PROJECT LEWES

Whilst I am prepared to consider alternate interpretations, this is another stitched shot of what appears most likely to have been the position of the Royalist left flank and that part of the field where most of the fighting took place. Note: the wrap effect has contracted the line marking the town edge and should rest about 90 degrees to the left. This is the position accepted by Harrison and Brown's Getmapping publication 'British Battles' (Harper Collins 2002) as being the advance of the King's and Richard of Cornwall's wards (leftand centre respectively). Whilst the town's edge had most likely not advanced this far up the Downs by 1264, it nevertheless remains the direction from which the King's army emerged to advance up the slope toward de Montfort - positioned in front of the scrub line (top right). As far as I am aware, no excavation of any sort has been undertaken of the Lewes battle site. I have not as yet undertaken any enquirey into extant ...

To the immediate right of the tower can be seen the chalk pits in the background upon a rise, marking one bondary of the battlefield. From the pits, stretching left across the high ground are the heights upon which it seems most likely that the baronial forces under Simon de Monfort appeared on the morning of the battle. The exact location of the battle and of the baronial deployment has been in debate. I will continue to research and examine the accounts published thus far (too few compared to some) but it seems most likely to me to be across the ground as described above. In forming up on the heights, overlooking Lewes, de Montfort would have had a view to attack the King's army, either trapping them in the town or at least maintaining the high ground in an area of obvious elevation from where the royalist forces were encamped, and would have to array. Further, from this position, the royalists see only what the barons bring forward to show them, whereas from the ridge, th...

It is hoped that this site will contribute to the acumulation of knowledge on the Battle of Lewes through an analysis of the ground, the forces involved and personalities present. Once I have grappled with the blogging technology, it is my intent that this site become a necessary open-source research point for the academic, amateur historian, re-enactor and military enthusiast with an interest in the baronial struggle for executive power in mid-thirteenth century England.