Lancaster towards the end of April was again taken by the Parliamentary forces, and the pieces of ordnance from the Spanish ship (see p. 139) were removed to Manchester, and very shortly afterwards (May 19) Warrington, after withstanding a week's siege, was obliged to surrender, partly, it is said, because provision ran short. After these various warlike proceedings, it is not astonishing that funds began to fail, and for want of the sinews of war, many preferred to return to their usual occupations, and thus the leaders of both parties were surrounded with difficulties. Whilst the Parliament could and did order the estates of the delinquents to be confiscated, the Royalists could only levy voluntary rates, which fell heaviest on those whose estates had thus been seized. The tide of war seemed now to have turned against the Earl of Derby, who, to add to his other defeats, made an attempt, and failed, to regain the magazine in Liverpool. The Royalists were further disheartened by the removal from their midst of the Earl of Derby, who was ordered by the Queen to betake himself to the Isle of Man, which was then menaced by the enemies of the King; here he landed on June 15, 1643. Shortly after this Hornby Castle[144] was taken by the Parliamentary forces, and there now only remained Thurland Castle and Lathom House in the hands of the Royalists; and as the Earl of Derby, Lord Molyneux, and Colonel Thomas Tyldesley were all out of the county, the enemy began to realize that they were almost in possession of the whole county. Before the departure of these leaders much plundering by the soldiers was reported in the Fylde district, where Lord Molyneux and Colonel Tyldesley were for a time stationed; at Kirkham, Clifton, St. Michael's and Laton, cattle were taken and houses sacked. About this time Colonel Alexander Rigby (whose name hereafter appears more prominently) came armed with a commission from the Commons to raise forces in the hundreds of Leyland and Amounderness, and to get the soldiers so raised ready for war in the least possible time. His efforts were successful, and in nearly every parish in the district he met with some support. Encouraged by this, he, about midsummer, undertook to take Thurland Castle, which was then held by Sir John Girlington,[145] who had around him "many disperat caviliers;" his castle was well fortified and provisioned. Colonel Rigby was supplied (in addition to the men he had raised) with forces from Salford and Blackburn Hundreds. Alexander Rigby's own account of this siege is that during the greater part of the conflict, which lasted seven weeks, he was threatened by the forces of Westmorland, which were drawn up within his view; to these forces were added the Royalists from the Cartmel and Furness district. Having decided to deal with these forces before attacking the castle, he took "500 foot, 2 Drakes, and 3 small troops of horse" (part of his army which lay before Thurland), and