⚔ Battlefields of Britain

Siege of Berwick 1355

Marker: recorded battle location (no official boundary).

Key facts

Date (year)1355Wikidata P585 point in time
Century14th centuryderived
PeriodNorman & medievalderived
CountryEnglandderived

About the battle

The sieges of Berwick were the Scottish capture of the English town of Berwick-upon-Tweed on 6 November 1355, the subsequent unsuccessful siege of Berwick Castle, and the English siege and recapture of the town in January 1356. The Scots had been fighting the English in the Second War of Scottish Independence since 1332. After a period of military inactivity, the Scots assembled an army on the border in 1355. They were encouraged in this by the French, who had been fighting the English in the Hundred Years' War since 1337. In September the Scots and the English agreed a truce, and much of the English army left the border area to join King Edward III's campaign in France.

In October the Scots broke the truce, invading Northumbria and devastating much of it. On 6 November a Scottish force led by Thomas, Earl of Angus, and Patrick, Earl of March, captured the town of Berwick in a pre-dawn escalade. They failed to capture the castle, which they besieged. Edward returned from France and gathered a large army at Newcastle. Most of the Scots withdrew, leaving a 130-man garrison in Berwick town. When the English army arrived, the Scots negotiated a safe passage and withdrew.

Visiting the battlefield

Location

  • Approximate location: the point for Berwick-upon-Tweed, the place Wikidata gives as the battle’s location: 55.7692, -2.0025

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Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Sieges of Berwick (1355 and 1356) (revision 1370746791), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations removed. No text added.

Battle location from Wikidata (CC0).

Nearby battlefields

Browse more: battles in Northumberland · battles in England · Norman & medieval · 14th century battles

Further reading