Battlefields›Battle of Byland (1322)
Medieval

Battle of Byland (1322)

1322
North Yorkshire, England
Era
Medieval
Battle Type
Pitched Battle
Location
North Yorkshire, England
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Kingdom of England
VS
Victor
Kingdom of Scotland
Outcome
Decisive Scottish victory during the Great Raid of 1322; Scottish highlanders scaled the escarpment to flank the English position, causing an English rout; the most significant Scottish success since Bannockburn.
The Battle

History & Significance

Battle of Byland (1322) was a medieval pitched battle between opposing field armies, fought at North Yorkshire, England in 1322. Kingdom of Scotland prevailed over Kingdom of England. Decisive Scottish victory during the Great Raid of 1322; Scottish highlanders scaled the escarpment to flank the English position, causing an English rout; the most significant Scottish success since Bannockburn.

Confirmed battlefield location
The ground

The ground they fought on

The site of Battle of Byland (1322) lies on Corallian Group, bedrock that formed in the Oxfordian. The rock here is limestone, sandstone, siltstone and mudstone.

Casualties & Losses
  • Scottish: 960 killed; English: 8,000 killed (per Wikipedia infobox; other sources describe several hundred English dead in the rout without an exact figure)
Questions & Answers

Frequently Asked Questions

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Everything a full report reveals about Battle of Byland (1322)

This page covers Battle of Byland (1322). A full Aubrey report for the area pulls together this battle alongside scheduled monuments and everything else the record holds within a few miles:

Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Domesday
The settlement's entry in the 1086 Domesday Book: who held it, what it was worth, and the people who worked the land.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
LiDAR
Laser-scanned terrain that reveals earthworks hidden under fields and woodland, with likely features flagged.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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Protected heritage nearby

Scheduled Monuments near Battle of Byland (1322)

Long Grain round barrows
Long Grain round barrows
Scheduled monument · ~1.2 mi

Long Grain round barrows is a Bronze Age funerary monument located in Yorkshire, England. The site comprises a group of burial mounds characteristic of the second millennium BC, when such monuments served as focal points for ritual deposition and community commemoration. Round barrows of this per…

Lajmmoore / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Wayside cross base on south side of the churchyard wall at Scawton
Wayside cross base on south side of the churchyard wall at Scawton
Scheduled monument · ~1.2 mi

Wayside cross base at Scawton is a fragmentary medieval monument comprising a stone base that once supported a wayside cross. Located on the south side of the churchyard wall at Scawton in North Yorkshire, the structure dates to the medieval period, though the superstructure has been lost. The su…

Milestone Society / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Byland Abbey Cistercian monastery: monastic precinct, water-management earthworks, enclosures, ancillary buildings and quarries
Byland Abbey Cistercian monastery: monastic precinct, water-management earthworks, enclosures, ancillary buildings and quarries
Scheduled monument · ~1.7 mi

Byland Abbey is a Cistercian monastery founded in the twelfth century in North Yorkshire, established by monks from Furness Abbey who relocated to this location in 1177. The site preserves substantial remains of the monastic precinct, including the characteristic water-management earthworks and a…

Antony McCallum / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Double dykes on Painter Rigg
Double dykes on Painter Rigg
Scheduled monument · ~2 mi

Double Dykes on Painter Rigg is a pair of parallel linear earthworks located in Yorkshire. The monument consists of two adjacent ditch and bank features that run across the landscape, characteristic of prehistoric or early medieval territorial or defensive boundaries. Such dyke systems are typica…

Lajmmoore / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Two sections of the Cleave Dyke system, one known as the Casten Dike, and a round barrow south of Kilburn Moor Plantation
Two sections of the Cleave Dyke system, one known as the Casten Dike, and a round barrow south of Kilburn Moor Plantation
Scheduled monument · ~2 mi

The Casten Dike is a section of the Cleave Dyke system, an extensive linear earthwork of Iron Age date located in Yorkshire. The dyke comprises a substantial bank and ditch formation typical of territorial or defensive boundaries constructed during the pre-Roman Iron Age period. Associated with t…

Mick Garratt / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Studford Ring
Studford Ring
Scheduled monument · ~2.3 mi

Studford Ring is a Iron Age hillfort located in Yorkshire, England. The monument consists of a roughly circular enclosure defined by a substantial bank and ditch, characteristic of defensive settlements constructed during the Iron Age period. The site demonstrates the strategic use of elevated te…

Martin Dawes / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Byland Moor round cairns
Scheduled monument · ~0.1 miles
Round barrow on Scawton Moor, 620m north west of High Lodge
Scheduled monument · ~0.6 miles
More from this era

Other Medieval Battles

Sack of York (1069)
1069
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Battle of Mechain
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Wales
Siege of Durham Castle 1069
1069
Durham, England
Battle site (Shivey)
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northern_ireland
In the same landscape

Battles near Battle of Byland (1322)

Battle of Old Byland
1322
~0 miles away
Siege of Helmsley Castle
1644
~4 miles away
Great Raid of 1322
1322
~4 miles away
Yorkshire Rebellion of 1489
1489
~9.1 miles away
Explore the history of Yorkshire
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Sources
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