Flodden Field
Visited 30 July 2005
A little under 500 years ago Flodden Field was the location of the bloodiest battle ever in the history of England. 14,000 were slain here in the space of just three hours. With such a loss of life in horrific circumstances it’s no surprise that there have been reports of strange happenings here ever since. Fingers crossed that we would experience something unusual as I went to Flodden Field for the first investigation of 2005.
The Battle of Flodden Field (also know as The Battle of Branxton) was fought on the 9th September 1513 between an invading Scots army under King James IV and an English army commanded by Thomas Howard. En route to the battle the Scots had laid siege to Norham Castle and Ark Castle. The Scottish army then moved on to Ford Castle where it was said that James was taken by the attractions of the Lady Ford. Both castle and lady surrendered to James who decided to spend a few days at Ford to enjoy his conquests.
Eventually the fateful day arrived, the weather was terrible, it was misty and the rain fell heavily. The two armies now stood about a mile apart separated by a stretch of boggy ground known as Branxton Moor, the Scots were positioned at Flodden Hill with the English position on high ground at Branxton, the highest point being Piper’s Hill.
The battle itself began at four o'clock in the afternoon of that day, when both sides opened fire with their artillery. The English got the better of this exchange with the scale of casualties inflicted on the Scottish ranks encouraged the Scots to move to close quarters. The English right was very close to collapse and was only saved when Thomas Howard ordered a cavalry charge the Scottish left. This persuaded the Scottish left to fall back, after which they decided that, having done their bit for the cause, the rest of the day was their own, and began looting the English casualties and took no further part in the battle.
Unfortunately these forces of Scots were largely armed with 18-foot long pikes, somewhat bulky and heavy weapons which proved to be an encumbrance in the marshy ground of Branxton Moor. As these Scots stumbled towards the English lines they made good targets for English cannon and longbowmen. Even when they reached the enemy their pikes, meant for use against cavalry, proved to be rather useless when faced with infantry armed with billhooks who simply chopped the heads off the pikes and turned them into sticks.
The English strategy was far superior and after much manoeuvring the main body of the remnants of the Scottish army was now surrounded. Gradually the English hacked them down until only a circle of spearmen remained defending their king. Soon they to were gone leaving only a few desperate nobles left standing, before they too joined the mass of corpses on Branxton Moor.
Roughly 10,000 Scots lost their life at Flodden during the battle, estimated fatalities of the English range from just 400 to 4000. Amongst the Scottish killed that day was King James IV himself and many of the leaders of the Scottish church including the Archbishop of St Andrews, the Bishop of Caithness, the Bishop of the Isles as well as two prominent abbots. The dead also included the Earl of Argyll, the Earl of Cassillis, the Earl of Rothes, the Earl of Caithness, the Earl Errol, the Earl of Crawford, the Earl of Montrose, the Earl Huntly, the Earl of Glencairn, the Earl Lennox; indeed virtually the entire Scottish nobility was killed and the phrase 'died at Flodden' remains a recurring theme throughout Scottish genealogies of the period.
The following morning Border Reivers looted the dead, taking anything of value and weapons. The bodies of the dead were rounded up, the majority were thrown in a deep pit in the field and the remaining were put in a pit in the churchyard in Branxton.
Eventually the fateful day arrived, the weather was terrible, it was misty and the rain fell heavily. The two armies now stood about a mile apart separated by a stretch of boggy ground known as Branxton Moor, the Scots were positioned at Flodden Hill with the English position on high ground at Branxton, the highest point being Piper’s Hill.
The battle itself began at four o'clock in the afternoon of that day, when both sides opened fire with their artillery. The English got the better of this exchange with the scale of casualties inflicted on the Scottish ranks encouraged the Scots to move to close quarters. The English right was very close to collapse and was only saved when Thomas Howard ordered a cavalry charge the Scottish left. This persuaded the Scottish left to fall back, after which they decided that, having done their bit for the cause, the rest of the day was their own, and began looting the English casualties and took no further part in the battle.
