BattlefieldsRaid on Penrith — Scottish West March Incursion 1345
Medieval

Raid on Penrith — Scottish West March Incursion 1345

1345
England
Era
Medieval
Battle Type
Pitched Battle
Location
England
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
English (Penrith garrison)
Forces
Penrith English garrison of minimal strength
VS
Victor
Scottish raiders
Forces
Scottish raiding party of 500 to 1,500 horsemen
Outcome
Penrith suburbs burned; livestock driven north; English garrison unable to pursue raiders effectively into the Lakeland fells; formal protest to Scottish authorities ineffective.
The Battle

History & Significance

Scottish raiders from the West March struck Penrith and the surrounding Eden valley in 1345, burning the suburbs of the town and driving off livestock. Penrith in Cumberland was a key market town on the western route north and a regular target for Scottish raiding parties throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The 1345 raid was one of many that maintained the population of Cumberland in a state of chronic insecurity and drove many communities to build the distinctive pele towers — small defensible towers — that still dot the Cumbrian landscape.

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