Atlas of Battles

battle, major, medieval

Battle of Blore Heath

Battle of Blore Heath was a battle fought on 23 September 1459 at Blore Heath, in what is now United Kingdom. It was part of the Wars of the Roses, which ran from 1455 to 1487. The recorded result: Yorkist victory. Recorded strength: 5,000 against 10,000.

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Map for the Battle of Blore Heath
Map for the Battle of Blore Heath. James Henry Ramsay (1859–1925)[1], Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Fought23 September 1459
WhereBlore Heath, United Kingdom52.914N, 2.425W
OutcomeYorkist victory
BelligerentsHouse of YorkagainstHouse of Lancaster
Casualties and losses1,000and2,000
Battlefield todayBattle of Blore Heath battlefieldHistoric England entry 1000002, 146 ha
Part ofWars of the Roses1455 to 1487

Where it sits in the Wars of the Roses

First Battle of St Albans, 1455Battle of Blore Heath, 1459Battle of Ludford Bridge, 1459Battle of Sandwich (1460), 1459Battle of Northampton, 1460Battle of Worksop, 1460Battle of Wakefield, 1460Battle of Mortimer's Cross, 1461Second Battle of St Albans, 1461Battle of Ferrybridge, 1461Battle of Towton, 1461Battle of Tuthill, 1461Battle of Piltown, 1462Battle of Hedgeley Moor, 1464Battle of Hexham, 1464Battle of Edgcote, 1469Battle of Losecoat Field, 1470Battle of Barnet, 1471Battle of Tewkesbury, 1471Siege of London (1471), 1471Battle of Bosworth Field, 1485Battle of Stoke Field, 148714551487Battle of Blore Heath, 1459
22 placed engagements of the Wars of the Roses in time order; taller ticks are more widely documented. Each tick is a link.

Record

Date23 September 1459
PlaceBlore Heath, United Kingdom
52.914N, 2.425W
KindBattle, medieval
Strength5,00010,000
Casualties and losses1,0002,000
Commanders
  • James Tuchet, 5th Baron Audley
  • John Sutton, 1st Baron Dudley
Battle of Blore HeathBattle of Blore Heath5 km52.914N, 2.425W
The recorded site, with the nearest other engagements in the atlas. The dashed outline is the registered battlefield area (Historic England). Present-day coastlines, rivers and borders; towns from Natural Earth.

The ground today

Relief of the ground around the site of Battle of Blore Heath
Relief within about 10.0 km of the site, contours every 10 m. Copernicus DEM GLO-30, ESA.
Satellite view of the site of Battle of Blore Heath today
The same ground from Sentinel-2 on 2025-05-13. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2025.

The recorded site stands at about 123 m; within 10.0 km the ground runs from 71 to 245 m, 175 m of relief, hilly country and today it is 47% grassland, 27% tree cover, 25% cropland.

grassland: 47%tree cover: 27%cropland: 25%grassland 47%tree cover 27%cropland 25%
west to east, 10.0 km85 to 219 mnorth to south, 10.0 km83 to 153 m
Elevation from the Copernicus DEM GLO-30 (ESA, Airbus); land cover from ESA WorldCover 2021 (CC BY 4.0), within about 5 km of the recorded site. Computed, not recorded.

Nearest engagements

In the same war

Elsewhere in 1459

Historic England registers this as the Battle of Blore Heath battlefield (entry 1000002), 146 hectares, under the Open Government Licence.

Battle of Blore Heath is one of 720 engagements of the 15th century in the atlas and one of 695 in present-day United Kingdom.

Sources

Identity, coordinates, dates and the war from Wikidata Q581401, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Battle of Blore Heath, revision 1370434658, read 2026-11-14, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the article's text is not reproduced here. Present-day country and state from Natural Earth. Battlefield boundary and area from Historic England (Open Government Licence). Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.