The Battles
The Rout of Ludford Bridge
12th October 1459
Result of the Battle – Lancastrian victory
Following the qualified success of Blore Heath, the Earl of Salisbury reached Ludlow, one of the Duke of York’s principal homes. Here he was reunited with the immediate Yorkist family as well as his son Warwick, who had crossed from Calais with a contingent of experienced soldiers under the command of Andrew Trollope. Other rebel supporters appeared: Lord Grey of Ruthyn and Walter Devereux. They then proceeded south to Worcester and on 10th October York, Salisbury and Warwick took an oath of loyalty to the king but decried the ‘evil’ councillors surrounding him. The king responded with a pardon to those who would join him within six days (excluding Salisbury).
The Yorkists returned to Ludlow, via Tewkesbury, and took up a position south of Ludlow at Ludford Bridge, where they dug a ditch and fortified it with artillery. However, despite the consolidation of the Yorkists, their numbers were inferior to the royalist force that was making its way north through Ledbury and Leominster. By the 12th October the two armies faced each other across the river Teme, but Trollope and his force defected. During the night the Yorkists leaders decided that discretion was the better part of valour and stole away, deserting their troops. York and his son Edmund went to Dublin, leaving his duchess and two younger sons to the mercy of the king. York’s eldest son, Edward, and their Neville relations went to Calais. Ludlow was sacked by the victorious Lancastrians. The following day Ruthyn and Devereux submitted to the king. A parliament summoned to Coventry in November then proceeded to attaint the rebels.
Further Reading
- Ludford Bridge and Mortimer’s Cross: The Wars of the Roses in Herefordshire and the Welsh Marches and the Accession of Edward IV by Geoffrey Hodges, 1989 (booklet).
- ‘The Civil War of 1459 to 1461 in the Welsh Marches: Part 1 The Rout of Ludford’ by Geoffrey Hodges in The Ricardian, March 1984.