Unfortunately these forces of Scots were largely armed with 18-foot long pikes, somewhat bulky and heavy weapons which proved to be an encumbrance in the marshy ground of Branxton Moor. As these Scots stumbled towards the English lines they made good targets for English cannon and longbowmen. Even when they reached the enemy their pikes, meant for use against cavalry, proved to be rather useless when faced with infantry armed with billhooks who simply chopped the heads off the pikes and turned them into sticks.
The English strategy was far superior and after much manoeuvring the main body of the remnants of the Scottish army was now surrounded. Gradually the English hacked them down until only a circle of spearmen remained defending their king. Soon they to were gone leaving only a few desperate nobles left standing, before they too joined the mass of corpses on Branxton Moor.
Roughly 10,000 Scots lost their life at Flodden during the battle, estimated fatalities of the English range from just 400 to 4000. Amongst the Scottish killed that day was King James IV himself and many of the leaders of the Scottish church including the Archbishop of St Andrews, the Bishop of Caithness, the Bishop of the Isles as well as two prominent abbots. The dead also included the Earl of Argyll, the Earl of Cassillis, the Earl of Rothes, the Earl of Caithness, the Earl Errol, the Earl of Crawford, the Earl of Montrose, the Earl Huntly, the Earl of Glencairn, the Earl Lennox; indeed virtually the entire Scottish nobility was killed and the phrase 'died at Flodden' remains a recurring theme throughout Scottish genealogies of the period.
The following morning Border Reivers looted the dead, taking anything of value and weapons. The bodies of the dead were rounded up, the majority were thrown in a deep pit in the field and the remaining were put in a pit in the churchyard in Branxton.
King James IV
The resting place of King James IV’s body, however, is up for debate. It is believed his body could be buried at Lanercost Priory, but there may be a much more gruesome reality. It is more commonly believed that James's body was disembowelled, embalmed and sent to London. His body, grotesquely preserved, was kept in the Monastery of Sheen, then thrown in a lumber room. Years later it was discovered by workmen who cut off the head and used it for a macabre plaything. It was passed from one English noble to another for years, until it was finally buried in an anonymous grave.
Ever since the battle there have been frequent reports of the ghostly sounds of the battle coming from the field, the clash of swords, the screams and groans of the dying soldiers. These sounds are still heard by the locals to this very day, especially in the dead of night. The A697 nearby has been the location of sightings of phantom soldiers crossing the road. In the 1700s two brothers swore that they saw the entire battle being re-fought. When questioned about it afterwards they could describe precisely what happened, they could describe what people looked like and what was on their banners.
Ever since the battle there have been frequent reports of the ghostly sounds of the battle coming from the field, the clash of swords, the screams and groans of the dying soldiers. These sounds are still heard by the locals to this very day, especially in the dead of night. The A697 nearby has been the location of sightings of phantom soldiers crossing the road. In the 1700s two brothers swore that they saw the entire battle being re-fought. When questioned about it afterwards they could describe precisely what happened, they could describe what people looked like and what was on their banners.
The usual team of Ryan Elwell, Harry Dalton and Thomas Kirkup joined me for this investigation. Flodden Field is a place I’ve always wanted to investigate, it’s well known for it’s ‘paranormal playbacks’ and I was dying (excuse the pun) to find out what we would experience. Flodden Field is in the village of Branxton, not far from Coldstream on the Scottish border.
We arrived in the Flodden Field car park at 9:15pm after an hour long drive. Since it was still fairly light we chose to leave our torches in the car and head into the field to have a look around while we could still see without artificial light so we'd have a better idea once it got dark. Flodden Field is now a farmer’s field complete with hay bales, there is a large monument on the top of Flodden Hill and there is ‘The Battlefield Trail’ going around the field with large informative boards scattered along the route. No sooner had we entered the field that we heard a loud noise coming from behind us that made us all jump. It was a cow in the field across the road.
