Re-examining the Battle of Towton

SKELETONS bearing marks of horrendous sword injuries have been unearthed beneath a North Yorkshire hall.

The victims of a medieval battle were discovered beneath the floor of the dining room of Towton Hall, between Tadcaster and Sherburn-in- Elmet, dating from the Battle of Towton in 1461.

The discovery was made as part of a ten-year investigation into the archaeological evidence of the longest and bloodiest battle ever fought in England.

Full article here. These, and other nearby mass graves recently found, should give the forensic crews plenty to work on. In addition to what we may learn about medieval warfare in general, we stand to find out much more about this battle in particular:

Archaeological evidence to be presented at a conference in York in October 2006 could alter our accepted historical view of one of Britain’s bloodiest battles. . .

Contemporary written sources about the battle are however few and far between and even the location of a Chapel built some years later by Richard III has been at the centre of many debates that persist about the battle.

Now according to archaeologist Tim Sutherland and his team from The Towton Battlefield Archaeological Survey, findings to be unveiled at the Towton Conference at Yorkshire Museum on October 4 2006 will finally clear up these and other mysteries and even turn the accepted history of the battle on its head. . .

According to many accounts written since the battle, ten hours of vicious hand-to-hand combat resulted in a final bloody death toll of over 28,000, whilst mass graves marked on maps (and acknowledged locally) were said to contain the bodies of the slain. Place names such as Bloody Meadow and Chapel Hill were commonly accepted as evidence of the battle’s course.

But according to Tim, the archaeology doesn’t tie in with the history.“We’ve knocked many sites on the head that were, or are still, associated with the battle and even much of the local history surrounding the battle seems wrong.”

Posted by David on September 14, 2006 9:30 AM