A walk around this famous battlefield from the Wars of the Roses, and an explanation of the key events of that bloody Palm Sunday in 1461, with Andy Johnson the military/action/adventure novelist and former soldier.
Thank you everyone for all your support on this video. For anyone that’s interested I have written a series of historical fiction novels, based on World War 2. I will leave the link here for anyone who wants to check them out… www.amazon.co.uk/gp/kindle/series/B079ZZHQNM?ie=UTF8&ref_=sr_1_4
Towton is just up the road from me and I've read many articles and seen many videos about the battle. This one is up there with the very best. Many thanks.
This is fascinating,I can't get enough of this stuff! I was born in Barnet Hertfordshire, lived there until I was six when we moved to Potters Bar and I always gravitated to Bar net to imagine the battle in 1471 on the common and the surrounding area which still, apparently,has mist hanging over it on occasion to give the location an eerie, timeless feel! Thanks for doing this work 👍It matters not how long ago it was,they were still people worth acknowledging and praying for their souls! History is not just "in the dim and distant past;it is now, it's important and relevant!
Lived in York and we drove on the road many times and thought of the horror's of that day , Didn't know it was the road from London to York though, thank you for a informative and respectful video.
Thank you so much for a superbly researched and presented History lesson on Plantagenet Britain 🇬🇧. I was born not too far away in 1946 and have visited the site several times, but not recently as I now live in Derbyshire. However, I will revisit there this Summer (2021) hopefully when the now worst ever battle on English soil is over - the battle against Covid 19.
The battle of Stamford Bridge would be a great watch from this superb channel, it was fought just over a fortnight before the Battle of Hastings, the Viking’s tried to pip William the Conqueror to the post when they found out that Edward the Confessor died. Although he won the day at Stamford Bridge Harold’s trained troops suffered some heavy casualties, pretty much immediately afterwards Harold marched his battle weary troops south to meet William, Harold tried to gather conscripts as he passed through the shires on the way down, he ended up with many untrained farm labourers ect who were willing to fight, but would of been absolutely no mach for a highly trained Norman soldier, i do believe that was Harold’s main mistake, his eagerness to face the Normans probably cost him the day at Hastings. He should of waited until William made his move from his beachhead. In a way Harold had William exactly where he wanted him. Even his own mother pleaded with him not to be so hasty.Things may of been different if he played it right.
Archaeological findings in the late 20th century shed light on the final moments of the battle. In 1996 workmen at a construction site in the town of Towton uncovered a mass grave, which archaeologists believed to contain the remains of men who were slain during or after the battle in 1461. The bodies showed severe injuries to their upper torsos; arms and skulls were cracked or shattered. One exhumed specimen, known as Towton 25, had the front of his skull bisected: a weapon had slashed across his face, cutting a deep wound that split the bone. The skull was also pierced by another deep wound, a horizontal cut from a blade across the back. The Lancastrians lost more troops in their rout than from the battlefield. No chivalry was in evidence on that day.
Thankyou for making this video. I visited the site this week after several years of research and interest. Your video captures the timeline of the battle well and gives a clear understanding of the positioning of both sides.
Great video mate. You've a real talent for presenting. Some maps and drone footage spliced in of the battlefields you visit would be a great help. Awesome content regardless! Stirling on your short list?
At that point, Cock Beck is, I suppose, just about big enough to be called a river. It has been joined by several tributary becks and is about to become a tributary of the Wharfe itself, at Tadcaster. For most of its course from Whinmoor through Scholes and Barwick it's definitely a beck, but after Aberford calling it a river seems fair enough to me, albeit a small river.
Thank you, that was very well presented and extremely interesting, i take it there must be a mass grave somewhere in the area? They use to bury most of the dead where they fell after such horrific battles. With the land being cultivated and ploughed i wonder if anything has ever been brought to surface like small bones, arrow heads , spear heads or chain-mail armour ect that may of been partly preserved under the soil over the many hundreds of years.
