Blog/News

July 22nd

We had another pleasant outing with the Frei Compagnie on Sunday 18th, at St Oswalds Church in Kirk Sandall, just north of Doncaster in South Yorkshire. If you're ever in that neck of the woods, St Oswalds is well worth a visit - a real gem of a Norman church with later additions including the 1520 Rokeby Chapel, with its fabulously flamboyant monument to Thomas Rokeby. Tucked away near the canal (not, rather confusingly, on St Oswalds Drive in the village centre!), it's one of the churches maintained by the Churches Conservation Trust, and you can find further details on their website, www.visitchurches.org.uk.

Meanwhile it's been an exciting couple of weeks book-wise. I learned that 'Wakefield Revisited' is now on sale in the bookshop at Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre - I'd like to think that Richard III would be pleased that visitors can buy a book sympathetic to his father and brother Edmund!

mick st os

Yorkist archer Doggett outside St Oswalds

And according to a contact at Wakefield Council, it should also be appearing in the shops at their heritage sites including Sandal Castle - I'll keep you posted on that score. I was also delighted to discover that people are reading and enjoying it - worldwide! An almost embarrassingly flattering review has just appeared on the website of the New South Wales Branch of the Richard III Society - you can find it in the 18th July entry on their website - and no, I didn't bribe the author! Joking aside, this is what makes all the effort worthwhile... not only the pleasure and interest I get myself from research and writing, but the knowledge that it's giving other people pleasure. I couldn't ask for anything more.

It's certainly keeping me busy, too... generating articles on the book and Wakefield-related subjects which should appear as the year wears on in publications like the Battlefields Trust magazine, Yorkshire Ridings Magazine and the Yorkshire Dalesman... plus various speaking engagements coming up for local historical societies this year and in 2011. I'm also in the throes of work for the next publication, the 'Walk Wakefield' guide to battlefield sites which (I hope) will be out before Christmas, and which will incorporate some extra snippets of information that have come my way since 'Wakefield Revisited' appeared. All lots of fun - but heaven knows when I'll get down to the fictionalised version I have bubbling about at the back of my mind...

July 8th - BIG NEWS FOR TOWTON BATTLEFIELD!

Some excellent news to share with anyone concerned about the preservation of Britain's historic battlefields and Towton in particular: on Tuesday 6th July, a ground-breaking stakeholders' meeting took place at the Crooked Billet. It was attended by all the landowners who own part of the registered Towton Battlefield, North Yorkshire Police, the UK Borders Agency, Selby District Council, and representatives from the Battlefields Trust, Royal Armouries, Towton Battlefield Society and the metal-detecting community. Its aim was to prevent trespass, damage, treasure-hunting and theft of the archaeological heritage from this uniquely well-preserved site.

The outcome was a national first in terms of battlefield protection. With effect from 12 noon on the 6th, the landowners have prohibited all access and all metal-detecting on their land - except by authorised detectorists, who will be issued with a special permit and high-visibility vests, and be subject to certain controls on the type of equipment they use and the recording of any finds they make. At the time of writing, these permits have not yet been issued - so if you're passing Towton Battlefield and spot ANYONE field-walking or metal-detecting, please report it to North Yorkshire Police on 0845 0606 0247.

These developments were warmly received by everyone at the meeting - including the responsible metal-detectorists who play such an important part in uncovering the secrets of the battlefield, and who share the heritage community's desire to protect it from unscrupulous 'night-hawkers' and the illicit antiquities trade they feed. Towton Battlefield Society will now be working with the other stakeholders to develop the accreditation scheme for authorised visitors to the registered battlefield, a Heritage Crime Awareness training package for police officers, and communicating the results to the public.

Altogether, a great day for Towton - and great news for sensitive historical sites all over the country.

seacroft

Then on Monday 5th, we put on an 'Evening of Medieval Archery' at the Crooked Billet for Towton Battlefield Society. We started off by introducing the English longbow to around 60 TBS members and guests, kitted Mick up as a Wars of the Roses archer, then did some demonstration archery. Steve Clegg effectively showed why chain mail went out of use in the 15th century, by whacking a needle bodkin straight through a double thickness of mail shirt and 2 inches deep into the straw butt behind it! We also did a speed-shoot/comparison between the longbow and crossbow; Frei Compagnie archers can manage at least 10 arrows a minute - our 'Cleggolas' is usually the champ with around 15 - while I can shoot 5 or 6 bolts with my low-power crossbow (a medieval crossbow-man using a heavier cranked version might only have shot 2 per minute). We rounded off with a little archery contest, and the grand finale was seeing TBS member Ian Coote demonstrate his massive 120-lb draw-weight war bow. It's a completely different beast to the relatively lightweight bows the Compagnie use for re-enactments and displays - you definitely wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of it!

July 6th

Another busy month has started! Saturday 3rd July saw the Frei Compagnie at Seacroft Gala in Leeds, in the 'Medieval Zone' alongside some folk from Temple Newsam House. The weather was kind, and over 1000 people turned out to enjoy the day... which I largely spent sewing, trying to finish a long-promised new shirt for Mick. It was the first time we had appeared at this event, so we weren't sure how it would go... but there was plenty of interest throughout the day, and the organisers were so pleased they've invited us back next year!

As ever, taking part in a community gala was an interesting and rewarding experience - hopefully our visitors thought so too. Typically, not many people recognised us as portraying the 15th century... we were mistaken for Vikings and Tudors, probably because these periods are the ones most folk learn about at school, while the Wars of the Roses is still sadly neglected on the curriculum. So it's nice to think we're doing our bit to plug a gap in general knowledge and stimulate interest in this little-known period of history.