Qualla: Battle of Seacroft Moor

Battle of Seacroft Moor: Introduction

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Workshop of Robert Walker, Public domain. Thomas Fairfax called it "one of the greatest losses we ever received." Two hundred of his men lay dead on the heather. A thousand more were prisoners. He had been sent out to draw Royalist eyes away from his father's artillery train; instead he had given the Earl of Newcastle a textbook lesson in what cavalry does to undisciplined infantry on open ground. The moor where it happened was not even where Fairfax thought it was. He called it Seacroft Moor in his report to Parliament. Locals knew it as Whinmoor. It was the kind of mistake that fit the day.

Read more: Battle of Seacroft Moor on Qualla

Image: Workshop of Robert Walker | Public domain

Battle of Seacroft Moor: The Diversion

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit JThomas, CC BY-SA 2.0. The Yorkshire war had tilted Royalist that winter. In December 1642 the Earl of Newcastle had marched south from his namesake city and taken York, Tadcaster and Leeds in succession. Then in late January 1643 the Parliamentarians retook Leeds, and the two armies settled in to watc...

Read more: Battle of Seacroft Moor on Qualla

Image: JThomas | CC BY-SA 2.0

Battle of Seacroft Moor: Countrymen in Arms

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Workshop of Robert Walker, Public domain. The infantry Thomas Fairfax commanded that day were not professional soldiers. They were Yorkshire countrymen - clothiers, farmers, apprentices from the wool towns - and they had been on their feet for hours. At Bramham Moor they had halted of their own accord, waiting for orders...

Read more: Battle of Seacroft Moor on Qualla

Image: Workshop of Robert Walker | Public domain

Battle of Seacroft Moor: The Charge on Whinmoor

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Workshop of Robert Walker, Public domain. It came at Whinmoor. The Royalist cavalry swung wide around the enclosed fields north of the road, found their way onto the moor undetected, and struck the Parliamentarian foot from rear and flank simultaneously. Fairfax's men had no pikemen worth the name - musketeers without pi...

Read more: Battle of Seacroft Moor on Qualla

Image: Workshop of Robert Walker | Public domain

Battle of Seacroft Moor: The Wives of Leeds

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Workshop of Robert Walker, Public domain. Lord Fairfax got his guns to Leeds. The diversion had technically worked. But when news of the moor reached the wool towns, the families of the missing men came for Thomas Fairfax. The criticism was so severe that he resolved to make it right by force. On 21 May he led a sudden a...

Read more: Battle of Seacroft Moor on Qualla

Image: Workshop of Robert Walker | Public domain

Battle of Seacroft Moor: Suburb Over Soldiers

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Workshop of Robert Walker, Public domain. There is no battlefield to walk today. Whinmoor is a Leeds suburb. The A64 York Road cuts through what was once open heather; semis and small parades of shops have replaced the moor. A single information board near Seacroft Ring Road marks the action. The site is more visible fro...

Read more: Battle of Seacroft Moor on Qualla

Image: Workshop of Robert Walker | Public domain