Get onto the B1217 – the Ferrybridge-to-Tadcaster road – just after the M1
joins the A1M, and you’ve crossed that unmapped line where the north stops
being grim and begins to be bracing.
Go through Saxton, past the Crooked Billet pub, and on your left you’ll see
rising farmland, green corn and copses – an old landscape, untroubled by
poets or painters or the hyperbole of tourist boards, but handsome, still
and hushed.
The road is straight; it knows where it’s going, hurrying along, averting its
gaze. Through the tonsured hedge you might just notice a big old holly tree
on the side of the road. It seems out of place.
Get out of the car, adjust to the hissing silence and step behind the tree.
Hidden from the road you’ll find a gothic stone cross of some age. Nobody
knows who put it here or where it’s from. For centuries it lay in the ditch.
A date recently inscribed on its base, March 28, 1461, is wrong. It should
be the next day: the 29th, Sunday. The movable feast – Palm Sunday.
This oddly lurking crucifix is the only memorial on the site of the largest,
longest, bloodiest and most murderous battle ever fought in Britain –
Towton. Bloodiest not just by a few hundred, but by thousands. Its closest
home-grown mortal rival is Marston Moor, fought 200 years later with a
quarter of the casualties.
By all contemporary accounts, allowing for medieval exaggeration, on this one
Sunday between 20,000 and 30,000 men died. Just so that you grasp the
magnitude, that’s a more grievous massacre of British men than on the first
day of the Somme.
Without machineguns or shells, young blokes hacked, bludgeoned and trampled,
suffocated and drowned. An astonishing 1% of the English population died in
this field. The equivalent today would be 600,000.
Walk in the margin of the corn as it is ruffled by the blustering wind. Above,
the thick mauve, mordant clouds curdle and thud like bruises, bowling
patches of sunlight across the rise and fall of the land. In the distance is
a single stunted tree, flattened by the south wind. It marks the corner of
this sombre, elegiac place.
It would be impossible to walk here and not feel the dread underfoot – the
echo of desperate events vibrating just behind the hearing. This is a sad,
sad, dumbly eloquent deathscape.
Back down the road at the Crooked Billet, in the car park you’ll find a
caravan on bricks that is the headquarters of the Towton Society. The pub is
happy to have them here; the council has given them temporary permission.
Most weekends this is a visitors’ centre, if there’s someone to volunteer to
open it.
I’m met by a band of enthusiasts: an amateur historian, an archeologist, a
metal-detector, a supermarket manager, a chemical engineer, teachers, a
printer, a computer technician, a schoolboy and his dad. They are a
particularly ordinary English gaggle – the sort of men and occasional woman
you’ll find in huts and garages or rummaging in car boots and boxes on any
weekend.
Keen but defensive, proud and embarrassed, inhabiting that mocked attic of
England’s hobbyists, aware that their interest tiptoes across the line
between leisure activity and loopy obsession, they are instantly attractive.
Enthusiasm is always likable. English enthusiasm, so shy and rare, is
particularly winning. The men are beginning to wiggle into leggings and
jerkins of boiled wool and linen, belting on purses and daggers, stringing
bows, filling quivers from the boots of Japanese 4x4s, slipping back across
the centuries with apologetic grins.
As an author a couple of novels about the Wars of the Roses, I want to compliment A.A.Gill on this fascinating and enlightening piece. I was lucky enough to get a private tour with Geoffrey Richardson, a Towton expert no longer with us. Thanks for bringing back memories!
Anne Smith, Newburyport, USA
A fine piece of writing, but it once again prolongs the myth of the Battle of Towton. As the battlefield archaeologist who walked the site with Mr Gill I was disappointed that he preferred the fictional elements of its history. The post archaeological excavation narrative is even more extraordinary.
Tim Sutherland, Towton, England
Not only a fascinating subject, this was incredibly well-written. Thank you!
Mark, Chicago, IL, USA
Never has a piece in the magazine (or anywhere, for that matter) so held my attention whilst reading and my imagination long afterwards. It was a wonderful article - more please.
Amanda, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK
For Karen D of Richmond Va.
