The first hostile meeting of any of the forces, was unfavourable to the cause of Edward. He had sent troops commanded by Lord Fitzwalter, [86a] to secure the passage over the river Aire, at Ferrybridge; but in the course of the night of the 27th of March, or very early in the morning of the 28th, a body of light cavalry, under the command of Lord Clifford, [86b] was detached by the Lancastrians, and attacked and defeated the Yorkists stationed there, slew their leader, and won that position; but in consequence of Edward’s forces having crossed the Aire at Castleford, three miles higher up the river, the Lancastrian troops were soon obliged to retreat from Ferrybridge, and, in endeavouring to rejoin the main body at Towton, were intercepted at a place called Dintingdale, [86c] near Scarthingwell, and near Saxton, were completely defeated, and their leader, Lord Clifford, was slain.
The main bodies of the two armies were now close to each other: that of the Yorkists being posted at Saxton, and that of the Lancastrians at Towton; and during the night of the 28th, each party prepared for the terrible combat of the morrow. On Palm Sunday, the 29th of March, 1461, at nine in the morning, the battle commenced; and it is to be regretted, that the old historians have handed down to us, very little information of value, respecting that most extraordinary and sanguinary conflict; but some of the few particulars which they have left, will be noticed afterwards. The battle is said to have raged with great obstinacy and valour on both sides, during about ten hours, and terminated in a complete victory on the side of the Yorkists, and the rout and dispersion of the Lancastrian army.
The place where it was fought, is found without difficulty; indeed the old chroniclers and annalists mention the locality with sufficient precision. We know from those sources (independently of tradition), that it took place near Towton, partly in the township of Towton, and partly in that of Saxton, [87a] and between Towton and Saxton and as the distances between the villages of those names, is only one mile and a half, it defines the exact locality very clearly.
The battle has been called by various names, such as the battle of “Towton,” of “Saxton,” “Palm Sunday Field,” and “Sherburn,” and in the act of attainder of the first of Edward IV. it is called “Saxtonfeld and Tawtonfeeld, in the shire of York.” [87b]
This celebrated and decisive battle established for a considerable time, Edward IV. upon the throne of England. [87c]
The place where it was fought, lies between the villages of Saxton and Towton, and very near to, but a little to the southward of, the latter village. In order that the locality may be correctly understood, it is necessary to mention, that the district in which the battle was fought consists of an extensive range of high land, the approach to which, on the south side, is by a gentle ascent, which commences about a quarter of a mile on the north side of the village of Saxton, and extends as a small elevated plain (except in one spot, where there is a depression or valley, which will be afterwards described), past the village of Towton, by the modern turnpike road, until within about a mile from Tadcaster, where the road descends rather rapidly into a flat tract of meadow ground, extending to Tadcaster. On the eastward, the high ground slopes gently down towards the present great north road, leading from Ferrybridge to Tadcaster; and the slope of the land continues inclining to the eastward, in the direction of North Milford and of Church Fenton; and the south-eastward extremity extends towards Scarthingwell. On the west side, the high ground terminates very abruptly in steep eminences, some parts of which may, from their steepness and abruptness, without much impropriety, be called cliffs, which overlook a narrow belt of beautiful meadow ground, in which the river Cock, there called Cock-Beck, flows. It runs towards the north; and after passing the spot which will be afterwards more particularly noticed, where the ancient road to Tadcaster formerly was, it makes a turn towards the eastward, and at the foot of the descent before mentioned, the modern turnpike road (the present great north road) crosses it; and it flows from thence across some meadows for about a quarter of a mile, still to the eastward, and there runs into the river Wharfe. The ancient road, upon which men yet living have driven to and from Tadcaster, which is now little more than an occupation road, turns off abruptly, at the north end of, and close to, Towton village, and descends the eminence [88a] in a westwardly direction, to a continuation of the belt of meadow ground before mentioned, where it arrives at the river Cock. This descent by the ancient road is so steep, that it is a matter of surprise, how the heavy coaches formerly in use, and waggons, could safely pass up and down it, yet it was even in modern times part of the great north road. After descending the eminence, the ancient road formerly crossed the river Cock by a stone bridge, now destroyed; [88b] and after passing over a part of the beautiful meadow ground before noticed, it ascended the rising ground on the opposite side of the meadow, and so proceeded on towards Tadcaster.
At present, the river Cock is crossed in the meadow by a narrow wooden bridge, merely used for foot passengers and horses, the supporting piers of which are of stone, and they probably were built or rebuilt from the materials of the older bridge; in fact, I saw several worked and broken stones lying near it, strengthening the supposition of their having formed part of an old bridge. It may be correct here to mention that there is an old stone bridge at the village of Stutton, still existing, also over the Cock, much nearer to Tadcaster, from which a road joins the old road before mentioned to Tadcaster, and that human bones, probably of some of the fugitives, have been dug up on the line of the country where the modern turnpike road runs between Towton village and the bridge at Stutton. [89]
The village of Towton is small, and not well built; the houses are principally of stone, or with rough-cast fronts; it has not any church; and Towton Hall, where John Kendall, Esq., resides, is close to the village on the south-westward side of it. The village lies about two miles and a half to the southward of Tadcaster; and the turnpike road from Ferrybridge towards Tadcaster, passes through Sherburn and past Barkston and Scarthingwell Park, and proceeds directly to it (Towton and Sherburn being nearly north and south of each other); and the turnpike road passes through the village of Towton, at which it meets the public road which will be afterwards noticed, from the village of Saxton.
There is also a road leading from Saxton village to Scarthingwell which joins the turnpike road from Ferrybridge, at Dintingdale, at the distance of about half a mile from Saxton village; and on the eastward side of the Ferrybridge road, there is a stone quarry called Dintingdale Quarry, close to the place where the other road joins it.
Near this spot at Dintingdale, the engagement took place, in which the savage Lancastrian leader, Lord Clifford, fell, [90a] on the 28th of March, the day before the battle of Towton; [90b] his crimes merited a worse fate. His death is introduced by Shakespeare in the Third Part of King Henry VI.