Information at time of going to press. Updates may be available on www.georgegoodwin.com
Immediate to Towton
The Towton Battlefield Society is the official organisation for promoting understanding of the Battle of Towton and for research of the battlefield under protected conditions. Run by an extremely lively and friendly group of volunteers, and dedicated to encouraging educational and popular interest in an extraordinary event in English history, the TBS is one of the most go-ahead battlefield societies in the country. You don’t have to be a local to get full value from membership of this Society, which is affiliated to the Battlefields Trust. For full details of the TBS itself, of its visitor centre and of the Frei Compagnie (its group of re-enactors), www.towton.org.uk
Towton Battlefield Archaeological Survey Project. Tim Sutherland is the leading archaeological authority on the battlefield. He was a key member of the team from Bradford University that investigated the mass grave from 1996 and has run a number of subsequent projects that have made major discoveries. For more information, and if you are interested in funding further professionally-led excavations, www.towtonbattle.com or contact tim@sutherland6579.freeserve.co.uk
The Royal Armouries Museum – Leeds. The Royal Armouries is home to the United Kingdom’s national collection of arms and armour, and is the country’s oldest museum. In addition to personal armour and small arms, the Leeds museum houses the reserve, study and archive collections. Among their curators are some of the country’s leading experts on fifteenth-century warfare, who have taken a particular interest in the Battle of Towton. As a starting point for general information, www.royal armouries.org
University of Bradford – The Biological Anthropology Research Centre (BARC). Details on the work of the specialist department responsible for the Towton Mass Grave Project, www.brad.ac.uk/archenvi/research/Towton
York’s Micklegate Bar – www.micklegatebar.com
York Minster – www.yorkminster.org
Pontefract Castle – www.wakefieldmuseums.org/our_sites_pontefract_cas.htm
National Organisations
The Battlefields Trust is the UK charity dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of Britain’s battlefields. Information on joining, together with extensive material on Blore Heath, Northampton, Mortimer’s Cross and Towton, as well as the later battles of the Wars of the Roses, is available on the Trust’s website: www.battlefieldstrust.com
The Wars of the Roses Federation is an umbrella group of approximately thirty–five medieval member groups. For further information: www.ettu.com/wotrf1/cgi-bin/index.cgi. For a good example of an individual group, see www.beaufort-companye.org.uk
England and Wales
In and around London
The Tower of London. Nowadays the UK’s most-visited historic attraction, the Tower was repeatedly the scene of important events during the Wars of the Roses, including the murder of Henry VI (the only English crowned king to be killed there). Seewww.hrp.org.uk/TowerofLondon/stories.aspx. The Tower also houses the London collection of the Royal Armouries www.royalarmouries.org/visit-us/tower-of-london
Westminster Abbey – www.westminster-abbey.org
Westminster Hall – www.parliament.uk/visiting/online-tours/virtualtours/westminster-hall-tours/westminster-hall/
Houses of Parliament – www.parliament.uk/education. Search ‘Houses of History’ for timeline
Windsor Castle – www.royal.gov.uk/TheRoyalResidences/WindsorCastle/WindsorCastle.aspx
Eton College – www.etoncollege.com/visitstoeton.aspx
King’s College, Cambridge – www.kings.cam.ac.uk/visit
Canterbury Cathedral – www.canterbury-cathedral.org
St Albans (1st and 2nd Battles of St Albans) – www.stalbans.gov.uk/leisure-and-culture/tourism-and-travel/guided-walks/ and www.stalbanscathedral.org
Winchester Cathedral – www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk
The North
Raby Castle – www.rabycastle.com
Sandal Castle – www.wakeneldmuseums.org/our_sites_sandal.htm (and for Battle of Wakefield)
Castles at Middleham, Richmond, Barnard Castle and Warkworth – www.english-heritage.org.uk
Castles at Bamburgh – www.bamburghcastle.com; Alnwick –www.alnwickcastle.com; Dunstanburgh –www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-dunstanburghcastle
Mount Grace Priory (Carthusian) www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/mount-grace-priory
The Midlands
BeauchampMemorial Chapel – St Mary, Warwick – www.saintmarys church.co.uk. Identification of the mourning figures on the facing side of the tomb of the 13th Earl – see first section of illustrations: Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury;Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset;Humphrey Stafford, Duke of Buckingham;John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury;Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. Their respective fates are described in the main text and final ‘Dramatis Personae’ (pp. 195–6). See also ‘Family Trees’ (pp. 200–3).
Warwick Castle – www.warwick-castle.co.uk/plan-your-day/history.aspx?css=1
Kenilworth – www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/kenilworth-castle/history
Tattershall Castle – www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-tattershallcastle
Crowland Abbey – http://crowlandabbey.org.uk/index.html
Wales and the West
Ludlow – www.ludlowcastle.com
Cardiff – www.castlewales.com/cardiff.html
Croft Castle – www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-croftcastle
Pembroke – www.pembroke-castle.co.uk
Castles at Harlech, Monmouth and Raglan – www.cadw.wales.gov.uk
Exeter Cathedral – www.exeter-cathedral.org.uk
Some continental connections
France: the great cathedrals of Paris – www.notredamedeparis.fr; Reims – www.cathedrale-reims.com/notre-dame-saint-jacques-reims;Rouen – www.cathedrale-rouen.net
Italy: Milan, Sforza Castle – www.milanocastellow.it/ita/home.html;
Pienza (birthplace of Pius II that was re-named after him) – www.pienza.com