We arrived in the Flodden Field car park at 9:15pm after an hour long drive. Since it was still fairly light we chose to leave our torches in the car and head into the field to have a look around while we could still see without artificial light so we'd have a better idea once it got dark. Flodden Field is now a farmer’s field complete with hay bales, there is a large monument on the top of Flodden Hill and there is ‘The Battlefield Trail’ going around the field with large informative boards scattered along the route. No sooner had we entered the field that we heard a loud noise coming from behind us that made us all jump. It was a cow in the field across the road.
We made our way up to the monument and took some photos and admired the view around us. I’ve been to Flodden before so I explained the planned route for our investigation. To fully appreciate this place you have to stop and think about what happened here all those years ago. Somewhere in this field several thousand dead bodies are buried in a pit. I had a feeling something was going to happen tonight.
We walked down the hill along the footpath towards Branxton Moor where most of the 14,000 killed will have lost their lives, we read the informative board at the lowest point and Ryan the master strategist pointed out the Scots major downfall, “look at the pikes the Scots were carrying, five and a half metres long! All the English needed to go was sidestep their attack and give it to them”. If only King James IV had super tactician Ryan on his side!
We walked to the right of here where there are three ruined, and very creepy, farmhouses. Tom took some photos and on two of them there are orbs at more or less exactly the same place above one of the buildings, looking through the viewfinder it definitely wasn’t the moon or something in the sky. It had been raining solid for three days and there was zero visability in the sky, thankfully it had stopped raining earlier in the evening. At roughly the same time Ryan registered a max reading on the EMF meter, no sooner had it went to max that there was nothing there at all. I found this unusual as there are no power sources around and there are no readings at any point in the field.
We walked to the right of here where there are three ruined, and very creepy, farmhouses. Tom took some photos and on two of them there are orbs at more or less exactly the same place above one of the buildings, looking through the viewfinder it definitely wasn’t the moon or something in the sky. It had been raining solid for three days and there was zero visability in the sky, thankfully it had stopped raining earlier in the evening. At roughly the same time Ryan registered a max reading on the EMF meter, no sooner had it went to max that there was nothing there at all. I found this unusual as there are no power sources around and there are no readings at any point in the field.
orb top centre
same building, two further orbs
It was now 10pm and as you can see from the photos above it was now starting to get darker so we decided to head back to ‘The Mystery Machine’ and get our torches. On our way back we heard a loud noise come from near the car park! It was the cow again. “That cow must be getting a right good seeing to by the sound of it” said Ryan. I had to agree.
We collected our torches and a night vision video camera I borrowed from my friend Gav Cattanach and retraced our steps to the monument. From here we split into two teams, Ryan and Tom went down the hill on the left hand side of the field and Harry and I went down the right side path we had taken earlier. Quite a few people have reported hearing whispers come from the hedgerows so this seemed the best way to maximise our chances of experiencing this for ourselves. We decided to sit on a stone bench at the bottom and wait for the others. We sat silently trying to see if we could hear anything strange. I was filming all the time and for no apparent reason Harry went out of focus, as I was telling him this he came back into focus. Then he went out of focus again. It was my first time using the camera but I couldn’t understand why it did that.
We collected our torches and a night vision video camera I borrowed from my friend Gav Cattanach and retraced our steps to the monument. From here we split into two teams, Ryan and Tom went down the hill on the left hand side of the field and Harry and I went down the right side path we had taken earlier. Quite a few people have reported hearing whispers come from the hedgerows so this seemed the best way to maximise our chances of experiencing this for ourselves. We decided to sit on a stone bench at the bottom and wait for the others. We sat silently trying to see if we could hear anything strange. I was filming all the time and for no apparent reason Harry went out of focus, as I was telling him this he came back into focus. Then he went out of focus again. It was my first time using the camera but I couldn’t understand why it did that.
