Battle of Burton Bridge ( 1322 ) The 1322 Battle of Burton Bridge was fought between Thomas , 2nd Earl of Lancaster and his cousin Edward II of England during the Despenser War . Edward ' s army was proceeding northwards to engage Lancaster , having defeated his Marcher Lord allies in Wales . Lancaster fortified the bridge at Burton upon Trent , an important crossing of the River Trent , in an attempt to prevent the king from proceeding . Edward arrived at nearby Cauldwell on 7 March 1322 and intended to use the ford at Walton - on - Trent to cross the river and outflank Lancaster . Edward was delayed for three days by floodwaters , during which time some of his force was deployed opposite Lancaster ' s men at the bridge . On 10 March 1322 Edward ' s main force crossed the river at Walton and proceeded to the south side of Burton . Lancaster moved his men outside the town , intending to face the king in open battle , but withdrew northwards when he saw that he was heavily outnumbered . Lancaster was pursued closely by the king ' s men and eventually captured at the Battle of Boroughbridge ; he was later executed on the king ' s orders . Lancaster ' s defeat removed the immediate threat to Edward ' s rule , but the king continued to prove unpopular with his barons , and in 1327 was forced to abdicate the throne in favour of his son Edward III . Background . Thomas , Earl of Lancaster had long been an enemy of the king , alienated by his practice of promoting young favourites ( and alleged lovers ) such as Piers Gaveston , 1st Earl of Cornwall , who had at one stage been made regent in Edward ' s absence . Lancaster further demonstrated his disapproval of the king by his refusal to assist Edward in his Scottish campaigns , including the decisive defeat at the Battle of Bannockburn . The resulting raids by the Scottish on Northern England forced Edward to concede to demands from his barons for the kingdom to be governed by a council led by the earl and to submit to the restrictions on royal power laid out in the Ordinances of 1311 . Shortly afterwards Lancaster captured and executed Gaveston after an attack upon Scarborough Castle . The new baronial council demonstrated itself no more suited to rule than the king by failing to prevent the loss of Berwick - upon - Tweed to the Scots in 1318 . Edward continued to alienate the Barons by promoting young men such as Hugh Despenser the Younger , a known enemy of Lancaster ' s . In 1318 Lancaster met with Archbishop of Dublin Alexander de Bicknor and two bishops at Horninglow , now a suburb of Burton upon Trent , in initial negotiations that resulted in the signing of the Treaty of Leake , an attempt to reconcile the king and his barons . However such co - operation was short - lived as Despenser ' s continued rise threatened the holdings of the Welsh Marcher Lords and in 1321 Lancaster joined them in an outright rebellion against Edward . Battle . Edward acted quickly against the Marcher Lords , defeating them easily due to a lack of co - ordination amongst them , before moving north to confront Lancaster . The earl moved from his base at Pontefract , West Yorkshire to block the strategically important crossing of the River Trent at Burton . He arrived in early March 1322 , having lost much of his stores to floods en route , and set about fortifying the western end of the bridge , a 36 - arch stone structure that was long and just wide . Lancaster sent out men to prevent the king from crossing the Trent elsewhere and outmanoeuvring him . Two such men were John de Myner , master forester of Needwood Forest , and Richard de Holland , who broke the bridges at Wychnor and Hamstall Ridware . De Holland was later fined 40 shillings by the king for his actions . De Holland ' s kinsman Lord Robert de Holland had long been a supporter of Lancaster , was said to be his closest friend , and had raised troops for him to send against the king ' s men in Cheshire . However on 4 March de Holland received a secret order from the king to join him against Lancaster which he seems to have obeyed , forming a body of troops at Ravensdale Park in Derbyshire ostensibly to reinforce Lancaster ' s army at Burton . Edward arrived at nearby Cauldwell on 7 March 1322 , intending to make use of the ford at Walton - on - Trent to outflank Lancaster . This ford was , however , impassable due to flooding , and for three days Edward waited . During this time Edward ordered an attack upon Lancaster ' s fortified position , and despite a full day ' s fighting , the Royalist forces were unable to make any headway . Lancaster awaited reinforcement from Holland , who had encamped with his men at Dalbury , north of Burton . Holland , however , apparently wished to await the result of the battle prior to committing himself and revealing his loyalties . Holland may have actually sent Lancaster letters intended to draw his men away from Burton . Edward ' s troops were able to cross the Trent at Walton on 10 March 1322 and advanced upon Burton from the south . Lancaster , outflanked , then moved from his positions at the bridge to a field outside of Burton , firing the town as he went . Once he realised how badly outnumbered his men were , and that Holland was not moving to his aid , Lancaster decided to withdraw and was pursued by Edward . The clash is not classified as a battle by English Heritage , though some casualties were suffered , and is not registered as a battlefield with the Battlefields Trust . The casualties included the keeper of Alton Castle , Sir Roger D ' Amory , who was injured in the fight and later died of his wounds at Tutbury . Aftermath . The king ' s troops , led by John de Warenne , 7th Earl of Surrey and Edmund of Woodstock , 1st Earl of Kent , chased Lancaster to Tutbury and Kenilworth , capturing both towns and devastating the counties of Staffordshire and Derbyshire . Holland , seeing the outcome of the battle and knowing that the king had recently imprisoned his daughter at the Tower of London , openly acted against Lancaster . Holland ' s men attacked and robbed various supporters of Lancaster at Windley including Hugh de Audley and Lancaster ' s wife Alice de Lacy to the value of £1000 . He also ordered the men raised in Cheshire to march towards Burton and prevent the escape of Lancaster ' s troops to the River Mersey . Holland turned his troops over to the king at Derby on 13 March but was coldly received , his past alliance with Lancaster condemning him to imprisonment at Dover Castle and the loss of his estates . He was beheaded by an unknown gang in 1328 and his head was given to Thomas Lancaster ' s brother Henry , 3rd Earl of Lancaster . Lancaster was able to flee Tutbury Castle under cover of darkness and , with much of his army , evaded Edward ' s patrols to cross the flooded River Dove and make his way northwards . Upon taking Tutbury Edward ordered D ' Amory ' s corpse to be posthumously executed for treason . Lancaster fled north where Sir Andrew Harclay , having heard of the king ' s victory at Burton , moved to engage him at the Battle of Boroughbridge . Lancaster was defeated and captured by Harclay and later executed at Pontefract . Edward ordered a chapel constructed on the Burton bridge in commemoration of his victory there . Lancaster had finally been dealt with , but Edward continued to upset his barons , reneging upon his previously agreed limitations to royal power , continuing to promote Despenser and losing key battles against the Scots . With Edward ' s reign becoming more unpopular , Lancaster ' s grave became a site of pilgrimage for those who opposed him . Edward ' s own queen , Isabella of France , sided with her lover , the Marcher Lord Roger Mortimer , and in 1327 forced Edward to abdicate in favour of his son who became Edward III . In the aftermath of the battle , the Audley family claimed to have lost £300 of goods : seven cartloads of gold cloth , silver vessels and chapel ornaments from Heleigh Castle . These had been ordered to be removed to Tutbury Priory by Peter de Lymesey , but according to the prior they never arrived and were taken to Tutbury Castle and subsequently lost in the retreat of the Lancastrians from Burton . Burton Abbey also suffered damage at the hands of the Lancastrian forces . The Abbot of Burton was charged with concealing goods from the king after it was claimed he had taken the Earl of Lancaster ' s money and goods left behind after the battle , to the value of £200 . The abbot claimed that all he had found was a single silver cup which he subsequently gave to the king . The finding in 1831 of a large quantity of silver coins , suspected to be part of Lancaster ' s treasure , in the River Dove , near Tutbury may support the abbot ' s case . In either case , the next year Edward felt able to award Burton Abbey the advowson s of Tatenhill and Hanbury , which had previously belonged to Lancaster , in " perpetual memory of the glorious victory which God gave to the King over his enemies and the rebels near Burton - on - Trent , and also to relieve the condition of the Abbey " . The battle gave rise to a tradition at nearby Chartley Park , a holding of Robert de Ferrers , 2nd Baron Ferrers of Chartley . The baron maintained a herd of white cattle with black ears , descended from wild specimens found when the park was formed from part of the ancient Needwood Forest . In 1322 an unusual black calf was born in the herd that was said to have foretold the Battle of Burton Bridge and the subsequent downfall of the de Ferrers house ( who were supporters of Lancaster ) . Subsequently it was said that the birth of a dark - hued or part - coloured calf in the herd would foretell a death in the de Ferrers family within the year . Such omens were said to have preceded the deaths of , amongst others , Robert Shirley , 7th Earl Ferrers ; his wife ; their son Robert Sewallis Shirley and his wife and the son , daughter and wife of Washington Shirley , the 8th Earl . Another local tradition places the legendary figure of Robin Hood at the battle fighting for Lancaster .