[61b] On the 29th of July, 1853, I paid a second visit, and on the 4th of August, 1854, a third visit, to Sandal, and to the field of the battle of Wakefield.
[62] Leland, in his quaint language, gives a tolerably accurate account of the place where the battle was fought, when he says:—“There was a sore Batell faught in the South Feeldes by this Bridge, and yn the flite of the Duke of Yorkes parte, other the Duke hymself or his Sone the erle of Rutheland was slayne a litle above the Barres beyond the Bridge going up into the Toune of Wakefeld that standith ful fairely upon a clyving ground. At this place is set up a crosee, ‘in rei memoriam,’”—Leland’s Itinerary, vol. i. fo. 34 [40].
[63] See Chapters I. and VI.
[64a] Additions to Camden’s Britannia, Gough’s edition of 1789, vol. iii. fo. 39. Leland says, “at this place is set up a crosse, ‘in rei memoriam’”—Leland’s Itinerary, vol. i. fo. 45 [42]; but whether he means in memory of the Duke of York, or of the young Earl of Rutland, or of the battle, seems to admit of doubt.
[64b] Quære?—The lane is occasionally called “Cock and Bottle Lane,” from the sign of an old public-house which stands, or very recently stood in the neighbourhood?
[64c] His body was ultimately interred at Fotheringay. Dugdale’s Baronage, vol. ii. p. 161. Ralph Brooke seems to intend to make a similar statement in his Catalogue of Nobility, fo. 267; and see Sandford’s Genealogical History, p. 373. It was first interred at Pontefract, and afterwards at Fotheringay; and it seems extraordinary that the Lancastrians, who practised such an indignity to his memory, as fixing his head upon the gate of York, should take the trouble of carrying his headless corpse to Pontefract for interment; but we learn from more than one historical source, that the corpse was first buried at Pontefract, and afterwards removed, and interred at Fotheringay. After the battle of Towton, Edward IV. had the Duke of York’s head taken down from York gate, and interred with the body. Leland adverts to the removal of the duke’s body from Pontefract to Fotheringay by Edward IV., as follows:—
“causid the body of his father Duke of York to be brought from Pontefract thither” [Fotheringay], “and to be layid on the north side of the Highe Altare, where is also buried, King Edward IV.’s mother, in a vaulte, over the which is a pratie chappelle.” [65b] The body of the young Earl of Rutland was also first interred at Pontefract, and afterwards at Fotheringay.—Sandford’s Genealogical History, pp. 374 and 375. Catalogue of the Nobility, &c., by Ralph Brooke, p. 189.
[65a] John Harrow of London, and a Captain named Hanson, were taken prisoners at the battle, and were beheaded with the Earl of Salisbury, at Pontefract, and their heads were set upon the gates of York.—See Fabyan’s Chronicles, fo. 210.
[65b] Leland’s Itinerary, vol. i. fo. 6.
[67a] The paper upon the Field of the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross was read before a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries of London, on the 18th of January, 1855, and the thanks of the meeting were voted for it to the author.