It is to be regretted, that he has not informed us, in what particular spot, those relics were dug up; but as he, in the preceding sentence, had mentioned the intended chapel, and the piece of ground called “Chapel Garth,” it is only reasonable to conclude, that he alluded to the latter.
In the month of August 1774, a man was living at Saxton who, with many others, had been concerned in opening some graves of the warriors, slain at the battle of Towton, to satisfy the curiosity of some gentlemen. On a strict examination of the bones, then found, it appeared, that the least decayed, were the internodia digitorum, of the bones of the thumbs and fingers. [94a]
Dr. Whitaker informs us, that he was possessed of a silver ring, gilt, with two hands conjoined engraved upon it, which was found upon the field of battle. [94b]
A dagger or short sword, discovered there, is now in the possession of the Rev. William Jepson Newman, of Badsworth, Yorkshire; it is 2 feet 4½ inches long, including the portion which was formerly inserted in the handle; very narrow, being at the broadest part hardly more than half an inch in breadth, but thick in proportion, and angular. It has been somewhat shortened at the point, which is at present round; and it was picked up by the father of a man who now resides in the neighbouring township of Lotherton. [94c]
A spear-head, or pike-head, was six or seven years ago amongst some old iron in a blacksmith’s shop, near the field of battle, which had been found on the field; it was purchased and taken away by a gentleman. [a/][94c]
There is another curious relic of the battle, which has been preserved. A battle-axe, of which the blade is of a small size; and the handle is perfect, of black oak, roughly made, and 2½ inches in the gripe. The blade and handle of the axe, are together, about 18 inches long. Its history is curious. It was found very many years ago, in the bed of the river Cock. It was purchased by Colonel Grant, R.A., at Saxton, from the wife of a miller there; and she informed him, that it had been preserved for a long period of time in the family of her husband. She had been in the habit of using it for the purpose of breaking sugar: an extraordinary change in the use of a weapon, which, as we cannot doubt, had been wielded at the battle of Towton, by a Lancastrian warrior, and been lost in the river Cock, in his flight from Towton Field. It remained a considerable time in the possession of Colonel Grant, and was presented by him, to the Duke of Northumberland, for his museum at Alnwick Castle, where it still is. [95a]
A spur, which I have seen, of brass gilt, found on the field of battle, is preserved in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of London; it is a rowel spur; the rowel is scarcely larger than that of a modern spur, in which respect it differs from the very large rowels, of that period, which have occasionally been discovered. The spur is remarkably perfect, and is slightly ornamented with a kind of scroll pattern. Upon the shanks is engraved, in Old English characters, the following inscription—“en loial amour, tout mon coer;” the style and engraving of which, indicate its being of about the period of the battle. [95b]
I also learnt, on my visit to Towton Field in 1854, that on the recent occasion of making excavations for the York and North Midland Railway, close to Towton, some human bones were discovered; the spot was near the old road before described, and in the line of the retreat of the Lancastrians, from the field of battle, towards Tadcaster.
It is said that human bones, which must be presumed to have been those of some of the fugitive Lancastrians, have been found in the line of country, leading from Towton village towards the village of Stutton, at which a part of the fugitive Lancastrians probably crossed the river Cock, in their flight towards Tadcaster.
Persons residing near the field of battle, readily point out the place, where Lord Dacre [96] is said to have been slain, and which I have several times made a point of visiting, in the course of my rambles there; it is in a field called Nor Acres (or North Acre), which seems to have been originally much larger, and to have been subdivided. It belongs to Lord Hawke, and lies a couple of fields’ breadth to the eastward of the public road, and opposite the large meadow before noticed, and extends a considerable distance to the eastward. Dr. Whitaker states, that when Glover made his visitation in 1583, he heard the tradition, that Lord Dacre was shot at Towton Field, by a boy “out of a burtree,” and that “the place where he was slayne is called the North Acres, whereupon they have this rhyme:—