Visits to Fields of Battle, in England, of the Fifteenth Century / to which are added, some miscellaneous tracts and papers upon archæological subjects

by Richard Brooke

“The Lord of Dacres
was slayne in the North Acres.” [97]

It is remarkable that the farmer who occupies the field, and others whom I conversed with, repeated the tradition, and told me that Lord Dacre was slain by an arrow shot by a boy from an auberry-tree, evidently meaning the same shrub as that called burtree by Dr. Whitaker, who states that he did not know what the burtree was. I was quite satisfied that the word auberry, was a provincial name for the elder-tree, and requested a person near the spot, to point out such a tree to me, and, as I anticipated, I was shown the elder-tree.

Following the depression or valley before mentioned, to the eastward, and at the corner of the second field from the public road, there was, until within about the last twelve or thirteen years, a square space, enclosed with an embankment, containing about half an acre; it was not usually ploughed, but in grass; and was said to have been a place of interment of many of the corpses after the battle; it lay on the corner of the Nor Acres (or North Acre) Field, at the southward; but the embankment is now thrown down, and the land has been ploughed. According to tradition, the greatest slaughter took place at or near the Nor Acres Field.

Great numbers of the slain were interred in Saxton Churchyard, in a large trench or pit on the north side of the church. Their bones were exposed to view, lying about four feet below the surface, in making a vault not many years ago, and again, subsequently, in making another, in 1848, as will be noticed in another place; we may conclude that they were the bones of Yorkists of some consideration, from the circumstance of the survivors taking the trouble of interring the remains in consecrated ground, at some little distance from the field of the battle. The persons whose bones were so exposed, must have been either young, or in the prime of life, because the skulls were remarkable for the soundness and excellence of the teeth.

Amongst other fields on the spot where the battle was fought, there is one of considerable extent, lying on the eastward side, to which, or near to which, the Lancastrian left wing extended, which fronts the west side of the turnpike road from Ferrybridge; any person desirous of walking over the field of battle from the Ferrybridge road, will do well to cross it from this part, and enter the large field which is nearly opposite a white farmhouse, standing on the eastward side of the Ferrybridge road. On one occasion, whilst I was in it, I met with a farmer there, who informed me that some few relics of the battle had been discovered, but very rarely near the place. I have also obtained considerable information from several other persons residing near the field of battle. [98a]

Dr. Whitaker states [98b] that “the field of battle is scarcely more than a mile long, and with little level ground in front of both armies, declines in the rear of both. Hence it appears, that as the line could scarcely exceed 3000 men, the files must have been very deep, and that the rear must have been perpetually advancing as the front lines fell.” But that theory of Dr. Whitaker appears to proceed upon the assumption that each of the armies would be drawn up in only one body. At that period, the men-at-arms, or heavy cavalry, went to battle in complete armour; each man carried a lance, sword, dagger, and occasionally a mace, or battle-axe; his horse also was, to a certain extent, in armour. A considerable part of the infantry of an English army, consisted of archers, armed with long bows, and arrows; and another large part consisted of men armed with bills, pikes, pole-axes, glaives, and morris-pikes. Such of the forces as were of the latter description, would probably be drawn up in deep files, the better to resist charges of horse, but the archers and cavalry, in order to be useful, would require more space, and would be drawn up with more extended fronts. [99a]

It is, however, certain that each army was drawn up in more than one body; the rearmost body being in the nature of a corps de reserve; and in that case, of course, the army would present a much more contracted front. We may fairly conclude, that the Lancastrians must have been drawn up in at least two bodies or lines, with the foot in rather deep files, and that their left wing extended to, or very near to, the place where the present turnpike road from Ferrybridge runs. The old historians inform us, that the Earl of Northumberland [99b] and Sir Andrew Trollop [99c] commanded the van of the Lancastrians, which implies that there must have been a rear body, or force commanded by other leaders. The van of the Yorkists was commanded by Lord Falconberg, and the rearward by Sir John Wenlock [100a] and Sir John Dinham or Denham; [100b] and it is certain, that such enterprising and courageous personages as Edward IV. and the Earl of Warwick, would take a prominent part in the battle, and would not willingly remain in the rear; accordingly they are said to have commanded the main body.

Near the village of Towton, and on its south-west side, King Richard III. commenced building a chapel, in memory of the slain who had fallen in the battle, but it never was finished; [100c] and the place where it was commenced is now called the “Chapel Garth,” or “Chapel Hill.” It is situated close to, and extends in the rear or westward of, Towton Hall, which stands on part of the site of it; and a considerable mass of human bones was found, about sixty years ago, in enlarging the cellars at Towton Hall. [101a] Behind the garden, and on the west side, are some inequalities in the ground, seemingly denoting the site of a small building; and in digging there, tiles and worked stones have been discovered: strongly conveying the impression, that the walls and foundations of the chapel had been placed there. In some alterations which were formerly made, in an old chimney in Towton Hall, there was found some stone-work, broken, and evidently brought from elsewhere (and used with other building materials), which had apparently formed part of the mullions or tracery of a window, of an ecclesiastical edifice, [a/][101a] which may reasonably be supposed to have been the chapel alluded to.

It is worthy of notice, that the spot was within the line occupied by the Lancastrians, but probably, many of the slain on both sides were interred there.

It cannot admit of a doubt, that the meadow and valley before mentioned, and many parts of the meadows lying between the foot of the declivities from the north side of the village of Towton, and the banks of the river Cock, must contain the remains of great numbers of the dead; but in most parts of the field where the battle actually raged, the soil is not in general, deep, and therefore, some parts of it would not easily admit of the interment of the dead in large pits.