Marston Moor Battlefield

Taking only a slight detour on our way from York to Harrogate I managed to get to see Marston Moor, site of the battle of the same name in 1644 during the English Civil War.  Although given that a large part of the Parliamentarian force was the Scots army ECW seems a somewhat inaccurate term.

As with Towton, which I visited earlier, Marston Moor has a monument and a board with an overview of the battle; however, it's clearly a poor relative when compared to its Wars of the Roses cousin with no battlefield trail or further educational material.

The monument

One of the plaques on the monument

An overview of the battle

Looking toward the Royalist lines

Looking toward the Parliamentarian lines

Whilst there is less material at the site it is fields and so you can get something of a feel for the terrain and it is worth a visit if you are interested in the period.

Towton Battlefield

We went on a trip up to York for a couple of days so I made sure that our route passed through at least a couple of the area's battlefields.  On the way there it was the site of the Battle of Towton in 1461 one of the bloodiest battles in England during the Wars of the Roses.

It was a very different day to the day of the battle, we had bright sunshine and high temperatures whilst on Palm Sunday in 1461 it was snowy and somewhat colder!

The battlefield and the surrounding area are given over to farm land and given the often poor recognition of the history of some battlefields I was impressed that Towton has display boards and a battlefield trail that you can walk.

The introductory display board

The old monument

A view across the field of battle

If you would like more information have a look at the Towton Battlefield Society website.