Britain's bloodiest day #The Battle of Towton 1461

Few have heard of Towton before our regular big u3a monthly zoom meeting with David Skillen.  Great presentation and great turnout. 

This was one of the most decisive battles of the Wars of the Roses and, possibly, the bloodiest battle on British soil. On a bitterly cold day in March 1461 the Houses of York and Lancaster struggled for the Crown on a snow covered plateau in Yorkshire.

Here fought Kings, Dukes, Lords and ordinary men. And here they died.

In this talk we learnt about the two kings who fought, walk the Bloody Meadow and cross the Bridge of Bodies and see how one Yorkist Lord had “a cunning plan”.

We hope to organise a trip to the site when possible after Covid lockdown

7 things you may not know about the Battle of Towton by Dan Moorhouse

More than 550 years later, it is possible to visit the site, picture the lines of battle and imagine the horror that ensured. Towton Battlefield Society has devised a Battlefield Trail, skirting the areas of conflict, that takes you on a journey back to that horrific event.

The three-mile circuit is punctuated by superb information boards telling the tale of the battle, the history behind it, the positions of each army, the weaponry used, the casualties and the outcome.

It offers a chilling insight into the harsh conditions and the savagery inflicted by man upon man. With biting cold easterly winds, the day we visited it was easy to envisage the harsh reality of that day.