Surprisingly there have been few discoveries on the site in modern times. Mass graves were indictaed in Towton Dale on maps from the 17/18 Century, but it is thought that they are now covered over and buried deeply, or exhumed in previous centuries. A handful of small clasps from armour, etc have been found over the years but that is all - Until the 1990s when a grave was found near Towton Hall in the village. It contained the remains of around a dozen men. It appeeared that each had been killed by a deliberate strike to the rear of the head, and one theory is that they were Lancastrans who were captured after the battle and summarily executed.
Hard to conceive of the psychology that drove the participants. Sleeping in the frozen cold all night...no breakfast...no coffee, and then fighting all the next day. Was it money? Politics in the extreme? Why take such risks?
I would say no. The war was essentially an extended family feud and ordinary people were sucked up into it through fuedal service. The death tolls almost certainly affected agricultural productivity in a negative way; at least in the short term. Would be an interesting research project I guess.
@@bravemendiedhereuk3597 Yes Sir, and as the battlefield is now a prime agricultural field, I wonder if the blood of all the thousands who died there have made the soil fertile in any way.....
why is the presenter's advertising--paid by idiots to advertise others!!!--allowed? Have they no pride in themselves? Primitive, ignorant habit. Interesting facts in the video
Because it takes time and money to make videos like this and because it is about war it is perfectly possible that RU-vid have demonetised the video. Having made RU-vid videos myself, it isnt as easy as it looks you need a decent camera and more importantly microphone, this video involved travel costs, accommodation perhaps. He's never going to make a profit on this but at least it helps with the costs. You don't have to watch it.
Possibly the only British battle to come close to this would have been Brunanburh, where King Aethelstan’s English defeated an alliance of Danes, Scots and others in the 10th century. However, the number of combatants is not known for that battle.
It begins with vastly inflated numbers of combatants that would be impossible to raise even on the continent, let alone lightly populated England in late winter. 28,000 dead would mean at least as many wounded or more. Ridiculous. The armies were approximately 15,000 Lancastrians, 12,000 Yorkists, skirmishes at Castleford, Ferrybridge, ambush and slaughter of Clifford at Dintingdale, then Towton. 9,000 killed at the outside. Terrible enough without needless inflation of all the numbers, which seem to be the commonly inflated figures given by notoriously inaccurate contemporary sources. But the 28,000 dead myth just won't die. Too good of a tabloid click bait.
Well done sir this was a great watch. It’s great to see the actual battlefields being toured. Towton must have been some sight to see. 28000 dead on a winters day it’s astonishing. I’ve been to Waterloo myself and it was unbelievably the best day of my life👍🏻🏴
I just love what you did at the end there. No matter who was killed, from whatever side, all of these men deserve to be respected and remembered, like all others who have fell in War, no matter who they bore arms for. These sites are sacred, it is consecrated ground, these events are part of our history. In God's name, I wish they were taught more in our schools, instead of being ashamed, we should be immensely proud of our history, and proud to be British. Our education system is all wrong when it come to history. We have a history to be proud of. This sceptred isle, this England.
It’s an excellent history lesson but why are you going on about the way children are taught? Do you know what and how they learn history today? I am 69 and never learned about this before. My history lessons were a load of sanitised facts based on an ideal line of royalty and jolly England. I am proud of being English, but that’s just an accident of death, but ashamed of our Empire days for the brutality and cruelty we enforced on millions.
Brilliant! Thank you for making this. I've taken a keen interest in the battle ever since becoming aware of it. As Robert Hardy said, "There is something about Towton"
Fauconberg appears to have been much of the military genius behind Edward's campaign. Had Henry not so catastrophiccally mismanaged the French war, Fauconberg may have been given a significant command in France.
