In this contest
5,000 men were slain. The King, who had his horse slain under him,
performed prodigies of valour. Richard, Earl of Cornwall, was taken
prisoner."
By all accounts it was a good fight, and the best men won. A touch of
humour is added to one record wherein it is related that Richard, King
of the Romans, took refuge in a windmill, wherein he was afterwards
captured amid shouts of "Come out, thou bad miller." This mill stood
near the old Black Horse Inn, but has long since been burnt down.
Accounts vary exceedingly as to the number of the slain, some
authorities giving as many as 20,000, others no more than 2,700.
"Many faire ladie lose hir lord that day,
And many gode bodie slayn at Leans lay.
The nombre none wrote, for tell them might no man.
But He that alle wote, and alle thing ses and can."
(Robert Brune.)
There are certain times, especially in the early hours of a fine autumn
day, when the mass of old grey stone is seen rising above its vassal
town through golden river mists which veil the modernities of the
railway and its appurtenancies, and one feels that the battle might
have taken place yesterday. Strange that this town is an important and
busy railway junction and yet so little has the old-world appearance
of the place suffered in consequence; here are no ugly rows of
railwaymen's cottages in stark evidence on the hillsides; in actual
fact the coming of the railway has added to the antiquarian and
historical interest of the town, as will be seen presently.
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