Like many of the ancient battlefields of Britain, Sedgemoor – the site of the final defeat of the Duke of Monmouth’s ill armed rebel army – has gathered many folklore traditions and legends.The battle of Sedgemoor, 1685, was the last stand for the ‘pitchfork’ rebel army of the Duke of Monmouth. His army of supporters, which numbered around five thousand strong, were mainly armed with nothing more than farming implements. They were slaughtered mercilessly by the accurate gunfire of James II troops, as they attempted a night attack across the Sedgemoor marshland. The revolt started in June of that year, when the Duke tried to claim the throne, landing first at Lyme Regis in Dorset. The Duke managed to muster a fair amount of support from the Somerset people, who suffered terribly in the aftermath of the battle, during the trails known as the ‘Bloody Assizes’. The trails were presided over by the notorious Hanging Judge, George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys of Wem, who sentenced hundreds of people to death.

via Sedgemoor | Mysterious Britain & Ireland.