Battlefield Church, Salop: an historical and descriptive sketch / Together with some account of the battle of Shrewsbury, and foundation of the college or chantry

by W. G. D. Fletcher

The Battle of Shrewsbury.

The Percies, we have seen, strongly supported Henry IV. on his first landing in England, and cordially assisted him in the events which led to his becoming king. Their friendship, however, was not of long duration. A variety of causes led to the formidable rebellion, which culminated in the battle of Shrewsbury. In July, 1402, the Scots invaded England, but were defeated by Henry Percy (called “Hotspur”), at Homildon Hill, on September 14th, and the Earl of Douglas and other nobles were taken. King Henry issued a writ eight days later, forbidding the Earl of Northumberland to dispose of his prisoners; and this was one cause of offence. They may too have been offended at Henry’s refusal to allow them to treat for the liberation of their kinsman, Sir Edmund Mortimer, uncle to the young Earl of March, from the hands of Owen Glyndwr; and they may have relented at the part they had acted against King Richard. Probably meaner motives actuated them, for King Henry left them to conduct the Welsh and Scottish wars on their own resources, and Henry Percy complains in a letter dated 26th June, 1403, remaining among the Privy Council Records, that “£20,000 and more” was owing to himself and his father on that account; their claim was left unpaid. The winter of 1402 was spent by the Percies in strengthening their party. They entered into a treaty with Owen Glyndwr, the Welsh chieftain, who, with remarkable success, had taken up arms against the English, and had repelled three formidable armies led by the king in person, for the overthrow of Henry IV. Historians have usually treated this insurrection as having been set on foot to dethrone King Henry, and to restore Richard II. if alive, or if dead to place Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, upon the throne of England.

The Earl of Northumberland was ill, and remained at Berwick; but his son, Henry Percy (Hotspur), with the Earl of Douglas and a great army, early in July, 1403, set out on his long march for Shrewsbury, where he had arranged to meet Glyndwr. He passed through Cheshire, where his army was reinforced by a number of the gentlemen of that county, who had always been attached to the memory of Richard II., and came to Stafford, where his uncle, the Earl of Worcester, joined him.

Percy’s army probably marched from Stafford, and entered Shropshire on its eastern side, passing through Newport by High Ercall and Haughmond Hill, and so arrived at Shrewsbury some time on the evening of the 19th July. They marched down the Castle Foregate, but finding that the king had only a few hours before entered the town, and seeing the royal standard floating over the Castle, Percy withdrew his forces to the Bull-field, an extensive common, which stretched from Upper Berwick to the east.

King Henry was at Burton-on-Trent, with an army which he had assembled against the Welsh, when he heard of the confederates’ hostile movements, and immediately marched towards Shrewsbury. On the 17th he was at Lichfield, and taking the Watling St. Road, he probably entered the town on the 19th over the English Bridge. By this course he secured the passage of the Severn, and prevented Owen Glyndwr, who had advanced with his forces to Oswestry, from crossing the river and effecting a junction with Percy.

Percy is said to have slept on the evening of the 19th at the mansion of the Bettons at Upper Berwick, on the site where Mr. Edgerley’s residence now stands. Tradition says that he cut the outline of his hand on a panel with a pen-knife, and a wise woman prophesied that the Bettons should retain their estate so long as they kept the panel. The Bettons are said to have lost the panel in the present century, and they have parted with their estate also.

As the king had nothing to gain by delay, it was clearly his interest to fight before Glyndwr could bring up his forces, and especially as his army was superior in numbers to Percy’s. And so it seems probable that, early on the morning of the 20th July, he sent a body of troops, under the nominal command of Prince Henry, then 14 years old, to come up with Percy at Upper Berwick, if possible; whilst he himself with the main body marched along Castle Foregate and the Hadnall Road, ready to proceed, either towards Upper Berwick and so hem Percy in between his two divisions, or to intercept his retreat should he attempt to march to the east. Percy broke up in some disorder, and marched by Harlescot and Albright Hussey to Hateley-field, probably with the intention of retreating through Hodnet and Market Drayton northwards, but finding a retreat impracticable in the face of a superior force, no course remained for him but to turn at bay and fight.

Percy accordingly marshalled his forces, posting a portion of them behind a field of peas, in order to afford some obstacle to the royal attack. They were chiefly stationed on the north side of the present Church, in a field called the Hateleys. Tradition says that Percy called for his favourite sword, but being told that it was left behind at Berwick, of which village he had not till then learned the name, he turned pale and exclaimed, “I perceive that my plough is drawing to its last furrow, for a wizard told me in Northumberland that I should perish at Berwick, which I vainly interpreted of that town in the north.”

