Clyst Heath

Clyst Heath is a suburb to the south east of Exeter, Devon, to the east of Rydon Lane. It was the site of at least two notable battles, in 1455 and 1549.

Battle of Clyst Heath (1455)


During the Wars of the Roses the mortal enemies of the Courtenay Earls of Devon of Tiverton Castle and Colcombe Castle were the Bonville family of Shute. The earl's cousin Sir Philip II Courtenay (d.1463) of Powderham Castle however sided against him with Bonville and his son Sir William Courtenay (d.1485) of Powderham married Margaret Bonville, daughter of William Bonville, 1st Baron Bonville (1392–1461), which confirmed Powderham as a Bonville stronghold against the Earls of Devon. On 3 November 1455 Thomas de Courtenay, 5th Earl of Devon (1414–1458) at the head of a private army of 1,000 men seized control of Exeter and its royal castle, of which the Earls had for many generations considered themselves custodians as hereditary Sheriffs of Devon, but of which  Bonville now also claimed the sheriffdom. The Earl then laid siege to Powderham, a pro-Bonville stronghold, for two months. Lord Bonville attempted to raise the siege and approached from the east, crossing the River Exe, but was unsuccessful and was driven back by the Earl's forces. On 15 December 1455 the Earl of Devon and Lord Bonville met decisively at the Battle of Clyst Heath, where Bonville was defeated and after which the Earl sacked and pillaged Shute.

Battle of Clyst Heath (1549)
On 5 August 1549 Clyst Heath was the site of one of the worst atrocities in British history during the Prayer Book Rebellion when troops loyal to the King under the command of John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford murdered nine hundred Cornish prisoners. Previously that evening Russell had pitched camp on Clyst Heath and was concerned about the burden of the large number of prisoners he had captured from previous encounters at Fenny Bridges, Woodbury Common and Clyst St Mary. Russell discussed the situation with Lord William Grey who was in charge of a thousand German mercenary landsknechts and it was Grey who gave the order for the lanzknechts to carry out the massacre. It took them just ten minutes to slit the throats of all nine hundred bound and gagged prisoners, a number that derives from John Hayward, Edward VI's own chronicler.

When news of the massacre broke on 6 August 1549 some 2,000 Cornishmen made for Clyst Heath, some getting there before dawn. Others soon arrived and surrounded the heath where Russell and Grey's army was camped. The Battle of Clyst Heath was the bloodiest yet of the Prayer Book Rebellion, with the battle lasting the entire day, with heavy losses on both sides. Lord Russell's troops were finally victorious but Lord Grey was later to comment that he had "never seen the like, nor taken part in such a murderous fray". As he had led the charge against the Scots in the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh, this was a telling statement.

Archaeological site
In the 1990s English Heritage refused requests for an archaeological excavation to be carried out at the site of the 1549 battle prior to the construction of the Tesco Exeter Vale supermarket.