[3] In a last-ditch attempt to relieve the strategic port of Chester, Royalist cavalry commander Sir William Vaughan ordered the mustering of around 2,000 men, drawn from garrisons across Shropshire and north-east Wales, at Denbigh Green.

Following a failed attempt to link up with Royalists in Scotland, and with his supporters increasingly confined to a series of small garrisons in the West of England and Wales, Charles I pinned his hopes on reinforcement from Ireland.

[6] His force eventually included remnants of at least ten regiments, though the collapse in Royalist supply lines meant they were poorly armed: it was reported that of the cavalry "scarce a tenth man hath a pistol".

He ordered 1,500 horse and a similar number of infantry detached from the siege of Chester to engage them, under Colonel Michael Jones and Adjutant-General James Lothian.

[9] By 31 October, Vaughan was encamped on Denbigh Green, an open four-mile tract of commonland outside the town, where he received news Mytton had left Ruthin.

[1] Most forces ordered to the rendezvous from the North Wales garrisons had yet to arrive and diarist Richard Symonds, a volunteer with Vaughan, counted the Royalist cavalry at just 700, although this may have been exclusive of several hundred lightly armed Irish.

[1] Finding that his men "could not breake in upon them, but trifled out the time",[10] Mytton left his advance guard in place while making a flanking manoeuvre with the rest of his forces.

Some dragoons of the High Ercall garrison, supported by troopers of Prince Maurice's Lifeguard, countercharged and briefly checked Mytton's advance, but following a third charge the Royalists broke.