LOCATION

Leadman does not provide any plan of the battle while Barrett admits that the site of the battle ‘cannot exactly be determined, thanks to the alterations in the ground’. Despite these reservations, we have a good idea of the general location of the battle. The 13th century bridge can reasonably be assumed, from the plan form of the town, to have been either on the site of the existing bridge or in close proximity. However the ford, which was of equal significance in the action, is not located. Although most authors seem to accept a site at the Roman crossing of the Ure, 800 metres to the east of the present bridge, no convincing evidence has been presented to support this identification, and other alternatives exist.

HISTORIC TERRAIN

The terrain has changed dramatically since the time of the battle. In particular, there has been expansion of the town of Boroughbridge during the post medieval up to the river and in the 19th and 20th centuries onto the land to the north of the river. In addition there was the digging in the 18th century of the navigation immediately north of the river and beyond that the construction of the railway in the 19th century, as well as the various flood protection works that have taken place in the 19th and 20th century.