Tewkesbury Battlefield Society

This article is from Current Archaeology issue 416

Subscribe now for full access and no adverts

On Saturday 4 May 1471 the ‘Wars of the Roses’ came to a head at Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. The Yorkist army commanded by Edward IV and his brother, the future Richard III, chased down and defeated the Lancastrian army of Queen Margaret and her son Edward, Prince of Wales. The outcome crushed the hope that the heir to the House of Lancaster would take the throne of England.

This flag on Mill Street bears the arms of Sir Edward Wodehouse, who was knighted near Tewkesbury after bringing 200 Yorkists to fight in the battle of 1471.

In its 1995 survey of the battlefield site, English Heritage reported that ‘the course of the fighting can still be followed on the ground, particularly in the area of the Gaston Field, Bloody Meadow, and through the town to the Abbey grounds’. It was to preserve these sites that the Tewkesbury Battlefield Society (TBS) was formed to work with the owners, raise public awareness of the events of the battle, to develop the educational potential of the sites, encourage tourism, and, though research, to become ‘the authority on the battle and battle site’.

*The Arrivall* is an oak sculpture of two horses, one riderless, which represent victory and defeat at the Battle of Tewkesbury. They were commissioned by the TBS and created by artists Phil Bews and Diane Gorvin.

As well as organising guided walks throughout the year, the TBS is one of the partners in the Tewkesbury Medieval Festival, which takes place in July. Founded in 1984 by a group of 100 self-styled ‘eccentrics’, the battle re-enactment has grown into the largest event of its kind in Europe, with more than 2,000 re-enactors taking part, their numbers greatly swelled by the people of Tewkesbury, whose colourful costumes add to the vibrancy of the final day’s parade through the town.

The battle re-enactment at Tewkesbury Medieval Festival draws huge crowds of spectators every year. Over the festival weekend, the re-enactors set up and stay in an historically accurate camp on the Bloody Meadow, which can be walked through by festival-goers.

Also brightening the town are the medieval-style banners that the TBS produces during the winter months from cotton ‘duck’ hand-painted with acrylic. Each design is based on the arms of a person who took part in the battle, and the Society aims, through research, to increase the number every year. Nearly 200 are now on display from mid-June to mid-September, and the money raised by renting the banners to town-centre traders helps to support the Society’s work.

Two sculptures in oak, commissioned by the TBS, greet visitors to the town, placed on the spot where the Yorkist and Lancastrian forces first caught sight of each other on the morning of the battle. The victorious Yorkists are represented by a knight on horseback; the adjacent riderless horse represents the defeated Lancastrians.

Further information: www.tewkesbury.org.uk (TBS) www.tewkesburymedievalfestival.co.uk (festival)
Images: Robin Drayton; Philip Halling; Tewkesbury Battlefield Society
Is there a society that you would like to see profiled? Write to theeditor@archaeology.co.uk