Blore Heath is a sparsely-populated area of farmland two miles east of the town of Market Drayton in Shropshire, and close to the village of Loggerheads, Staffordshire.

Queen Margaret of Anjou continued to raise support for King Henry VI amongst noblemen, distributing an emblem of a silver swan to knights and squires enlisted by her personally,[7] whilst the Yorkist command under the Duke of York was finding plenty of anti-royal support despite the severe punishment for raising arms against the king.

Salisbury, instead of disbanding or withdrawing his army,[10] immediately arranged his troops into battle order, just out of range of the Lancastrian archers.

To secure his right flank, he arranged the supply wagons in a defensive laager, a circular formation to provide cover to the men.

After they had committed themselves, Salisbury ordered his men to turn back and catch the Lancastrians as they attempted to cross the brook.

That led to a period of intense fighting in which Audley himself was killed,[10] possibly by Sir Roger Kynaston of Myddle and Hordley.

The Earl of Salisbury, which knew the sleights, strategies and policies of warlike affairs, suddenly returned, and shortly encountered with the Lord Audley and his chief captains, ere the residue of his army could pass the water.

The earl desiring the saving of his life, and his adversaries coveting his destruction, fought sore for the obtaining of their purpose, but in conclusion, the earl's army, as men desperate of aid and succour, so eagerly fought, that they slew the Lord Audley, and all his captains, and discomfited all the remnant of his people...[9] The death of Audley meant that Lancastrian command fell to the second-in-command, Lord Dudley, who ordered an attack on foot with some 4,000 men.

[citation needed] According to Gregory's Chronicle, Salisbury employed a local friar to remain on Blore Heath throughout the night and to periodically discharge a cannon to deceive any Lancastrians nearby into believing that the fight was continuing.