Tom and Ryan arrived shortly after and we made our way through the gate and this time we went to the left, following the ‘Battlefield Trail’ halfway along Tom’s torch went off, he carried on walking and it came back on, so he doubled back and it went off again at the same spot. No readings on the EMF. We carried on and reached another gate, there is a signpost saying “Viewpoint” pointing up the steep Pipers Hill so we decided to go that way. I was at the back and I’d not felt scared at all during this investigation, but now I was starting to get a feeling someone was following me, constantly turning around expecting someone, or something, to be right behind me. I hadn’t said anything but everyone seemed a bit more jumpy now that they had been earlier. Tom was talking about expecting to see a spectral version of the English troops charging down the hill towards us. All of a sudden Harry stopped in his tracks and turned around “did you hear that?” I’d heard nothing but he said a voice came from directly behind me. He said the voice sounded like it said “oi” but we hadn’t seen another person since we arrived here well over an hour and a half earlier. Could it have been a spirit, maybe it was an animal?
We sat on a bench midway up the hill to sit and listen to see if we could hear anything else, we asked for signs but nothing much happened. Or at least we didn’t think they did. Tom took some photos into the darkness and on this one taken soon after we asked for a sign there is a strange anomaly on the right of the picture.
We sat on a bench midway up the hill to sit and listen to see if we could hear anything else, we asked for signs but nothing much happened. Or at least we didn’t think they did. Tom took some photos into the darkness and on this one taken soon after we asked for a sign there is a strange anomaly on the right of the picture.
What could the strange streak of light be?
We went back down the hill and on the way we passed a tree and Tom asked me if anyone had ever been hung here, “not as far as I’m aware, why?” was my reply. He explained that he felt that someone had been hung from that tree at some point in the past. Tom has never shown psychic capabilities so this was fairly interesting.
It was 11:30pm by the time we reached the bottom of the slope and walked towards the ruined farm buildings. I heard a loud bang, then another. “Shotguns” said Ryan. “In the dark?” was my response. “Maybe they give them headlamps” was his explanation. Retrospectively it could have been anything but it did make us take notice as we were out in the middle of nowhere and if someone was out shooting in the dark we’d be sitting ducks.
We got to the ruined buildings and split up to wander around. Another photo taken by Tom has some unusual orbs on them.
It was 11:30pm by the time we reached the bottom of the slope and walked towards the ruined farm buildings. I heard a loud bang, then another. “Shotguns” said Ryan. “In the dark?” was my response. “Maybe they give them headlamps” was his explanation. Retrospectively it could have been anything but it did make us take notice as we were out in the middle of nowhere and if someone was out shooting in the dark we’d be sitting ducks.
We got to the ruined buildings and split up to wander around. Another photo taken by Tom has some unusual orbs on them.
It was now just after midnight so we decided to go back to the monument for a short while and then call it a night. As we walked through the field up towards the monument Harry registered a maximum reading on the EMF meter and again, no sooner had it came, it went. We asked out for signs but there was nothing except a rustling in the hedgerow that could have easily been an animal. Nothing happened on our final return to the monument and we headed back to the car park and headed home.
Conclusion
Well I had high hopes for Flodden, and although I left feeling a little disappointed looking back there were a few interesting occurrences. Some interesting light anomalies on photos, three of them taken near the run down farm buildings. There were a couple of unusual EMF readings that seemed to vanish as soon as they had appeared. Harry heard a voice come from behind me as I had a feeling of being followed. The randy cow certainly made us jump a couple of times.
The place is amazing, probably the most historically significant place I’ve ever investigated and I think I set my hopes a little too high.
Flodden Field is certainly worth another visit, but there a lot of places I intend to visit first….
The place is amazing, probably the most historically significant place I’ve ever investigated and I think I set my hopes a little too high.
Flodden Field is certainly worth another visit, but there a lot of places I intend to visit first….