The battle commenced with a fierce discharge of arrows on each side. Both armies behaved with great valour; and Percy, Douglas, and others, in the heat of the battle, hoping to effect the destruction of the King, valiantly forced their way into the centre of his forces, but were baffled in their attempt by the King’s having withdrawn from his original position. At one period, Henry’s van was broken, his standard overthrown; his son Henry Prince of Wales was wounded in the face by an arrow, but continued fighting; Sir Walter Blount and three other persons, armed in all respects like the King, were slain; and the fortune of the day appeared to incline against the King. Percy, who had charged furiously into the centre of Henry’s ranks, seemed in a fair way of gaining the victory. Henry, however, who displayed the utmost valour, and is said to have slain some of his enemies with his own hand, and had been unhorsed at one period of the battle, brought up his reserve at an important moment, which appears to have turned the scale; and Percy was killed, according to one account, by a spear, and according to another, by an arrow which pierced his brain. His death seems to have had a material effect in deciding the victory in Henry’s favour; the insurgent forces, disheartened by that fatal event, gave way, and fled in great disorder. [8a] The battle lasted three hours. On Henry’s side, besides 3000 wounded, Edmund Earl of Stafford, [8b] who commanded the van, and the following knights, Sir Hugh Shirley, Sir John Clifton, Sir John Cockaine, Sir Nicholas Gausel, Sir Walter Blount, Sir John Calverley, Sir John Massey of Pudington, Sir Hugh Mortimer, and Sir Robert Gausel, all of whom had received the honour of knighthood that morning, and about 1600 men, are said to have fallen in the field of battle. On Percy’s side, the loss of those slain in fight or in pursuit is estimated at 5000; and amongst the slain were 200 knights and gentlemen of Cheshire, who had joined Percy. As for the Scotch, few or none escaped alive. Sir Richard Venables (Baron of Kinderton), and Sir Richard Vernon (Baron of Shipbrook), both of Cheshire, and the Earl of Worcester, were taken prisoners, and beheaded two days afterwards (on Monday) at the High Cross at Shrewsbury; and the head of Worcester was set up over London Bridge. Henry appears to have discouraged a very vindictive or eager pursuit after the fugitives; and of those who escaped, many got back to Northumberland, and shut themselves up in castles there: not liking to trust the King’s good faith. [8c] Earl Douglas was taken, but was sometime afterwards liberated.
In a close or meadow on the right or north side of the present lane, leading towards the church from the turnpike road, there is the appearance of a slight bank and trench running parallel with that lane, which possibly may have been part of an intrenchment made in front of Percy’s line. The close on the south side of the lane is called the King’s Croft, and it is traditionally said that a portion of Henry’s army was posted there; the probability is, that its name at that period, and before the present fences and enclosures were made, had a much wider application, and that King’s Croft extended on both sides of the present lane.
In gratitude for, and in commemoration of, this victory, Henry the Fourth erected on the spot, Battlefield Church; and from the circumstance of the battle having been fought on St. Mary Magdalen’s eve, he, in compliance with the prevalent opinions of the age, and probably also from his considering himself in some degree indebted to her for the victory, caused the church to be dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen. The church is of the Gothic style, part Decorated, and part Perpendicular. It is not of a large size, [9] but is handsome; and the edifice, with its battlemented tower, forms an interesting object on the westward side of the turnpike road, from which it is distant two or three fields’ breadth. We cannot doubt that there must have been some strong motive, for selecting for its erection the spot where the church stands, for it is at an inconvenient distance from the highway, in a peculiar and, at that time, a lonely place, where there was not even a village near it, or a carriage road running immediately past it. May we not conclude, that the motive was, either that it was the spot where the brunt of the battle took place; where the King escaped some imminent danger; or where Percy was slain?
