Battle of Leeds

Part of the First English Civil War

Date	23 January 1643
Location	Briggate, Leeds
Result	Parliamentarian Victory

Belligerents

Parliamentarians

Royalists

Commanders and leaders

Sir Thomas Fairfax

Sir William Savile

Strength

3,000

2,000

The Battle of Leeds was a battle in the English Civil War on 23 January 1643.

The small wool town of Leeds in the West Riding of Yorkshire, in what is now West Yorkshire, was of no real strategic importance in the English Civil War. It comprised a triangle formed of the lines of the present lower Briggate, Kirkgate, and the River Aire, with Kirkgate leading to the parish church close or on site of the modern one. The streets were narrow and unpaved, lined with houses made of wood and thatch, rather than stone and tiles. Around the town lay open fields and meadows. The main street through the town, Briggate, was a wide street that ran north from the bridge over the River Aire, with narrow houses either side and a courthouse, or Moot Hall, in its centre near the junction with what is now Vicar Lane.

At first the West Riding of Yorkshire constituted one wide area for the Parliamentarians with Leeds, Bradford and Halifax equally zealous in furnishing men and money for the cause. The conflict, however, opened badly for Parliament. In December 1642, the Marquess of Newcastle drove Sir Thomas Fairfax and his father, Ferdinando, Lord Fairfax, the leaders of the Yorkshire Roundheads, from Tadcaster to Selby; then, occupying Pontefract, he cut off the towns in the West Riding from re-inforcements. At the beginning of 1643, from his base in Bradford, Sir Thomas Fairfax launched a fresh campaign against Newcastle's forces.

The Royalist Sir William Savile had seized Leeds and Wakefield, although his forces comprised barely 500 horse and 1,500 infantry. He did, however, make elaborate preparations for the town's' defence, digging a long six-foot deep trench to the west of Briggate from St. John's Church on what is now New Briggate to the banks of the river, with breastworks along its top, while demi-culverin cannons were placed in such a position to sweep Briggate with fire. Leeds Bridge was barricaded and fortified with cannon. Fairfax had assembled men from Bradford, Halifax and the surrounding area totalling nine troops of cavalry and dragoons, 1,000 musketeers and 2,000 clubmen.

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