the Parliamentary Committee of accounts for the County, along with musters, warrants, levy assessments and other documents submitted by field officers and garrison commanders to be examined by the Committee. The garrison muster from 1645 lists about 40 soldiers and officers, including Thomas Rawlins, "a prisoner". The Edgbaston garrison troops had a fearsome reputation, making forays into the sounding villages for provisions and plunder and raiding rival royalist strongholds. They were highly mobile and so could be shifted around to augment the parliamentary garrisons at Tamworth, Coventry and Warwick.[5]
