In the spring of 1648, the English parliament prepared for a new war. It had spent the previous year trying to secure a peace settlement and disband its armies. The Scots were about to march south again, now in alliance with King Charles I and, in England and Wales, people anxious to see an end to their hardships rose up in armed frustration. Parliament strengthened strategic garrisons, such as Berwick, and ‘resolving to reinforce the militia of each county’, it 'sent down some of their members to give life to the preparations’. On 25 May, the Commons proposed that the Derby House Committee issue commissions for the raising of county forces by persons of known fidelity to the parliament. The measure did not pass, though an exception was made in the case of Edmund Ludlow's county of Wiltshire. Ludlow agreed to raise two artillery regiments and one of cavalry.

Gentry frustration at the difficulties which persisted in obtaining a lasting settlement covered the whole range of political opinions. At one end of the spectrum was royalist revivalism: there were armed demonstrations against taxation levels, calls for the New Model Army to be disbanded and for a personal treaty with Charles. These were particularly a feature of Wales and the south-eastern counties of England. At the other end of the spectrum was direct action taken by county gentlemen who were among the most hawkish of the parliamentarians.