The Battle of Blackheath
The Battle of Blackheath, which was also known as the Battle of Deptford Bridge, was the term used to refer to the battle that occurred towards the end of the Cornish rebellion on June 17th, 1497. The place where the battle occurred is what is now known as the Deptford district of southeast London, near the River Ravensbourne.
Because they were sorely lacking in artillery reserves and cavalry support, the Cornish forces proved to be no match for the combined strength of 25,000 soldiers assembled by King Henry VII. Henry deviously leaked false information to the Cornish that he would mount his attack on the following Monday, but he in fact considered Saturday, the 17th of June, his lucky day, and chose the dawn of that day to unleash a surprise attack. He did not concentrate all of his forces at one point though, he wisely decided to divide his army into three separate forces: two of them were assigned to the command of the Lords Oxford, Essex and Suffolk, and directed to attack the right flank and the rear of the enemy forces. The third division was meant as a reserve and they moved into action after the Cornish had largely been surrounded.
The bridge at Deptford Strand itself was the scene of a particularly heated battle, a Cornish contingent of archers had been dispatched in order to prevent anyone from crossing the length of the river. These archers were so skilful and strong that it is said that their arrows were nearly a yard long as a testament to how far they could draw their bows! Daubeney encountered extreme difficulty in surmounting this formidable obstacle but with the help of his spearmen he was later able to capture the crossing. There is some confusion as to the number of Royalist soldiers who lost their lives at that crossing in that particular battle. Some placed the number at eight while others estimated that it was much higher, up to 300. According to the 'Great Chronicle of London' the only casualties suffered by the Royalist forces were at that particular encounter but in the face of the bloody clashes that occurred later that day, it is likely that there were considerably more dead and wounded than was reported.
The Cornish were in large part responsible for their own defeat, they were quite an inexperienced army and were possibly labouring under erroneous advice. This was perhaps the reason why they had failed to arrange for a support group to reinforce the contingent that was left guarding the Deptford Strand Bridge. Their main forces were in fact placed further back into the heath, by the top of the hill where they were not of any use at all. If they had instead led a charge down the hill from the high ground, they would no doubt have been more successful in preventing the Royalist forces from breaking through this bottleneck and the outcome of the battle would have turned out a lot differently. It was a critical mistake and one that would cost them dearly.
After the fall of the defences at Deptford Strand Bridge, Lord Daubeney and his men were revitalised and proceeded to slash their way through the remaining rebel army. Lord Daubeney was in fact so overcome with confidence that he was separated from the rest of his men and was subsequently captured by the Cornish troops. Unbelievably, he was later released and was able to continue fighting against the Cornish! This was perhaps an indication that the Cornish were at this point largely resigned to their obvious defeat in the battle and were now more concerned about what punishment the King had in store for them.
Meanwhile, the two other factions of the Royal army carried out the attack as planned. The remaining Cornish troops were not only severely lacking in weaponry, but were further hobbled by ineffectual leaders. By this point they had no more horses and no artillery support to rely on. Needless to say they were no match for the Royalist forces and they were quickly trounced and set to retreat. It is estimated that anywhere from 200 to 2,000 Cornish soldiers died that day.
Original Authors:Doods Pangburn
Edit Update Authors: M.A.Harris
Updated On: 23/07/2008
