Bitterbridge is a town and castle on the Mander in the Reach, remembered for the battle that gave it its name. At the crossing, a force of nine thousand Poor Fellows was caught between six lordly hosts; the ensuing defeat was so severe that the river ran red for twenty leagues, and the place thereafter became known as Bitterbridge.

Setting and Name

The fighting took place at Stonebridge, where the Poor Fellows were attempting to cross the Mander. The river divided their force: half of Wat the Hewer’s men were north of it and half to the south when the opposing hosts closed in. The town and castle where the battle was fought acquired the name Bitterbridge in its aftermath, making the place-name a lasting mark of the violence associated with the crossing.

The Battle at the Crossing

The battle formed part of King Maegor’s war against the Faith Militant. Wat the Hewer led the Poor Fellows, whose followers were untrained and poorly equipped compared with the mounted, armored knights sent against them. Many wore boiled leather, roughspun clothing, or scraps of rusted steel, and carried woodsmen’s axes, sharpened sticks, or farm tools. Split by the river and caught between six lordly forces, they were cut to pieces; their makeshift arms and lack of discipline could not withstand the knights’ charge.

Wat himself was captured alive. Before his capture, he had slain half a dozen knights, including Lord Meadows of Grassy Vale, who commanded the king’s host. The giant was then taken to King’s Landing in chains. His survival contrasted with the scale of the defeat around him, while the river’s red waters and the town’s new name preserved the battle’s memory in the landscape.

Legacy

Bitterbridge’s significance in the account comes from the way a military defeat becomes embedded in a place-name. The battle’s immediate result was the destruction of Wat’s divided force and the capture of its leader; its enduring consequence was that Stonebridge and its castle were remembered as Bitterbridge. The name links the town to the wider conflict between the Crown and the Faith Militant, and to the heavy cost of that war for the Poor Fellows.