That was the most outstanding presentation about this battle ive seen ever. And ive seen every documentary and youtube film about it. What really strikes me, is the extremely large scale of the battlefield. I always thougt of medieval battles being very confined in a small area, but this proves the opposite, the reality. It even rivals later battles f.e. in the napoleonic wars where the battlefields extended for tens or hundreds of kilometers. For a medieval battlefield it is extremely large. Also i want to add, that only two battles in medieval history really strike me with a bit of horror. Not because of the fighting itself, but more because of the sense of fate and "doom" that preceeds the battle and lies in the air, because so much is at stake and will literraly influence, shape and define the lifes of many many others that will come after. The other battles from the medieval period that give me the same feeling, are Grunwald/Tannenberg, or Cannae and Carrhae in the ancient time. I dont want to get to esoteric here, but, because they all have something very fateful and horrific about them. I dont know how to describe it... I can really immerse myself in them. Its just as if i was there amongst the armies , back in time... And suddenly i can feel a foreboding dread and fear, as if i know the outcome of the battle before it started. There are feelings like horror, hope- and helplessness - mixed with a deep sadness that nothing can stop it. Its like in a dream.. Wherever i look i see the faces of the soldiers preparing for battle and it feels like looking at already dead men.. RIP brave soldiers. Doesnt matter if the battle is mystified and turned into legend in our time. For you it was real and was the last day of your life. When i read the names of the dead participants and when you look at genealogy sites about the family trees, and maybe even are a distant relative to your very own family tree, It even gets a much much more personal note. These were not complete strangers to us. But our forefathers and real human beings with a life that ended there suddenly. As in every other battle fought on earth we should keep that in mind.
Thank you for making this in depth video on Towton. It's absolutely brilliant 👏 Thoroughly enjoyable, please, please do more medieval battles! Extremely well presented, a little bit of polishing on the edit and some slightly better camera work.. but apart from that.. brilliant.. bravo!! There's little on youtube worth watching about Towton apart from the "Blood red roses" documentary.. this video fills a yawning chasm between that and far less worthwhile videos. Thank you again.. excellent!! 😃👍👍👍👍
I went to Towton many years ago and also visited many other war of the roses battle sites, This video captures the battle and explains what actually happened and for that i thank you
I live close to Gettysburg, about a 3.5 hour bike ride. Every special they do from our state TV, which is yearly, is horrible. No camera movement and maps? Forget about it. I wish those guides would watch this one program and get strait. Gettysburg is a confusing whirlwind of a battlefield. I've been there well over 20 times and I still get mixed up. 3 days fought over the same ground.
An absolutey superb video, which was about as in depth and interesting as could be. I especially enjoyed the 'all aspects' view, taking in the field of battle and the relevant surrounding areas, which brought to life the scale, and moreover, the foreboding sense that those involved must have felt prior to engagement, and subsequently the fear and dread of the ensuing rout. Sincere and poignant. Thank you.
I’m from Garforth and have never walked the battlefield, your excellent account of the battle has inspired me to take a walk and feel the place. Thank you very much !
Up close and personal with a knife A hammer an axe....packed in tight ranks....pikes in row after row Horrific injuries and the Towton snow spattered with blood.
This is just amazing, thanks for taking us through the battlefield…I would love to walk the battlefield, .what gets me , it was civil war between nobles, and everybody who fought would have known each other, cousins, close relationships, brothers, womenfolk waiting the outcome, mothers, daughters, etc also against each other.
Thank you for the extremely detailed explanation of this battle, your presentations are most excellent and I appreciate your videos and the respect you display for both sides. I am an American subscriber from Plymouth Massachusetts a very short distance from where the Mayflower is birthed. I'd like to take a moment and thank you again for Poppy you left for us on Omaha Beach, if you ever need anything from Plymouth Im hear...
Regardless of the numbers involved, this battle must have been horrific. Fought in a blizzard on a freezing cold muddy landscape with incredible ferocity and over a period maybe twice the length of most battles, by men who were no doubt tired and hungry even before it started. Phrases such as ' Cock beck ran red for three days' and ' the bodies formed a crossing over the river' plus the injuries displayed on the skeletons of the slain leave us in no doubt of that. I think this vid doesn't demonstrate jut how steep the slope of 'Bloody Meadow' is. In parts it's almost 45% and waiting at the bottom is a narrow boggy valley. You'd slide and somersault down then become mired and easy prey.
Thank you,I have been to there many times,and your description of the battle ranks with AH Bourne ,John Kinross and Alison wire.wonderful to listen to,take a bow Sir.
