£20 for Major Smith

Note: article updated 24.05.16 to include missing words/corrections to misreadings - thanks to Simon Marsh and Ivor Carr.

I recently came into the possession of a document written in the 1660s. It appears to be a letter awarding a pension to a solider who had served in the English Civil War.

But how can we be so sure?  ...

Churches still bearing battle scars

St John's, Devizes. The church was in use as a gunpowder store in July 1643 when it
 was hit by the Roundheads' grapeshot. Photo: Brian Robert Marshall (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Photos of English parish church exteriors where English Civil War damage is still visible ...