The Battle of Towton - Remembered March 2015.

Members and supporters of The National Front Will be commemorating the fallen warriors of the Battle of Towton on Palm Sunday, March 29th 2015. All Patriots are welcome to attend.

Please meet at:
The Rockingham Arms
Main Street
Towton
Tadcaster
North Yorkshire
LS24 9PB
11:00 - 11:45.

Towton may not have been an isolated event, but it was certainly unique. As well as its claims to be the biggest, longest and bloodiest battle on English soil, it was probably the most brutal. Such as been the length and exceptional uncertainty of the first War of the Roses, that the size of the two forces had expanded exponentially, so had their viciousness, which by the time of Towton had moved beyond victorious nobles taking swift revenge on defeated rivals and expanded to encompass retribution amongst the common soldiery. By Towton, the two armies had become regional in nature, the Lancastrians being stronger in the North; whilst the Yorkists had found it easier to recruit in the South, the West and in Wales also. They had one thing in common, the soldiers now demonised their opponents as alien, different, even sub-human. A struggle of factions had become a ''Race War'' overlapping a civil war. Thus when one side finally and after many hours of fighting, broke in flight and found itself trapped on the battlefield, there was little chance of escape and NONE of SURRENDER. That taken with the killing power of the Medieval Longbow at the onset of the battle helps to explain such extraordinary casualty figures, it also explains the resonate names of places on the battlefield today, such names as, Bloody Meadow and the Bridge of Bodies.

Selby District Council held a meeting on January 8th (2014) to discuss allowing travellers to settle on or near the Battlefield of Towton, especially near the area where mass graves were discovered in 1996. This should not be allowed or even considered. This area should be treated as 'Hallowed Ground'.

Final thought.

On March 29th 1461, the rolling, blizzard swept, fields and ridges around Towton were the backdrop of the bloodiest battle of the culminating wars. As Lancastrian and Yorkist armies furiously hacked, slashed and stabbed their way across the battlefield, the political future of England hung in the balance. By battle's end, some 29,000 soldiers of both sides had been slaughtered in the name of a civil war, those tragic outcomes were its fatal positing of Englishman against Englishman, the way in which those who led the forces put personal aims, gains and intrigues before the greater good of their Motherland and their fellow Sons of Arthur.

By attending this Act of Remembrance on Palm Sunday, we are showing the Establishment that WE care for our history, we must NEVER let this day in our history in which thousands of our ancestors perished be forgotten and be laid to waste.

The following quotation comes from David Starkey in the book FATAL COLOURS by George Goodwin :

"O! pity, pity, gentle heaven, pity.
The Red Rose and the White are on his face;
The fatal colours of our striving houses
The one his Purple blood right well resembles;
The other his pale cheeks, methinks, presenterth;
Wither one rose, and let the other one flourish!
If you contend, a thousand lives must wither"

(Henry VI: Part 3, II.v.96-102)

The phrase `Fatal Colours` is taken from Shakespeare`s Henry VI: Part 3, act II scene v, The scene deals with the battle of Towton, and it does so in a fashion which shows that Shakespeare fully understood both the scale of the battle and its peculiar, intestine savagery. At the climax of the action, a man drags in a body, and, as he begins to pillage the corpse, he discovers that he has killed his own Father, another also intent on spoiling a body, he finds out that he has slaughtered his only son. Henry VI, observing the pair, takes up the Father`s lament for his slain child.

If you are interested in history, then this event is right up your street, Towton was the bloodiest battle during the War of the Roses in which 29,000 Englishmen died. Every year Patriots descend upon Towton to pay homage to the fallen. There will also be a battle re-enactment taking place on the exact battlefield, a pub is located nearby for food and refreshments although there is generally a burger bar on site, with a coffee stall also a bar in the barn.There are displays ranging from Falconry, Medieval live shows, period costumes, an array of Medieval tents each displaying different things to entertain and to educate how life was in the 1400`s. Stalls are sited in the barn where you can browse and buy. There is always a guided tour of the battlefield by members of the Towton Battlefield Society.
This is an excellent day out for all the family.