Battle of Hexham

Edward IV of the House of York had taken the crown from the Lancastrian Henry VI in 1461, but Henry's supporters still held castles and raised forces in Northumberland. Somerset had been pardoned by Edward, then returned to Henry's side and tried to rebuild Lancastrian power near the Scottish border. Montagu defeated that army at Hedgeley Moor on 25 April, opening the road for peace talks with Scotland, but most Lancastrian leaders and men escaped. They regrouped in Tynedale near Hexham and invited another fight. Montagu marched from Newcastle on 14 May to destroy them before they could gather more local support or join the remaining northern castles. The fight was therefore the second and deciding part of one short campaign.

Montagu led about 4,000 Yorkists. Somerset commanded the Lancastrians with Thomas, Lord Roos, and Robert, Lord Hungerford. Their starting total is not securely known. One report says all but 500 mounted men deserted before the battle; that may describe the final collapse rather than the whole force available around Hexham. No reliable formation survives. Four places have serious claims: the traditional Hexham Levels, Swallowship Hill, land near Dilston and Shaw Farm north-west of Hexham. The Levels lie in a steep wooded valley with restricted escape and have been criticised as a poor choice for an army. Swallowship Hill fits some old descriptions better, but no find has settled the matter. The map point is a remembered battle area, not a proven centre.

The honest battle course is short because the surviving written sources are thin and conflict. One says the battle was fiercely contested; another says the Lancastrians fled as soon as they saw Montagu's army. Later neat plans showing three Lancastrian groups and a particular hill attack go beyond what can be checked. Montagu reached the Lancastrian camp on 15 May and won quickly enough to prevent an ordered withdrawal. Some men were killed in the rout, others escaped into the broken country and woods, and leading men were captured. No trustworthy number survives for ordinary dead, wounded or prisoners on either side. This uncertainty matters: Hexham was decisive because of who was caught and what followed, not because a large invented death total can be attached to it.

The Yorkists won. Somerset was captured and beheaded at Hexham on the same day. Roos and Hungerford were also caught and executed, along with other leading Lancastrians during the following days. Sir William Tailboys, carrying part of Henry VI's money, was caught later and executed at Newcastle. Henry himself escaped and remained hidden in northern England until his capture in 1465. Montagu's victory left the remaining Lancastrian castles without a field army able to relieve them. Yorkist forces took or recovered strongholds including Alnwick, Dunstanburgh and Bamburgh during the summer. The number killed at Hexham is unknown, but the executions deliberately removed the people who might have organised the next rising.

Hexham closed the four-year phase in which Lancastrian supporters could openly challenge Edward IV from a northern army and a chain of border castles. It helped Edward gain control of Northumberland and made peace with Scotland easier. That did not end the Wars of the Roses: new rebellions removed Edward for a short time in 1470, and the struggle returned. Locally, the uncertainty is part of the story. Hexham Levels carries the traditional name, Swallowship Hill may fit the old ground description better, and other sites remain possible. Somerset's execution in Hexham and burial at Hexham Abbey give the campaign a firm link to the town even though the field is lost. Stories that Queen Margaret or Henry hid in nearby caves belong to later local memory and cannot be used to place the battle.