Battle of Ludford Bridge - Aftermath

Aftermath

Henry and his army then returned to Coventry, where a Parliament packed with Queen Margaret's supporters attainted York, Salisbury and Warwick and their remaining supporters. However, it proved impossible for the Earl of Wiltshire, who was appointed Lieutenant of Ireland in Richard of York's place, to raise troops to oust York from Ireland, while the Duke of Somerset was twice repulsed by the garrison of Calais when he tried to reclaim it from Warwick.

Although it had appeared that the country had been united behind King Henry at the time of the Battle of Ludford Bridge, within a short time the behaviour of Henry's court had prompted many complaints that Lancastrian favourites were enriching themselves at the expense of the King and populace. It was these grievances which Richard of York had first used as pretext to take arms against Henry's court in the early 1450s. Within six months of the Battle, Warwick was able to land at Sandwich in Kent, with popular support from London and the south east of England. He then marched into the Midlands and, aided by treachery in the Lancastrian army, he captured King Henry at the Battle of Northampton.

In January 2011 the masonry on one side of the bridge collapsed into the river below, closing off the river below and the bridge to traffic.