The king’s forces were divided into two columns, of which he commanded one in person, and entrusted the other to his son. The field on the east of the church is called the King’s Croft, and here perhaps were ranged the troops which the king himself commanded.

When the armies were drawn up, facing each other, waiting for the signal to begin, the Abbot of Shrewsbury left the royal army and came to Percy, in the hope of effecting peace between the two parties. On behalf of the king he offered pardon to Percy and his adherents, if they would lay down their arms, and a redress of grievances. The stern temper of the Earl of Worcester however rejected all attempts at conciliation; and both sides flew to arms. The two armies were not equal in numbers. Percy had 14,000 men, including a large force of Cheshire archers. The royal array was probably nearly double that number; for 40,000 men are said to have been engaged in the battle.

The battle commenced by a fierce discharge of arrows on both sides, and raged with violence. Percy, with the Earl of Douglas and some thirty others, in the heat of the battle, bent on the king’s destruction, valiantly forced their way into the centre of his forces. At one period Henry’s van was broken, his standard overthrown; his son Prince Henry was wounded in the face by an arrow; Edmund, Earl of Stafford, Sir Walter Blount, and three other persons armed like the king, were slain; and the king himself was unhorsed, and likely to be slain, had he not been withdrawn from danger by Dunbar, the Scottish Earl of March. At an important moment, Henry brought up his reserve, which seems to have turned the scale; and Percy himself was killed by an unknown hand, either by a spear, or by an arrow which pierced his brain, alone, and surrounded by his foes. The king at once took advantage of this, and shouted aloud, “Henry Percy is dead;” and the insurgent forces gave way and fled in every direction. The battle had lasted three hours.

On Henry’s side, 3,000 are said to have been wounded, and about 1,600 slain, including Edmund Earl of Stafford, Sir Hugh Stanley, Sir John Clifton, Sir John Cokaine, Sir Nicholas Gausel, Sir Walter Blount, Sir John Calverley, Sir John Massey, of Puddington, Sir Hugh Mortimer, Sir Richard Sandford, and Sir Robert Gausel. On Percy’s side the loss of those slain in the battle or pursuit has been estimated at 5,000, including Sir John Massey, of Tatton, and 200 knights and gentlemen of Cheshire. The Earl of Worcester, Sir Richard Venables, and Sir Richard Vernon, were taken prisoners, and beheaded on the 21st at the High Cross at Shrewsbury. Worcester’s head was set up over London Bridge; his headless body is conjectured to have been buried in the Leyburnes’ tomb in the chapel of the Holy Trinity in St. Mary’s Salop. Percy’s body was at first decently interred by his kinsman Lord Furnival; but was afterwards taken up, and placed for public exhibition between two millstones near the pillory in Shrewsbury, and then beheaded and quartered, and portions sent to several towns in England.

The dead were buried in a large trench or pit made on the field of battle, near the spot where the church was afterwards built. Many years ago, when a drain was made to carry off the wet from the Corbet vault in the small close lying on the north side of the chancel, the workmen cut through large masses of human bones. Many others, some in leaden coffins, were found lying underneath the flooring of the church, when it was being restored, about 1860. No doubt numbers of the slain were interred in other fields and meadows in the neighbourhood. Many persons of note, who perished in the battle, were interred at the Augustine Friars and Friar-preachers in Shrewsbury.

A few fragments of armour, spurs, and other relics, have been from time to time dug up on the site of the field of battle, but in comparatively small quantities. At Sundorne Castle are preserved two helmets and several cuirasses, swords, pikes, &c. Mr. Pountney Smith possesses a cast-iron cannon-ball, about three inches in diameter, and weighing nearly 4lbs; and another gentleman residing in Shrewsbury has a sword. Grose in his Military Antiquities gives an engraving of a bill, or more probably a gisarme. Two shields were ploughed up in the year 1823.

In the field on the south side of the church are a number of mounds and ditches. Are these earthworks connected with the field of battle, or are they foundations of the college buildings, or mounds for the burial of those slain in the battle, or are they merely old gravel-pits? The matter is worth investigation.

Owen Glyndwr is said to have been unable to ford the Severn and join Percy, owing to the waters being swollen. Tradition makes him to have ascended the branches of a lofty oak at Shelton, whose venerable trunk still remains, and there to have waited the issue of the battle. Another account states that he was at the time besieging Caermarthen, and was not near Shrewsbury.

The battle of Shrewsbury was one of the decisive battles in the history of England. Had Percy been successful, and the King defeated, the Lancastrian dynasty would probably not have occupied the throne of England. What turn the course of events would then have taken, it is impossible even to conjecture. Henry’s victory established the Lancastrian dynasty on the throne for nearly 60 years.