On Monday, 24th July 1469, was fought the Battle of Edgecote Moor, and 549 years later, on 26th July 2018, I was being informative about it here . Except I had my facts wrong. It wasn’t Edgecote Moor, it was just plain Edgcote or sometimes Edgecote, but just that one word! Apparently I was repeating a well-known error, others being that the battle was that of Danes Moor or Banbury. It wasn’t, because it was most definitely the Battle of Edgcote, although contemporary spelling did refer to Edgecote. It’s not that now, it’s Edgcote.
A (polite!) comment was made on the blog by Graham Evans, Secretary of the Northamptonshire Battlefields Society, which has this Facebook page. He pointed out that his society has had an ongoing struggle to correct the numerous repetitions of this error. I can quite understand his determination to set the record straight.
He drew my attention to his sterling work to see that the Wikipedia page was correct. If you take a look, it’s very informative indeed about this tiresome mistake. He has certainly put the record straight!
My first thought when he pointed out that ‘Moor’ had no business being in the battle’s name was that someone somewhere had made a subliminal connection with the Battle of Marston Moor, but it seems not. These untruths have a nasty way of taking root…ask Richard III, about whom there are so many falsehoods that it sometimes beggars belief. So, I can more than sympathise with Mr Evans’ society and its determination to right wrongs.
It comes to something when even the Royal Mail falls foul of the truth! Its beautiful new set of Wars of the Roses postage stamps includes one about the “Battle of Edgecote Moor, 1469”, (see above). Oh dear.
So, I’m now owning up to my previous errors (which have been corrected in the 2018 post) and am hoping to draw attention to the problem about Edgcote. I do hope it soon becomes a permanent rectification everywhere.
And together with Mike Ingram, he has also written a book called The Battles and Battlefields of Northamptonshire.
Note: I apologise for the waywardness of some of the above illustrations, which were all centred with their captions when drafted, but seem to have developed wanderlust once published.
murreyandblue 
So when is ‘Bosworth Field’ going to be corrected to ‘Reedmore?’ Or should that be ‘Reed Moor?’
I shouldn’t criticize. There is a Civil War/ War between the States battlefield that has 4 different names. In fact, the late (1861-65) Unpleasantness’ has 4 different names itself!
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These things can cause much ire, I fear.
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D’you want to know something else?
It wasn’t fought on 26th July, but 24th. I discovered this a couple of yeas back whilst working out a detailed itinerary of the main players in 1469, using original sources. No sooner had I done so than I discovered I was not alone. An article saying the same thing appeared shortly afterwards in ‘Battlefield’, and there was an article by Barry Lewis in 2011 in the Journal of Military History saying the sme thing. 24 July is the date that’s now on the Battlefields Trust website.
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