The Battle of Moel-y-don, also known as the Battle of the Bridge of Boats, was fought on 6 November 1282 as part of Edward I of England's conquest of Wales. The war had begun when Llywelyn ap Gruffudd's brother, Dafydd ap Gruffydd, turned against the English and slaughtered the garrison of Hawarden Castle, despite having previously aided Edward in 1277. Edward responded by raising several armies and sending them into Wales on multiple fronts, dispatching an expedition of 2,000 infantrymen and 200 cavalrymen under Luke de Tany, the former constable of Gascony, to capture the island of Anglesey and deprive the Welsh of much of their grain while outflanking those defending the Conwy.
After successfully taking Anglesey, de Tany's force constructed a bridge of boats across the Menai Strait. Edward's plan called for a coordinated crossing: he would cross the River Conwy while de Tany crossed the Menai and attacked from the north. De Tany, however, ignored this plan, believing he could defeat the Welsh without Edward's assistance. He had made contact with clergy in Bangor who promised to signal him when the moment was right to attack. The bridge was completed in September, and on 6 November, having received the signal, de Tany led his men across. Llywelyn, alerted by scouts monitoring English movements, emerged with a large army to meet them. A rising tide then cut off de Tany's force from the bridge. Trapped, and faced by Welsh forces descending from the high mountains, many of the English soldiers chose to enter the sea rather than face the enemy, and were dragged under by the weight of their armour.
The defeat was severe. Luke de Tany himself perished, as did Roger de Clifford, Philip and William Burnell (brothers of the royal chancellor Robert Burnell), sixteen English knights with their esquires, and over 400 of de Tany's men. The Welsh suffered few casualties, and the remaining English force retreated to Anglesey. This victory, together with the Battle of Llandeilo Fawr in South Wales where another English army was destroyed, temporarily delayed Edward's conquest of Gwynedd. Within two months, however, Otto de Grandson and John de Vesci led a reinforced English army, bolstered by troops from Gascony, and completed the conquest after Llywelyn ap Gruffudd was killed at the Battle of Cilmeri in mid-Wales.
Among the English commanders who barely escaped the disaster at the Menai Strait was the future Justiciar of north Wales, Otto de Grandson. The Chester chronicler, recording the names of the sixteen knights who drowned, added pointedly that de Grandson survived only 'with much difficulty.' The same man who narrowly avoided drowning in the chaos of the retreating tide would, within two months, return with Gascon reinforcements and help complete the very conquest that the catastrophe at Moel-y-don had so nearly derailed.
English: Luke de Tany, Roger de Clifford, Philip and William Burnell, sixteen knights and their esquires, and over 400 soldiers killed. Welsh: few casualties.
English: 2,000 infantrymen and 200 cavalrymen under Luke de Tany. Welsh forces under Llywelyn ap Gruffudd: not recorded.
Pick any location and Aubrey pulls together everything the record actually holds about it:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any location in the UK — drawing on Domesday records, scheduled monuments, Victorian OS maps, geological data and archaeological archives to tell the full story of a place.