News

Western Rebellion 1549 battlefield investigations get underway

24 March 2025

A project to investigate some of the Western Rebellion 1549 battlefields commenced in early February 2025 with a metal detecting survey at Fenny Bridges in Devon, site of the first of the rebellion’s battles.

A team of detectorists experienced at using the Battlefields Trust’s systematic survey battlefield methodology with some experienced local detectorists surveyed three fields near the bridge at Fenny Bridges.

No finds related to the battle were identified, but the project is planning to investigate further fields at Fenny Bridges area later in 2025. 

A public meeting attended by around 60 people was separately held to explain the project and seek information about the battle as well as any finds that people had or were aware of that might be related to the battle. Finds Liaison Officers from the Portable Antiquities Scheme were on hand to help record the finds presented. 

The event produced information about artefacts from various rebellion battlefields. Many of which are due to be examined by the Archaeology and History Department of Exeter University using scanning equipment to gain a better understanding about them.

Simon Marsh, Battlefields Trust Research Coordinator, said: ‘The Western Rebellion battlefields are of national importance because they are at the transition from bow and bill armed soldiers to those equipped with gunpowder weapons and pikes’.

‘Gaining a better understanding of the battles and how they were fought will provide an important insight into this neglected period of British military history.’

The project is a collaborative one involving the University of Exeter, Devon Archaeological Society, Devon County Council, Past Participate, and the Battlefields Trust.

The Western Rebellion, sometimes called the Prayerbook Rebellion, was an insurrection which occurred in Devon and Cornwall in mid-1549.  It was a response to religious and other reforms instigated by Lord Protector Somerset and the government in London which were seen in those counties as an attack on their traditional beliefs and way of life. 

For further information on Western Rebellion battlefields see https://www.battlefieldstrust.com/resource-centre/early-modern/