Battle of Ludford Bridge Battle of Ludford Bridge The Battle of Ludford Bridge was a largely bloodless battle fought in the early years of the Wars of the Roses. It took place on 12 October 1459, and resulted in a setback for the Yorkists. Although this seemed to be a triumph for the rival Lancastrians at the time, they had thrown away their advantage within six months. In the first pitched battle of the wars, the First Battle of St Albans in 1455, Richard of York, backed by his brother in law the Earl of Salisbury and Salisbury's son the Earl of Warwick, had
Wars of the Roses under Lancastrian commanders held out for years: Dunstanburgh, Alnwick (the Percy family seat), and Bamburgh were some of the last to fall. There was also some fighting in Ireland. At the Battle of Piltown in 1462, the Yorkish supporter Thomas FitzGerald, 7th Earl of Desmond, defeated the Lancastrian Butlers of Kilkenny. The Butlers suffered more than 400 casualties. Local folklore claims that the battle was so violent that the local river ran red with blood, hence the names Pill River and Piltown ("Baile an Phuill", meaning "Town of the blood"). There were Lancastrian revolts in the north of England in