Battle of Blore Heath (1459)

Who Fought

History & Significance

The Battle of Blore Heath took place during the English Wars of the Roses on 23 September 1459, at Blore Heath, Staffordshire. Blore Heath is a sparsely populated area of farmland two miles east of the town of Market Drayton in Shropshire, and close to the village of Loggerheads, Staffordshire.

After the First Battle of St Albans in 1455, an uneasy peace held in England. Attempts at reconciliation between the houses of Lancaster and York enjoyed marginal success. However, both sides became increasingly wary of each other and by 1459 were actively recruiting armed supporters. Queen Margaret of Anjou continued to raise support for King Henry VI amongst noblemen, distributing an emblem of a silver swan to knights and squires enlisted by her personally, whilst the Yorkist command under the Duke of York was finding plenty of anti-royal support despite the severe punishment for raising arms against the king.

The Yorkist force based at Middleham Castle, Yorkshire (led by the Earl of Salisbury) needed to link up with the main Yorkist army at Ludlow Castle in Shropshire. As Salisbury marched south-west through the Midlands, the queen ordered Lord Audley to intercept them.

Audley chose the barren heathland of Blore Heath to set up an ambush. On the morning of 23 September 1459 (Saint Thecla's day), a force of some 10,000 men took up a defensive position behind a 'great hedge' on the south-western edge of Blore Heath facing the direction of Newcastle-under-Lyme to the north-east, the direction from which Salisbury was approaching.

Yorkist scouts spotted Lancastrian banners over the top of a hedge and immediately warned Salisbury. As they emerged from the woodland, the Yorkist force of some 5,000 men realized that a much larger enemy force was awaiting their arrival. Salisbury, instead of disbanding or withdrawing his army, immediately arranged his troops into battle order, just out of range of the Lancastrian archers. To secure his right flank, he arranged the supply wagons in a defensive laager, a circular formation to provide cover to the men. Fearing a rout, Yorkist soldiers are reported to have kissed the ground beneath them, supposing that this would be the ground on which they would meet their deaths.

The two armies were separated by about 300 metres on the barren heathland. A steep-sided, wide and fast-flowing brook ran between them. The brook made Audley's position seemingly impenetrable.

Initially, both leaders attempted to parley in an attempt to avoid bloodshed. In keeping with many late medieval battles, the conflict opened with an archery duel between the longbows of both armies. At Blore Heath, that proved inconclusive because of the distance between the two sides.

The ground they fought on

The site of Battle of Blore Heath (1459) lies on Triassic Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Triassic. The rock here is sandstone and conglomerate, interbedded.

Frequently Asked Questions

Scheduled Monuments near Battle of Blore Heath (1459)

Audley's Cross, 240m SSW of Audley's Cross Farmhouse

Scheduled monument · ~0.1 mi

Audley's Cross is a wayside cross of medieval date located in Staffordshire. The monument stands approximately 240 metres south-south-west of Audley's Cross Farmhouse and represents the type of cross that would have marked routes and acted as a focal point for local communities during the medieva…

Colin Park / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Hales Roman Villa

Scheduled monument · ~1 mi

Hales Roman Villa is a Romano-British villa site located in Staffordshire, dating to the Roman period of occupation in Britain. The villa represents the type of substantial rural settlement that emerged during the later Roman period, when wealthy landowners established agricultural estates across…

Brian Deegan / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons

The Devil's Ring and Finger

Scheduled monument · ~1.7 mi

The Devil's Ring and Finger is a Bronze Age stone monument located near Leek in Staffordshire. The site comprises standing stones that are believed to date to the later prehistoric period, though precise dating remains uncertain. The monument's distinctive name reflects local folklore traditions…

Brian Deegan / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Churchyard cross, St Chad's Church

Scheduled monument · ~2.3 mi

Churchyard cross, St Chad's Church is a medieval stone cross located in the churchyard of St Chad's Church in Shropshire. The cross dates to the medieval period and stands as a testament to the religious and communal significance of the parish church, serving functions both devotional and practic…

Site of Old Madeley Manor: a moated site with late 16th century house, gardens and a watermill

Scheduled monument · ~5.7 mi

Site of Old Madeley Manor is a moated site in Staffordshire that preserves evidence of a late sixteenth century house, associated gardens, and a watermill. The manor sits within a substantial moat system that represents an earlier phase of occupation, as moated homesteads were characteristic of t…

David Burrows / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Motte and bailey castle on Castle Hill, and the associated remains of a park pale, a fishpond and a formal garden

Scheduled monument · ~7.6 mi

Motte and bailey castle on Castle Hill is a Norman fortification located in Shropshire, England, comprising an earthwork mound with an associated bailey enclosure typical of early medieval military architecture. The site dates from the Norman period, likely the eleventh or twelfth century, and re…

Other Medieval Battles

Battles near Battle of Blore Heath (1459)

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• Battle of Blore Heath 1459 · Historic England
• Battle of Blore Heath · Wikidata
• Battle_of_Blore_Heath · Wikipedia
• Battle of Blore Heath · BritishBattles.com
• Battle of Blore Heath · Battlefields Trust