The country, though not quite flat, has merely a gentle ascent from Shrewsbury to Battlefield, and also to the northward of the church, and along the turnpike road. Here, in a line almost east and west, Percy’s army was drawn up very near the place where the church now stands, and in what are now the fields to the northward of it; and the left wing of his army probably also extended across the spot where the present turnpike road runs. The army of Henry IV., after advancing from Shrewsbury, took up its position opposite that of Percy. Percy’s forces, being posted as before mentioned, had the advantage of ground, if there were any advantage in the very slight ascent, which has been already noticed. Leland, in adverting to the position selected by Percy, says, that he “having got the advantage of the ground,” &c. [10a] I could not ascertain, after making some inquiries in that neighbourhood, that any relics indicative of the battle had very recently been dug up. I however was informed, that human bones, fragments of armour, spurs, and similar relics, had formerly been discovered there; and Grose, the author of the Military Antiquities, particularly mentions the discovery of a weapon there, which he considered to be a bill, and of which he has given an engraving, but which Meyrick, in his work on Ancient Armour (which is a work of high authority in such matters), states to be a gisarme; [10b] and one man informed me that in his time, human bones had been found there in ploughing. I am indebted to the politeness of the incumbent of the church, the late Rev. J. O. Hopkins, rector of Uffington, for the information, that in the field near the church, spurs, fragments of armour, of weapons, &c., have been dug up, but in small quantities; and it seems remarkable, that the relics discovered there have been comparatively few; although, as the battle was fought in the heat of summer, the slain must necessarily have been promptly interred, and the opportunity for carefully stripping them, and carrying off various articles from the field, must have been diminished. [11a] Many of the slain were interred on the spot upon which the church was afterwards erected; [11b] and the Rev. J. O. Hopkins informed me, that some years ago, a drain was dug to carry off the wet from the Corbet vault, which is enclosed with iron railing, as shown in the engraving, [11c] in the small close or field lying on the north side of the chancel; and in digging deep, the workmen cut through large masses of human bones. There cannot be any doubt, from the description of the spot, that vast numbers of the slain were interred there, in a large trench or pit. [11d]
It is exceedingly probable, that if a search were made by digging in other fields and meadows in the neighbourhood of Battlefield Church, it would be ascertained that numbers of the slain were buried in them. [11e] Many persons of note who perished in the battle, were interred at the Augustine Friars and Black Friars in Shrewsbury. [11f]
The church is a handsome ecclesiastical edifice. The nave or body is now roofless and dilapidated; and, from its moss-grown and impaired appearance, must have been a ruin for a long period. It is said that the nave of the church suffered during the rule of the Parliament or of Cromwell. Its exterior walls, the mullions, and most of the tracery work (which is undoubtedly handsome) of its windows, are, however, still existing. The nave is entered by a door in the original pointed arched doorway, on the north side; and its floor has long been used as a graveyard, or place of interment. [12]
A corresponding doorway is on its south side, the door of which is now seldom used, except on the occasion of funerals. There are on each side of the nave, three large handsome windows; and there has been a fourth window, now built up on each side of the nave, between the doorway and the tower; and, although seemingly made at the same period, some of them are of the Decorated and some of the Perpendicular style; and the two windows which immediately adjoin the chancel on the north and south sides, differ in some respects from the others, as some of the windows have the dripstones terminating at the bottom with plain returns, whilst others have them terminating in representations of human heads. There are some indications of a porch having been at the south door. Several grotesque corbel-heads are carved in stone in the chancel, in the places from which the arches of the roof have originally sprung; and the remains of some strange figures or monsters appear carved on the outsides, at the places on the wall, where the spouts of the roof seem to have formerly protruded, similar to those called gurgoyles, which may be seen on many other ancient churches.
The exterior of the church between the windows is supported by handsome stone buttresses, and from the indisputable marks of the ancient roof, which are visible on the east side of the tower, where the roof has joined up to it, and from there not being any traces of columns supporting any interior arches, it seems clear that it has never had any clerestory.
Exterior buttresses are built at the corners of the tower, and a square projection on its south-east corner admits of a staircase. The tower is said to have been erected in 1504; and its walls, and most of its pinnacles, are still perfect. It had originally eight pinnacles, but one on the east side fell down about 1851. [13a] The tower can be ascended by a spiral staircase [13b] to the top; but its roof is in a decayed condition, its floors are quite gone; and on the basement floor are placed various mutilated stone fragments, apparently of mullions, transoms, finials, and other parts of stonework, which have fallen or have been deposited there, besides part of the ancient font. It still has, however, a bell, which is yet used. Each side of the tower is surmounted by an embattled parapet of equal intervals, with plain cappings, and which, though not possessing the lightness of one with pierced battlements, is nevertheless handsome. The tower at the highest part, and just below the battlements, has a handsome carved Gothic border, enriched (as far as my eyesight enabled me to form a judgment) with diamond-shaped ornaments and quatrefoils. On the west it has two windows; and over the highest, in the middle of the border, is a small escutcheon bearing an animal, seemingly a lion rampant passant, probably intended for the arms of the Hussee family, and which also appears in a corresponding place on the south side, and there are also some indications of it on the north side. On the east, in the centre of the border, is a small escutcheon, containing some appearances of an inscription.