Battle of Ferrybridge – 28 March 1461
Battle of Towton – 29 March 1461

The Opening Barrage by Graham Turner Reproduced by kind permission of the artist www.studio88.co.uk

Following their success at St Albans the Lancastrian army moved south towards London but the city was chary of opening its gates to Queen Margaret’s army despite the fact she was re-united with the king. Margaret decided not to press the matter and withdrew with her army to the north. Meanwhile York and Warwick, following their respective victory and defeat, were reunited at either Chipping Norton or Burford and marched on the capital. The young duke felt sufficiently secure in his position to take the crown and on 4 March 1461 he was declared king. Edward knew that to make good his claim he had to defeat the Lancastrians once and for all. On the 5th the duke of Norfolk left London to raise an army in his base of East Anglia and on 7 March Warwick left for the midlands to the same end. Edward remained in London for another week and then marched north.

By 27 March Warwick, leading the vanguard of the new royal army, reached Ferrybridge, the crossing for the river Aire and just eight miles south of the Lancastrians who were encamped and preparing for the battle. The bridge was badly damaged but repairs were made and Warwick crossed and made camp. Early on morning of the 28th Lord Clifford led a surprise attack on the Yorkists, who were driven back across the river and Warwick’s lieutenant, Lord FitzWalter, was killed and the earl was wounded in the leg by an arrow. Meanwhile King Edward advanced from Pontefract to find the bridge once again seriously damaged. Lord Fauconberg was sent westwards along the river to Castleford, three miles away, where he successfully crossed the Aire. He immediately marched north, caught up with Clifford, killed him and scattered his force.  By the evening of the 28th the Yorkist host had crossed the river Aire and moved northward to meet the Lancastrian army.

The 29th March 1461, Palm Sunday, was a bitterly cold windy day with snow on the ground. The Lancastrian army, under the command of the 24-year-old duke of Somerset, may have been 30,000 strong, and was drawn up on heathland north of a ridge between the villages of Towton and Saxton. His two main ‘battles’, one under his own command and the other under the command of the earl of Northumberland, were side by side with archers to the front and a small rearguard behind them. King Edward, south of the ridge, ranged his archers, under the command of Lord Fauconberg, across the width of his two ‘battles’, one commanded by himself and the other by Warwick. As with Somerset, he had a small rear guard but the young king’s major worry was the non-arrival of the duke of Norfolk and the East Anglians. To the left of the northward-facing Yorkist army was the river Cock which meandered westwards and surrounded Castle Hill Wood on three sides. North and south of the wood, the heathland fell sharply to the river and to the right of the Yorkist army was a plateau. The battlefield was anything but spacious. There has been speculation that the Lancastrians hid a force within the woods to ambush the Yorkists but this has not been substantiated.

The battle began mid-morning and the first Yorkist volleys of arrows were aided by the wind to find their mark within the Lancastrian ranks. The Yorkist archers immediately moved back and the Lancastrian response fell on empty ground. Fauconberg’s archers were then ordered forward to retrieve the spent missiles. The first advance probably came from the Lancastrians with Somerset’s ‘battle’ moving towards King Edward at a greater speed than Northumberland upon Warwick’s ‘battle’. The clash between the armies was intense within the restricted arena of battle, the fighting was hand to hand and the whole battle became a melée. The turning point was probably the arrival of the duke of Norfolk and his men who flung themselves onto the left flank of the Lancastrians. Gradually the Lancastrian line gave way until late in the day it eventually broke and the troops fled towards the river, their pathway becoming known as Bloody Meadow.  The river Cock was in full flood, and hundreds were drowned. So ended one the longest and bloodiest battles fought on English soil. As many as 28,000 may have been killed, the Yorkists possibly losing 8,000. The earl of Northumberland, Lord Dacre and Sir Andrew Trollope were killed and the earls of Devon and Wiltshire were captured and executed although Somerset escaped. The former king and queen, who had stayed in York during the battle, fled to Scotland. The victorious young king was now free to return to London and his coronation.

The Rout Artwork from 'Campaign 120: 'Towton 1461: England's bloodiest battle' by Graham Turner © Osprey Publishing Ltd. www.ospreypublishing.com

Shields of some of the participants

Further Reading:

The Battle of Towton by AW Boardman, Stroud 1994. Review in The Ricardian September 1995

Blood Red Roses: The Archaeology of a Mass Grave from the Battle of Towton AD1461 edited by Veronica Fiorato, Anthea Boylston and Christopher Kn
qsel, Oxbow Books, Oxford 2000. Review in The Ricardian September 2002.

Towton 1461 by Christopher Gravett. Osprey Publishing 2003.   Brief and readable account of the battle.
www.ospreypublishing.com

From Wakefield to Towton: The Wars of the Roses (Battlefield Series: Britain 1460-1461), 2002. Well illustrated account of the battles of Wakefield, Ferrybridge and Towton. The emphasis is on the military encounters as opposed to the political activity although this is covered briefly to set the battles into their correct context. ‘Tours’ are also given so that readers can find the scene of the battlefields in today’s world and follow their progress.

‘Towton and Saxton: the story of a famous fight’ by Edmund Bogg. From Round about Leeds and the Old Kingdom of Elmet, the land twixt Aire and Wharfe: a descriptive sketch of its ancient history, legends, picturesque etc. 1904.

‘The Battle of Towton: Palm Sunday 29 March 1461’ by Graham Hudson, 1985. Leaflet

The Battle of Towton 1461 by Patrick McGill. 1992. Covering events from Ludford Bridge 1459 to Towton, including the battles of Northampton, Wakefield, Mortimers Cross and 2nd Battle of St Albans.  Includes lists of those present at each engagement.

From Yorkshire Archaeological and Topographical Journal, vol 10, 1889.  Detailed account, with biographical notes on the participants.

‘The Battle of Towton’ by Cyril Ransome. From English Historical Review, Vol 4 1889. Account of the battle based on examination of the area