The reasons why these wars are not usually taught in British primary/secondary schools are quite complex, but simply put we have such a wealth of history in these Islands that we haven't the space within the syllabus to cope with it.
excellent article though!
Simon, Rochdale, England
I always thought that Henry VI was killed by having his head smashed in by a mace as he prayed in his bedroom and that the shattered skull (with hair still attached) was confirmed when his grave was opened during the Victorian era -repairs to St. George's chapel - W of R was taught in school in 60s!
Roman, Chicago, USA
Really a great piece of writing!
Lisa, Monroe,
The badge of John Mowbray Duke of Norfolk was a white lion, not a white boar.
John Ashdown-Hill, Colchester, UK
An exemplary, exquisite piece of writing. I know you're good, AA, but this is possibly the most lucid and vivid of your articles I've yet read. Bravo.
Alexander, St Albans, UK
As above, wonderful writing, more please!
Whoever did the graphic needs reminding of the colours of the two houses. At Lancaster Royal Grammar School we wore RED not white roses!
Tim Halsey, Bury St Edmunds, UK
One wonders whether the future moslem owner/occupiers of the landscape will feel the same attachment to these historic places - when Yorkshire consists of wall to wall mosques and madrassahs! I suspect not.
Roman, Chicago, USA
Guess my first blog overshot the allotted number of words and did not make the column. Suffice to say the piece was entrancing and made this expatriate Brummie, who considers himself somewhat of a writer, actually homesick for that sceptr'd isle. Thank you!
Ken Tipper, Ocala, Florida, USA
incredible that an article on the War of the Roses gets the red and white rose emblems the wrong way round! Apart from that, great!
john , selby,
Wonderful story.
Bill Sullivan, Mississauga, Canada
Thank you! way past Hollywood..
walt, lowersaxony, Germany
An absolute gem.
stephen burgwin, birmingham, uk
An excellent and throughly readable article but I think the Yorkist Rose was a white one and not a red one !
joan soole, COLHESTER, ENGLAND
Magnificent. I closed me eyes after every paragraph and the battle came alive. Good on you Gill
Roy, Dubai , UAE
As an American who has struggled to learn British history, I really enjoyed the paragraph that began, "The Wars of the Roses have no heroes.."
I had just assumed that Britons somehow naturally learned the names and naturally were able to distinguish the Edwards and Henrys! I feel much better now.
Vernon, Dallas, USA
Ah John Gray you got there before me. Truly wonderful elegant and evocative writing from a master wordsmith. As an archaeologist, I am familiar with Towton and its brutally pole-axed soldiers and I loved this.article. But getting our roses mixed up - I feel another hissy fit coming on!
Janet Montgomery, Halifax, Yorkshire
I would not have given up History as a GCSE subject if this was the way it was tought. Bravo Mr.Gill, wonderful writing.
Ian Smith, Sotogrande, Spain
Superior writing!
James, Jacksonville,
A wonderful piece of work, Mr Gill. You made that awful day come to life for us.
I'd heard of Towton, but hadn't realised just what a bloody and awful battle it was. Thank you for describing it and its protagonists so vividly.
Allan, Cowling, N Yorks,
A wonderful read. Many thanks.
Martin, Utrrecht, Netherlands
My European history students will be reading A A Gill's fine piece in a few days. Writing like this brings history to life. Thanks.
George Snook, New York City, USA
This piece should qualify for a Bulwer-Lytton award of merit. Consider:
"Above, the thick mauve, mordant clouds curdle and thud like bruises, bowling patches of sunlight...."
Apparently, it was a dark and stormy day.
Shiloh, Cedar Key, USA
Your article reminded me of my recent visit to the most interesting "Charles the Bold" exhibition in Bern - when I first heard about the efficiency of English archers. The exhibition closes today, but will be on display at Bruges, Belgium, next year. www.karlderkuehne.org or www.kareldestoute.info
Suzanne Kaiser, Berne, Switzerland
Who's made the gravest of errors in illustrating an event in the Wars of the Roses? Who failed to notice that the HOUSE OF LANCASTER is depicted by a RED ROSE, and the HOUSE OF YORK by a WHITE ROSE ? As a Lancastrian residing in Yorkshire I demand an immediate apology !
