Battle of Flodden Memorial
Nr Branxton, Northumberland, TD12 4SN
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1042192
- Date first listed:
- 10-Mar-1988
- List Entry Name:
- Battle of Flodden Memorial
- Statutory Address:
- Nr Branxton, Northumberland, TD12 4SN
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2002-08-26
- Reference:
- IOE01/08036/20
- Rights:
- © Mr Paul Marshall. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1042192
- Date first listed:
- 10-Mar-1988
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 10-Sept-2021
- List Entry Name:
- Battle of Flodden Memorial
- Location Description:
- Flodden memorial at NT 8898 3726.
- Statutory Address 1:
- Nr Branxton, Northumberland, TD12 4SN
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- Nr Branxton, Northumberland, TD12 4SN
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Northumberland (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Branxton
- National Grid Reference:
- NT8898037258
Summary
Battlefield memorial, erected 1910.
Reasons for Designation
The Flodden Memorial, of 1910 is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* a simple, yet poignant memorial to the dead of both nations, in the form of a tall Celtic cross, executed in polished Aberdeen granite;
* it occupies a prominent, elevated position within the battlefield, from which the latter can be viewed, and from where the cross is highly visible to the surrounding area.
Historic interest:
* commemorating the Anglo-Scottish Battle of Flodden in 1513, resulting in a devastating Scottish defeat with heavy casualties including King James and much of the Scottish nobility, leading to decades of instability.
Group value:
* it benefits from a spatial group value with several other listed buildings, including the Church of St Paul, considered to have served as a temporary mortuary during and after the battle.
History
The Battle of Flodden in 1513 was triggered when King Henry VIII invaded France. In response, the French King Louis XII requested that his ally, King James IV of Scotland, create a diversion by invading England. This the Scottish King did at the end of August. With Henry VIII in France, the responsibility for defending the north of England fell to his Lieutenant-General, the 70-year-old Earl of Surrey. He gathered together an army of 26,000 men and led it into Northumberland to oppose the Scots. After some audacious manoeuvring, Surrey encountered the 35,000-40,000 strong army of James IV close to the border near the village of Branxton. In the battle that followed, Surrey defeated the Scots. James IV and a large proportion of the Scottish nobility were killed. Casualties were heavy. King James's death was a catastrophe for Scotland. Decades of political instability followed his demise.
The different methods of fighting favoured by each side had a significant effect on the outcome of the battle. Flodden is therefore of great interest to the student of military history.
A public subscription to erect a memorial to commemorate the Battle of Flodden in 1513 was first proposed by the Berwickshire Naturalists club in 1907. It was argued that it was time to erect a commemorative memorial, and to show that the old enmities no longer mattered, that whatever was erected must be the work of both English and Scots. Some £350 was eventually raised, with a large contribution from the Duke of Norfolk whose ancestor the Earl of Surrey had been the victor at the battle. The memorial was unveiled on the 27 September 1910, by Sir George Douglas of Kelso, poet and essayist, with a thousand people present.
Details
Battlefield memorial, erected 1910.
MATERIALS: the base and cross are grey Aberdeen granite.
DESCRIPTION: a tall tapering Celtic cross of polished stone, with raised roll-moulded
edges, sits upon a base, also tapering, of massive, rusticated and roughly dressed stone. Set into the north side of the base is a bronze plaque inscribed in raised sans serif letters: Battle of Flodden/1513/TO THE BRAVE OF BOTH NATIONS/ ERECTED 1910. The monument sits within a square, fenced enclosure with granite boulder posts at the corners and centres of each side, and galvanised tubular supports.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 237970
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Usherwood, P, Beach, J, Morris, C, Public Sculpture of North-East England, (2000), 21-22
Websites
Entry for the Flodden Memorial in War Memorials Online, accessed 24-07-2021 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/161112
Flodden Memorial entry on the Imperial War Museum's War Memorial Register, accessed 23-07-2021 from https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/72614
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 24-Jun-2026 at 17:12:06.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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