Historic Environment Record Search - Wychavon District Council

HER Number
WSM04386
Report prepared by Worcestershire HER. Tel
01905 765560 or email
archaeology@worcestershire.gov.uk.
Information valid for three months from date of
production.
HER Number Site Name
Record Type
WSM04386
Site of the Battle of Evesham 1265
Monument
Monument Types and Dates
BATTLEFIELD (13TH CENTURY AD - 1265 AD)
Evidence CONJECTURAL EVIDENCE
HOLY WELL (13TH CENTURY AD to 21ST CENTURY AD - 1266 AD to 2050 AD)
Evidence STRUCTURE
CHAPEL (13TH CENTURY AD to 16TH CENTURY AD - 1297 AD to 1539 AD)
Evidence DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE
Description
4.8.1265: Simon de Montfort killed in battle near Evesham (with 7500 troops)... fighting against Edward, son of Henry III.
According to Evesham monks the year after the battle a spring of water was found on the site of the battle by Piers de
Saltmarsh. Earl Simon's Well soon attracted pilgrims etc etc. At some time before 1346 and probably before 1297 a small
chapel was built over the remains of some of the dead Montfortian leaders... by 1502 called Chapel of the Battle Well.[1]
King Henry II in his efforts to subdue the reforms springing from the Provisions of Oxford of 1258, provoked a baronial faction
led by Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, to the extent that civil war was only a matter of time. The Battle of Lewes (1264)
had ended with negotiation which gave Simon and the Barons increasing power, but the deciding factor in the struggle
between reform and absolute monarchy had to wait until the Battle of Evesham in August 1265.
On 4 August, Simon de Montfort's army of 6,000 men was trapped in Evesham by a Royal army of 8,000 under Prince
Edward (the future Edward I) and the Earl of Gloucester. Simon had no choice but to fight his way out. He deployed his army
as a single column and charged at the junction between Edward's and Gloucester's troops on Green Hill. It was a desperate
tactic which might have succeeded had not the cavalry wings of the Royal army swung in on de Montfort's flanks. Although
the Baronial army continued to resist for some hours, the battle became a progressively bloody massacre. Both Simon and
his son Henry were killed, along with some 4,000 of his soldiers.
Their field army had been destroyed, but nonetheless the surviving Barons still held their castles and the war against the King
dragged on until 1267. Complete reconciliation came only in 1275, when the best elements of the Provisions of Oxford were
encapsulated in the Statute of Westminster. Through the actions of de Montfort and the Barons, the die was cast for the role
of Parliament as adviser to the monarch, a tradition which can be traced through to present times.[2]
Booklets covering history of battle.[3] [9]
Battlefields Register information from English Heritage.[4][5]
Synopsis of pre and post reformation and also modern sources relating to the Battlwell.[6][7][8]
Sources
(1) Bibliographic reference: Cox, D.C.. 1988. The Battle of Evesham: a new account. SWR689
(2) Guide: Not Known. 1995. Proposed Battlefields Register: Evesham 1265. English
Heritage.
SWR4473
(3) Bibliographic reference: Butler Maureen. 2002. The Lost Abbey of Evesham. SWR2171
(4*) List: English Heritage. 1995. English Heritage Battlefields Register: Evesham 1265.
English Heritage.
SWR3107
(5*) Correspondence: Brown, D.A.. 1995. Correspondence regarding Register of Historic SWR6685
Battlefields for Powick and Evesham. .
(6*) List: Moreton, K.. 2009. A Synopsis of Pre-Reformation Sources for Battlewell Field,
Evesham. Simon De Montfort Society.
SWR12003
(7*) List: Moreton, K.. 2009. A Synopsis of Post-Reformation Sources for Battlewell
Field, Evesham. Simon De Montfort Society.
SWR12015
(8*) List: Moreton, K.. 2009. A Synopsis of Modern Sources for Battlewell Field,
Evesham. Simon De Montfort Society.
SWR12016
Report generated by HBSMR from exeGesIS SDM Ltd
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