John Gray, Doncaster, England
Splendidly written. Evocative and stirring. Well done A A Gill
Richard, Melbourne,
Why is the War of Roses no longer taught as part of history in English schools...? I was surprised to see the author mention that - or is it just history teaching itself gone out of fashion?
Karen D, Richmond, USA
That's the best history lesson I've ever had. A.A. Gill - well done. More please.
Jane, Hampshire., UK
Fantastic article.So evocative. Is there a Pulitzer for British journalism ?
Merv
merv newman, LARNOD, France
Excellent article...in spite of the question about the livery badge of Mowbray,Duke of Norfolk....which,if memory serves was a rampant lion and not the Yorkist wild boar which was more closely associated with Richard,Duke of Gloucester and Courtenay,Earl of Devon,
Robbins Mitchell, Houston,Texas, USA
This was an excellent article. Thank you. I know my Yorkshire mum would have loved to have read it.
Nigel Nicholson, Havre de Grace, Maryland, USA
Terrific reading! More AA Gill like this please.
JB, Sydney, Australia
I teach history, which means I read a lot of essays. If I can copy this article, I will use it as an example of writing that is absolutely unsurpassed. I could not stop mid-article, and I delighted at the turns of phrase. Thank you! Now I have to visit Towton on my next trip to Britain.
Lawrence Jones, Mercersburg, USA
The biggest bloodbath ever in Britain was the Battle of Watling Street. The battle was fought by the Celts against the Romans in AD 60. The Celts, lead by Queen Boadicea/Boudica, lost. A reported 80000 were killed.
During prior weeks, the Celts had killed roughly 75000 Romans and supporters.
Sara Chan, London, UK
Well done AA Gill, a superb article, well written and evocative. More please.
miko, Singapore,
Fascinating, I felt like I was there.
NC, Little Rock,
Thank you, AA Gill and The Times! This is the most riveting news article I have seen in many a year. Once I started, I could not stop reading it until the end. One can never get enough of such gifted writing.
William H. Burgess, III, Seminole, Florida, USA
Mr Gill . Excellent article. I would like to see an article on an overloooked battle in Scottish history. The Battle of Roslyn 24 February 1303 , 8000 Scots against 30000 English. Overlooked in hostory becaue it was led by Robert the Bruces challenger to the throne, Comyn.
J Kerr, Edinburgh, Scotland
The white boar was Norfolk? Thought it was Richard of Gloucester...later Richard III.
Mary, Baltimore, USA
I found it a spell binding article - made you feel you were there amongst the carnage. I've always been interested in the Wars of the Roses. 'Daughter of Time' by Josephine Tey was my introduction to this period, many years ago. Still wonder about Richard and the nephews....
Jan of Geelong, Geelong, Australia
I have to agree with Andrew. Writing like this or like your travel articles is far more valuable than sniping and wisecracking about restaurants and TV shows--especially for those of us who don't live in Europe.
Michael, Pueblo, Colorado, US
I recently read a book about the battle of Towton, and this article has persuaded me to visit the site. A wonderful article about a fascinating battle in English history.
darren smith, London, England
I read this way-above-average piece from beginning to end. Which says a lot for someone with a boredom threshold as low as mine. Would that Times had more writers of this calibre. Pass that bread-and-butter restaurant guide work to some liberal arts Muppet. Get um out of the office.
Andrew Milner, Karuizawa, Japan
What a lively, lovely gift.
Now, that's writing.
Lissa, Sacramento, USA
Absolutely spellbinding. A wonderful read. Thank you.
Stanley, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Wonderful word pictures, well done.
wpo, warsaw, ny
You must also add that modern history of warfare does not include Malasia; Borneo, the 1st Iraq confrontation in 1961, Oman, umpteen small bushfires in the gulf during the time that an Independent Parachute Bn Group was based in Bahrein from 1961 - 1970, Vietnam and the Falklands.
m wilson, bidache, france
What an interesting read.
Thank you!
Gary Golden/Colorado
Gary, Golden, USA
What a wonderful bit of writing! Bravo!
Keith, Masterton, N.Z.