Flodden, 9th September 1513.

We had previously written a small blog about the Battle of Flodden on 9th Sep 1513, just to the north of Wooler and a short way off the Coldstream road.


Here is the link to Wikimapia

and here is representation of the battle...click on the image to see it full size

The Battle of Otterburn, 19th August 1388

Carrying on with David Clark's excellent book on touring northern battlefields
( Battlefield walks, pub.Grange books) it's the turn of Otterburn.

We pass through the village when taking the northern route from Cumbria over to north Northumberland, so it's familiar to us...but as a battlefield?

Anyway...the history first.

Two key points

1.In Scotland there were the Douglas's and south of the border the Percy's.

2.There was pressure from the Scottish crown to continue the border wars....and not surprisingly the offer was gratefully accepted and the raiding continued.

The Douglas's had been as far south as Durham, tried to capture Newcastle on their way back and were by all accounts more than ready to tackle the Percy's when they caught up with the Scottish raiders.

The battle itself has several interesting notes.

When the English attacked they found the camp full of non combatants. These they set about killing and the main Scoys army gained valuable time to regroup.Interestingly it has been suggested that Douglas left his non combatants in that place to serve such a purpose.

The main fighting was by moonlight which hindered the arrival of the Umfraville party which had been sent out to outflank the Scots.

Anyway....Douglas was killed, Percy captured and the Scots won the day.
It wouln't be until Homildon Hill in 1402 that the Percy's had their revenge.

This is the wikimapia view of the battleground


Here is Percy's cross , the memorial






And here is the map




See also our blog on the Battle of Hexham.

The Battle of Hexham Levels

The Battle of Hexham on the 25th April 1464 is one of the least documented important battles in our history.So little is recorded and so little known. What we can say is that it was significant enough to herald an end to Lancastrian resistance in the wars of the Roses for seven long years.
This gave a welcome respite to years of intermittent fighting and trouble.

With the death of Somerset at Hexham ( he was executed in the town after the battle) the last of the main Lancastrian leaders in the North was removed.The important castles of Dunstanburgh and Alnwick surrendered within a week of the battle.

The key to exploring the battle field is to start at Linnels bridge and to remember that Somerset decided to fight with the devils water behind him.This was a two edged sword in that he couldnt ne outflanked but he also had no retreat.

To get an idea of the layout go to wikimapia.





Just to the south of here is Allendale and all it's mining history...so truly a wonderful area to explore