When Scottish soldiers and English troops did battle

The positions of the armies are approximate but it was clear as the Scots approached the battlefield, that the numerically inferior English - a force of 10,000 - had seized the better ground.

Leading the Scots was King David II, assisted by Lord Robert Stewart on the east and William Douglas on the west.

Stewart's men assembled somewhere near Whitesmocks but it was the western flank that was most vulnerable.

Here, Douglas's men, who had suffered severe losses in a skirmish earlier that day, must have felt particularly nervous.

Now, teamed with the Earl of Moray, Douglas held a risky position on a prominent hilltop where Arbour House Farm now stands.

The land falls sharply around this hill with the Browney valley on one side and a slope near Toll House Road on the other.

Such topography would seriously impede the momentum of an advancing charge and English archers could easily pick them off.

The battlefield of Neville's Cross is not easy to imagine because so much now lies among housing developments around the A167.

However, the Scottish positions were located in what is still open countryside today.

It was the English right flank under Henry Percy and Ralph Neville that stood in what is now the built-up area occupied by upper Redhills Lane and Durham Johnston School.

The Archbishop of York seems to have been in overall command of the English but many sources place Neville at the helm.

Whoever was in charge, the English centre stood about where the A167 now runs between two footbridges while the western flank under Thomas Rokeby and Lord Mowbray stood in countryside above the Browney.

Unknown to the Scots, the English had a card up their sleeve in the form of a reserve cavalry under Edward Baliol, hidden somewhere near Crossgate Peth.

Ironically, the reserve was the only unit on the entire battlefield that was actually located in what we would call Neville's Cross today.

Who knows who made the initial move in this six-hour battle - but as English archers blackened the sky with thousands of deadly arrows, many Scots knew the end was near.

The whistling of this lethal weaponry instilled chaos and fear among the Scottish ranks but, although many horses bolted, the determined Scots continued their rapid advance towards their English foes with an almighty charge.

Stewart's eastern flank gained ground quickly, causing the ranks of Percy to run.

This entire English flank pivoted backwards and inwards behind the English centre. Stewart sensed success and closed in on the retreating men.

The deafening clash of steel, in hand-to-hand combat, quickly ensued.

However, in the heat of the moment, Stewart had not noticed the English reserve under Baliol closing in on him.

He was soon under attack on two sides, with the steep and boggy Flass Vale hindering movements to the east.

It was there, in that ancient vale, that the Durham monks, led by Prior John Fossor, erected the holy cloth from St Cuthbert's tomb on the Maiden's Bower.

Here, on this Bronze Age burial mound, the monks knelt and prayed.

Others watched nervously from the cathedral tower, but in truth little could be seen of the battlefield up there.

On the western flank, the terrain around Arbour House, coupled with ditches, fenced enclosures and a severe onslaught of English arrows destroyed the Douglas advance and here the battle was soon all but over.

Back on the east side, many of Stewart's men fled but the disciplined English troops resisted the temptation to chase in hot pursuit.

Instead, they focused their attention on King David and the vulnerable Scottish centre.

It was not long before the king was under threat. His armour bearer soon numbered among the slain and David himself, severely wounded, fled from the battlefield.

As the English claimed victory, the leaderless Scots fled north and the battle diminished into a series of sporadic skirmishes, most notably at Findon Hill, near Sacriston.

The wounded David headed west and took refuge under the arch of Aldin Grange Bridge, on the River Browney.

Here, he was betrayed by his reflection in the river, a discovery that fell to John Coupland (or Copeland), a Northumbrian who had set out with his men in search of foraging Scots.

The king fiercely resisted the attempts to arrest him and dashed out two of Coupland's teeth in the struggle.

David, the hostage, was eventually taken to King Edward, who rewarded Coupland with a handsome fee and a knighthood.

He seems to have used part of his reward to purchase Crook Hall, in Durham City.

As for King David, he was held hostage in the Tower of London for about 11 years until handed over to the Scots for a ransom that would be worth about £15m in today's money.

However, as far as I know, the canny Scots never paid the fee.

Not one but two crosses were built to commemorate the victory of 1346.

One was a wooden cross erected at the Maiden's Bower, in Flass Vale, that existed in some form or another until it was removed in the mid-16th century.

More famous was the actual Neville's Cross erected by Lord Ralph Neville to commemorate the battle.

It is generally agreed that Neville erected the cross on the site of an earlier one that marked the boundaries of sanctuary in the city, long before the battle.

Whatever its origin, only the base of the cross and part of a shaft remain, caged in with railings near a busy road.

Neville, for his part in the battle, became the first layman to be buried in Durham Cathedral and his tomb can still be seen to this day.