From the accounts given by the old historical writers of the movements of Henry VII., {182b} there is great reason to suppose, that at that place, or very near to it, his forces were encamped previously to the battle of Stoke; and as the country, between Newark and Stoke, is nearly level, with the exception of the elevated ground just before mentioned, it was the only place, three miles from Newark, where eligible rising ground could be found, to encamp upon, between that town and Stoke village; and it tallies in its distance from Newark, and its contiguity to the village of Stoke, with the accounts given by the old historians. The two positions above described, correspond in a remarkable manner, with the accounts of the old annalists and chroniclers. Polydore Virgil, after describing the Earl of Lincoln’s putting to sea with his forces from Dublin to England, says, that “haud procul Lancastrio in terram descendunt, freti opibus Thomæ Brogtoni, qui princeps erat conjurationis socius.” He then mentions the course pursued by Henry, and states, that “Comes Lincolniesis interea Eboracensem agrum ingressus cùm sociis, lento incedebat gradu, ac sine ullo maleficio incolarum, quippe qui sperabat aliquem populi concursum ad se fieri,” and, after mentioning the earl’s reasons for venturing upon a battle, he proceeds as follows: “ex agro Eboracensi Neuuarcum versus iter facere cœpit, ut ibi auctis copiis, in regem, quem venire obviam, & vix bidui abesse intellexerat, recta via contenderet. Cæterū priusquam ille eò perveniret, Henricus cui nulla hora operis comitis erat ignota, sub vesperū illius diei, qui ante prælii diem illuxit, celerius opinione eorum, obviam venientibus factus, Neuuarcum accessit, parumque illic moratus, tria millia passuum progressus est, ibique positis castris pernoctavit. Comes verò cognito regis adventu nihil territus incœptum iter continuat, eodemque die pervenit ad viculum proximum adversariorum castris, quem vocāt Stochum, eôqûe loci castra facit. Postero die rex ex omnibus copiis triplici instructa acie, Stochum proficiscitur, ac prope castra comitis consistit, atque facit æquo in loco pugnandi potestatem. Potestate facta, comes copias educit, signoque suis dato, in certamen descēdit.” As Polydore Virgil wrote in the reign of King Henry VIII., numbers of persons present at the battle, must have been living, from whom he probably obtained information.