Battle of Newburn The Battle of Newburn , sometimes known as Newburn Ford , was fought on 28 August 1640 during the Second Bishops ' War between a Scottish Covenanter army led by General Alexander Leslie and English royalist forces commanded by Edward , Lord Conway . Conway , heavily outnumbered , was defeated , and the Scots went on to occupy the town of Newcastle , obtaining a stranglehold on London ' s coal supply . Charles I had no choice but to agree to a truce , under which the Scottish army in northern England would be paid daily expenses , pending a final treaty of peace . To raise the necessary funds Charles had to call the Long Parliament , thus setting in motion a process that would lead to the outbreak of the English Civil War two years later . Purge of the bishops . In attempting to force the Scots to accept a new Prayer Book in 1637 , Charles sparked a crisis that led to the compilation and subscription of the National Covenant in early 1638 , a document which rejected all innovations in worship that had not been subject to the approval of both the Scottish Parliament and the General Assembly of the church . In November of the same year a General Assembly in Glasgow not only rejected the Prayer Book , but also expelled the bishops from the church , as suspect agents of the crown . Charles ' refusal to accept this led to the outbreak of the First Bishops ' War in 1639 . This war saw much posturing but little real action . In the end the two sides , reluctant to push the issue , concluded hostilities in the Pacification of Berwick , an agreement without an agreement , that was at best a breathing space . The Scots agreed that the Glasgow Assembly had been ' illegal ' ; Charles agreed that a new Assembly , together with a Parliament , should meet in Edinburgh in the summer of 1640 . As none of the issues that had led to the signing of the National Covenant had been settled , it was obvious to all that the Edinburgh Assembly would simply confirm the decisions taken at Glasgow . This was to lead directly to the outbreak of the Second Bishops ' War in which Newburn was the only battle . To raise the necessary funds Charles summoned a new Parliament to Westminster , the first to meet for eleven years , hoping to use English patriotism as a counter to the rebel Scots . But the Short Parliament was more interested in raising various grievances long suppressed and was quickly dismissed , leaving the king worse off than before . Battle . The geography and progress of the battle have been described here . This emphasizes that what mattered at Newburn was control of the crossing point of the River Tyne , upstream of the only other one between Newburn and the sea at Newcastle , and under the control of whoever held the city . In short , the Scots forces occupied better ground to the north of the river than the Royalist forces located on the marshes of Stella and Ryton , and the latter were defeated as a consequence . A useful assessment of the engagement by English Heritage opined , " As a classical example of how to conduct an opposed river crossing , Newburn should be of interest to the student of military history . There are few examples of this form of operation to be found amongst other English battles " . Subsequent role of Newburn . It is easy to confuse this battle of Newburn and the occupation of Newcastle with a repeat encounter which led to the Siege of Newcastle . That took place in 1644 . At stake was always the prize of controlling the coal trade from the Tyne . In 1640 the Newcastle corporation had to pay £38 , 888 to the Scots . This won them no friends and when on 20 June 1642 the king appointed a governor and erected batteries to guard the Tyne , no - one of consequence complained on Tyneside although Parliament was alarmed . Newcastle became a royalist city . Newburn was used as a bridging point by Scottish forces in 1644 .