Back to the 15th Century

His decorating completed we were virtually back at Richard's for another of his Wars of the Roses refights. This one is the not very well known Battle of Kingsthorpe, which took place about the 20th July 1469.

The battle concerned is the encounter between a force led by Devon and Sir Richard Herbert and rebel forces "under a woodside" near Northampton. Most writers place the battle to the south of Northampton, but as I explained in my book about Edgcote this is unlikely and doesn't fit any of the evidence. I reckoned it was nearer Market Harborough, but Richard has gone for an area between the modern A50/5199 and the A508 or the Welford and Market Harborough roads respectively (see map below)  just to the north of the village of Kingsthorpe, in the area of royal forest called Moulton Park, more or less. He thinks the rebels are camped somewhere around Kingsthorpe and up towards the medieval hospital of  St David's, which has since been lost to us (there's a possibility that he has St David's too far north). The Royalist forces came up from the left, and the Brampton stream/tributary would have kept them to the west, until they came to an area called the Brampton Crossing, where they could have circled round to the east, and caught rebels from behind. This route if followed back heads out towards Kislingbury and the Banbury lane, eventually, and so the Edgcote.

Whilst there's no real hard evidence, this fits as well as any other location.

We had four players, me, Jon, Steve and the return of Ian from the Monday Night Group, plus Richard running the game.

Jon and I were the rebels. He's got Lord Welles' men in the centre of the table, I'm Sir John Conyers, off to the right in Kingsthorpe. Ian is Devon, on the left on foot, and Steve is Richard Herbert, top left, just coming down the road on horseback. Richard is postulating that Devon's horsemen are mounted archers, who have got off their horses by this point.

This is the area today, looking towards the buildings in the centre from the road at the bottom.

I used to live in this area, further up on the western side of the Welford road. The actual A508 / Harborough road side looks like this now:

Nice in the sunshine, isn't it?

 

As I form up my men and get ready to march up the road from the village on the right, Jon is left to face the Royalists on his own.

Herbert's cavalry thunders towards him, but Jon's archers are able to inflict some damage as they bear down upon him. Ian's men are masked by the buildings.

Jon performs his passage of lines, and his archers slip behind his footmen, as Herbert charges home.

Unsurprisingly, Herbert inflicts some damage, and drives the brave Yorkshiremen back down the A508.

This is a perennial problem. The umpire getting in the way of the camera, when I'm taking a screenshot.

Jon fights back, and unhorses Sir Richard in the first round of combat he fights. The younger Herbert is hurried to the rear, dazed and confused.

This repulses Herbert's forces slightly. My men are making heavy weather of coming up the road.

As the fighting rages, I have to veer off a bit so I can try to get to grips with Herbert's men and bale my colleague out.

Ian is rapidly closing in as well, as my men swerve farther round. Jon is just holding on in a desperate melee.

Ian is amongst the buildings, and I've lined up to take a shot, given a chance, then fall upon Herbert's flank. Our last body of troops, under Lord Fitzhugh, emerges from Kingsthorpe in march column, and turning left at Waitrose, heads up the Welford Road, past Gallone's ice cream parlour.

Amazing, isn't it, that the road layout is unchanged for centuries. If you are in the area Gallone's make good ice cream.

Jon loses another round of combat, and is driven back down the road, and so Steve avoids my flank charge.

I wheel round a bit, and start to feather Devon's men. Fitzhugh has deployed off the road and prepares to attack Herbert, if he closes with Welles again.

Jon has command of Fitzhugh's men, and sends some clothyard shafts into Herbert's men. It's all too much for them, and they break and retire.

So, a historical outcome after all, and food for thought and discussion. My reading of it was that it was a much lighter raid, and it hit the Yorkshiremen whilst on the move. This interpretation works just as well, however, and in any event the evidence we have doesn't even justify the term scanty.

Richard's rules are shaping up nicely. He's reduced the strength points of units, so we get outcomes more quickly, but he might want to look at movement rates, as a lot of fighting happens whilst movement is going on, and the other units were a bit slow getting into place.

Next week, the SCW beckons again.