VERY well done. Big thanks for uploading. Thumb up & subscribed. You - Sir - have a gift for telling stories. PS. It's almost hard to believe that such a beauiful and peaceful stretch of lands holds the secrets of one of the bloodiest battles ever fought (not just on British soil, by the way!).
Mine, Yours, Our history, thankfully their are Englishmen such as you who remind us from whence we came, great respect to your knowledge and thanks for such a narrative to remind us to Respect Our forberes, be they also Welsh men, Anglo-Saxon or Norman may they rest in peace.
@@bravemendiedhereuk3597 Many thanks. Our mini Anoraks outing is going to explore more of the battle site and Ferrybridge. For some reason I always think of Clifford as a villain.
Very well done, but I had to refer to other sources to understand the lines and movement. I gather that the Yorkists had the moral cause that day; but not sure about the bigger picture.
Excellent & entertaining as usual. With the numbers & distances involved one has to wonder at (amongst other things) the size of the clean up operation after the battle.
What a great video this was to watch. Very informative and entertaining. I loved seeing the actual fields and hills where the battle of Towton took place. To stand where all these soldiers died would be a sad but amazing feeling. 10/10 from me.
Fantastic video. I really enjoyed this; The progression of the battle seems easier to understand now. My next trip to U.K. will have to include a visit here... Thanks for the upload. Great job
Thanks for the documentary, I would like to see a map with the actual battlesite with the modern monuments on it as Scottish historical Environment do when designating a battlefield such as Stirling bridge battle were they use modern ordnance survey map with lines bridge and deployments superimposed on map .any ideas how I can glean anymore info on topography length of frontage distance between forces etc this video was brilliant once I get topography in minds eye then I can picture it pity we never seen cocks beck but all in all great video pity I was not there when u walked it keep up good work and any suggestions u can give on what I wrote on I'd great fully receive .
There is a map on this page. The modern topography is almost identical to the roads, etc shown... www.britishbattles.com/wars-of-the-roses/battle-of-towton/
I had a walk round there last week, reading the notice boards that describe the battle, it confused me, trying to figure out where the two armies met, that's because they put a compass picture on the information board and the information board looks south while the compass picture points north, why nobody thought to put the info boards facing north or an arrow to indicate north ???
Really enjoyed that ta...i just cant imagine the horrors that took place.Unusualy they found graves too if im right....damn fine show leaving the flowers.✌️
It is widely accepted that, like most medieval battles, the casualty figures are inflated. Nevertheless, what is clear from all commentary is that this was a particularly bloody and brutal battle. Many peers and knights of the realm lost their lives that day along with thousands of other 'nameless' men.
I found this one really useful... www.amazon.co.uk/Towton-Bloodiest-Battle-Andrew-Boardman/dp/0750949635/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=towton+boardman&qid=1608324730&sr=8-1
How did each side identify each other. Like when they got hand-2-hand or there was a melee or the individual battles being fought, the combatants turned around. I enjoyed the tour (as much one can - thinking about the horror that occurred there).
This battle (and war) needs to be remembered more than it seemingly is. This is perhaps the best abridged telling. What truly in the end brought a formal end to the Wars of the Roses was basically the same ending (or at least an uneasy peace) that European aristocracy and countless love-stories did, - intermarriage. I don't hear it much refered to, but for nearly all of the conflict, the real force behind the Lancastrian cause wasn't Henry (who was greatly disabled) but his wife - Margaret. This was hardly the first or the last of civil conflict. But with more representative and localized government which was as-yet a few generations off, this clash of house's would wane.
Until 1752 New years day was on March 25th, so this battle would of taken place 4 days after New years day. Who lived at Towton Hall at the time of battle? the one there now is more modern but originally there must of been a medieval one now gone.
Very infromative, I live about 10 miles away, the source of cock beck barely 1/2 a mile away . Even at school we thought it was black & white Yorkshire against Lancs. But it was Yorks. ( south) V (North) Lancashire. Even cricket today ie wars of the roses is wrong. Excellent, I know bloody meadow is on private ground, went down to the beck there, some 30 years ago and it had an atmosphere about it. Thank you.
