Towton

[Bluemax]

I have not seen any thread discussion on this area which is a must for anyone interested in the un explainable. I have had many rambles around this area and witnessed a number of how to say occurances of which I have no explanation. If you head from Lotherton on the B1217 heading towards the village of Towton, stop by the cross on your left, you can park here, if you then walk on the path to where there is now a notice board that gives details of the battle itself, here to the left of the notice board is a gate, go over the gate and head down the hill, when down there stop and wait, at this time of year there is normally a mist in the early evening, this seems to be when you will experince only what I can call occurances of what I cannot explain, I have never felt frightened from my visits here however on my last visit last year in early December I went down there at 17:00 and after what I thought was 30 minutes i came back up the hill only to notice my watch saying 20:00, I have no idea how this happened. One thing that seemed to happen a number of times that while I am stood in the mist, I fellt a wind blowing past me, there seemed to be an odd smell here in the mist, again never experinced anywhere else.Another area where I feel different is a wooded area, if you go to the pub in Towton there is a road which runs by some houses, follow this road, it changes into a track later but head to wards the woods on the left hand side, again early evening, from my experince seems to be the best time, head into the woods and find a place to stand and make sure there are no trees or bushes near you, you will feel a sense of others in the wood, it will be very quiet and normally misty and you may feel what you think is people moving past you, the temperatures seem to change from cold to very cold.Again I cannot explain what I experinced here and I am not making claims of seeing ghosts or the like, it is the sensations that you feel while in these places. I read in a very old history book in York libary that this wood was a burial site or mass grave for both people and animals killed in the battle.Please take care if you visit these places, let someone know where you are going and when you will be back home.Blue Max

[Tyke]

There were that many men killed in the battle that if anywhere could be haunted it should be there.

[electricaldave]

The exact location of the battle is still subject to some dispute.One reason for this is that the layout of the opposing armies was wrongly assumed, giving a battle front over a mile wide, however historical work on other battles shows that armies were not disposed in the fashion that would lead to such a wide front, and its the length of this assumed front that determined which places were the most likely site.There has been very credible work done on the location of the 'Old London Road' which was believed to have been on the track from Lead toward Tadcaster, however this is not a likely route after all, as it would have made the movement of wagons and massed men very difficult indeed, and would have been a strategic liability. Since the location of this road is pivotal to the outcome of the battle, with the Duke of Norfolk's army using it to arrive on the scene tipping the balance decisively, then it follows that the location of the battle itself is at best, down to an imprecise area.http://www.culture24.org.uk/history+%26 ... art40178We have a goodly few major battle sites around Yorkshire, some stories seem to have been conflated with each other, the story of the leader killing his horse in front of his men seems to appear both in the stories of Pendas Field and also Towton, just up the road we have Bramham crossroad, Marston Moor, Battle of Seacroft (which takes place less often now that the Pathfinder is gone) and in the other direction Stamford Bridge

[Leodian]

Your "Battle of Seacroft (which takes place less often now that the Pathfinder is gone)" made me electricaldave. Mind you, things haven't changed much in some of Seacroft as the YEP of Saturday Nov 19 2011 had a report on its front page headlined 'Mass brawl at pub wake' that was about a fight at the Fellmonger on North Parkway, Seacroft, on Nov 17 2011. Talking of battlefields it does seem to me that little is done in this country in preserving such sites. Towton for example was a scene of absolute carnage. In the USA such a site would be well preserved with educational facilities. Perhaps it's cost and/or an assumed lack of much interest. It's a shame.

[Tyke]

Fascinating read do you know anything about after the conference in 2006?

[tilly]

Tyke wrote: Fascinating read do you know anything about after the conference in 2006? Nice post Tyke Dont forget the battle in which King Penda was killed It is thought this was at Winnemoor but this has not been proved. ps on reading your post again you do mention Pendas Field so forget i said anything He He.

[majorhoundii]

Towton is the bloodiest battle ever fought on English soil. There were 26000 killed there. The battle was won by the Yorkists, before you start cheering, in those days most of Yorkshire supported the Lancastrian cause and most Yorkshiremen killed at Towton were in the Lancastrian army.    

[dogduke]

"Towton" The Battle of Palm Sunday Field 1461 by John Sadler,published this year should be of interest to anyone seeking moreinfo re Towton.Just got it out from the library today so too soon to commenton its merits.

[jonleeds]

I was just having a look around the Towton area when I came across this:I think it is on like private land but does anyone know what its for?

[cnosni]

Towton Archaeological Survey http://www.staff.brad.ac.uk/aschmidt/pe ... eprint.pdf