Cock Beck is a stream in the outlying areas of East Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which runs from its source due to run-off close to Whinmoor skirting Swarcliffe and Manston (where a public house has been named 'The Cock Beck'), through Pendas Fields , Scholes-in-Elmet, Barwick-in-Elmet, Aberford, Towton , Stutton , and Tadcaster. There it joins with the River Wharfe.
During times past the stream was known as Cock River, though still a tributary of the Wharfe. In places the channel was relatively narrow but too deep to cross unaided, a feature which can still be seen today at many points. Ogilby's 1675 map indicates the major crossing for the Cock was sited along the Tadcaster-Ferrybridge road.
In the aftermath of the 1461 Battle of Towton remnants of the Lancastrian forces fleeing the victorious Yorkists were forced to cross the Cock. According to observers the bridge at Tadcaster collapsed under the weight of those crossing, plunging many into the icy waters where they drowned, and trapping many on the wrong bank leaving them to face the enemy having already disposed of most of their arms. The ensuing massacre is said to have been of such force that the river ran crimson with blood.
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