“After him came spurring hard A gentleman almost forspent with speed, That stopp’d by me to breathe his bloodied horse: He ask’d the way to Chester; and of him I did demand, what news from Shrewsbury. He told me, that rebellion had ill luck, And that you Harry Percy’s spur was cold.” Shakespeare’s _Henry IV._ part ii. act 1, scene 1. Twice in the year 1851, and once in each of the five succeeding years, {1b} I visited the field of the celebrated Battle of Shrewsbury, and also the church erected there by King Henry the Fourth. It is called Battlefield Church, and owes its erection to Henry’s gratitude for, and desire to commemorate, the victory which he obtained in 1403, over the insurgent forces commanded by Henry Percy, usually called Hotspur, the son of Henry Percy, the first Earl of Northumberland {1c} of that surname, and by the earl’s brother, Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester. {2a} The field of battle has also occasionally been called the Battle of Berwick Field, of Bull Field, and of Hussee Field: the two former appellations being taken from the names of neighbouring places, at or near which, Percy’s army is said to have been, prior to the battle; and the latter from an ancient family owning the lands where the battle took place, {2b} and it is now called Battlefield. It lies about three miles and a quarter, in a north-westwardly direction, from Shrewsbury, contiguous to the turnpike road, of which one fork or continuation leads in one direction by Prees and Whitchurch, towards Cheshire, and another towards Hodnet, and Market Drayton. From that road there is also another road which turns off to the eastward, towards Staffordshire. Those circumstances may be material, with reference to endeavouring to ascertain the line of march of the insurgent forces when they advanced towards Shrewsbury.