Stepney or Mortlake

Cromwell names Stepney or Mortlake as fallback refuges for Richard Cromwell's wife should rebels seize London. Spoken amid the rain-drenched courtyard of Austin Friars, these outlying settlements evoke hasty escape routes from capital chaos—distant hamlets where soldiers' boots sink into mud, wives huddle under thatch, and the Thames' murmur promises temporary shield from northern savagery spilling south. Their selection reveals Cromwell's grim calculus: safety lies beyond city walls in precarious rural margins.