A man with a metal detector has found what are believed to be fragments of guns used during the bloodiest battle in English history - the 1461 Battle of Towton.
The man, Simon Richardson, also once unearthed the world's oldest known medieval bullet.
The finds, near Towton in North Yorkshire, contradict the theory that, at the time, guns were only used to attack castles.
The metal guns were not found intact. This may have somthing to do with the fact that the manufacturing of firearms at the time was notoriously unreliable and that it was not uncommon for weapons to explode in the user's hands, often with fatal results.
Experts at the ISIS Research Centre in Oxfordshire, which uses neutron analysis to examine samples in minute detail, said the finds were "unique in Britain".
Archaeologist Tim Sutherland said: "In terms of its rarity, we don't know of any other battlefield where one of these has turned up.
"In terms of the Towton battlefield, it's very important because we're looking at the cusp of the use of archery and the introduction of handguns."
The Battle of Towton, fought on 29th March 1461, was a battle of the War of the Roses, an English civil war fought between the Yorkists (whose symbol was a white rose) and the Lancastrians (whose symbol was a red rose), two rival factions of the Plantagenet Royal Dynasty who both wanted the Throne.
The battle, fought in a snowy Yorkshire field, has gone down in history as the bloodiest - and largest - ever fought in England.
The Lancastrians (supporters of the recently deposed King Henry VI) were led by Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset and the Yorkists by King Edward IV, the cousin of King Henry VI (and the grandfather of the future King Henry VIII).
Henry VI and Edward IV are the only English monarchs to reign twice, with Henry coming back to the Throne in 1470 after deposing Edward IV, and then Edward IV retaking the Throne in 1471.
Up to 100,000 men took part in the battle and, within 12 hours, 28,000 men lay dead - 1% of the English population. It would be the equivalent of around 600,000 soldiers dying in a British battle today.
To put that into perspective, 10,000 British troops died on the first day of the Somme during WWI.
The battle was a decisive Yorkist victory. It is believed that one of the reasons why so many soldiers died at Towton was because of those killed during the rout at the end of the battle, when the Lancastrians fled. Several bridges over neighbouring rivers collapsed under the weight of the armed Lancastrian men, plunging them into the freezing water. Those stranded on the other side either drowned in the crossing or were cornered by their pursuers and killed. Some of the worst slaughter was seen at Bloody Meadow, where it is said men crossed the River Cock over the bodies of the fallen. All the way from Towton to Tadcaster the fields were full of bodies. The fleeing Lancastrians made easy targets for Yorkist horsemen and footsoldiers, who killed many men who had dropped their weapons and thrown off their helmets to breathe more freely as they ran.
The War of the Roses lasted 30 years, from 1455 to the day in 1485 when Henry Tudor beat and killed King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth and had himself crowned King Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch.
Parts of guns found at Towton War of Roses site
Fragments of guns found at Towton
Parts of handheld guns have been found at a North Yorkshire battlefield which saw one of the bloodiest conflicts of the War of the Roses.
A metal detectorist unearthed the fragments of the guns, thought to date back to the 15th Century, at the site in Towton, near Tadcaster.
The find contradicts the idea that guns were only used in that period of history to attack castles.
Experts say it sheds light on the use of guns by troops in medieval battles.
Tim Sutherland, an archaeologist visiting the University of York, said the unearthing of the parts of gun barrels was "incredibly important" - but possibly unlucky for the soldier who had been holding the weapon in the conflict in 1461.
The manufacturing of firearms in that period of time was notoriously unreliable, Mr Sutherland said.
He revealed the reason the guns were probably not found intact was that it was not uncommon for the weapon to explode in the user's hands because of metal casting faults.
The 1461 Battle of Towton is the deadliest ever fought in England, killing 1% of her population
Experts at the ISIS Research Centre in Oxfordshire, which uses neutron analysis to examine samples in minute detail, said the finds were "unique in Britain".
Mr Sutherland said: "In terms of its rarity, we don't know of any other battlefield where one of these has turned up.
"In terms of the Towton battlefield, it's very important because we're looking at the cusp of the use of archery and the introduction of handguns.
"When we analyse the internal coating, that has the constituent parts of gunpowder.
"It's incredibly important and we still can't believe we've found this."
He added: "We have fragments of handguns that exploded during the Battle of Towton - how rare can you get? It's unbelievable."
The Battle of Towton saw up to 28,000 soldiers killed on a single day and has been named as one of the bloodiest battles to ever take place on English soil.
Metal detector user Simon Richardson, who was trawling the site for objects said he was not sure what he had found on the battlefield.
He said: "I found two pieces on two separate occasions.
Archaeologist Tim Sutherland said the find was "unbelievable"
"I had an idea of what they were, but it's pretty rare.
"I had previously found a lead ball, so I knew guns had been used."
Dr Evelyn Godfrey, who analysed the fragments at ISIS said the fragments had revealed more about battlefield weapons.
She said: "We have looked at the crystal structure of the objects.
"Almost certainly there are two different alloys which came from two different castings.
"They are almost certainly from two different guns."
But the effectiveness of early battlefield firearms was not a refined art.
"The weapons did more damage and scared horses than it did to the opposition," Mr Sutherland said.
Towton: The bloodiest battle in English history
Towton was the site of the bloodiest battle in English history
On a snowy Palm Sunday in 1461, 100,000 men gathered close to Tadcaster with the intention of killing one another. The Wars of the Roses had been rumbling on for years and they intended to settle it, the hard way.
On one side were the Lancastrians, on the other side the Yorkists. But it wasn't county against county, it was more north against south; cousin against cousin; the Lancastrian forces of the recently deposed Henry VI up against the Yorkists, led by the man who would win the battle and claim the throne, 18-year-old Edward IV.
North Yorkshire soil would see a throne change hands, altering the course of English history. On that one day up to 28,000 soldiers would die in slaughter from dawn to dusk.
Arrowheads and the earliest known bullet were found on the battlefield
In 1996 a mass grave of more than 40 bodies was discovered at Towton Hall. Emerging from the soil were soldiers who'd fought and died at Towton.
Archaeologist Tim Sutherland describes what a significant find it was: "When I first saw them, I was absolutely stunned. A whole grave pit full of skeletons. But they weren't just any skeletons, we knew exactly when they died. They died on the 29 March, 1461. On that day these people went through hell.
"I feel as though you can almost touch the history. It's something that, the more you get to know about the Battle of Towton, the more you realise it wasn't just any old medieval battle, it was a very significant event."
Skeletons found at Towton show evidence of terrible injuries
Some of the skeletons showed evidence of up to 20 head injuries. They all died a horrible death and some of the skeletal remains are being studied at the University of Bradford.
Dr Alan Ogden, a palaeopathologist, comments: "The thing that shook us was that these people had been butchered. The main thing is the sheer number of head injuries. Perhaps the most spectacular ones are where people have basically had part of their head sliced off, or their head cut in half. But what's interesting about Towton is that there's evidence of mutilation. That noses and ears were cut off."
Evidence of the killing and the combat is still bubbling out of the ground. Metal detector enthusiast Simon Richardson has spent nearly 30 years finding objects and has made a discovery of international importance: the oldest known bullet found on a medieval battlefield.
Historian, Philip A Haigh described what the battle would have been like.
He said: "It would have been intense, it would have been noisy, it would have been fearful, it would have been horrific. Twenty eight thousand people to die within 12 hours is a huge number.
The bells at Saxton church were installed a few years after the battle
"If you compare that to the first day at the Somme where we had 10,000 British casualties; to then have three times that many casualties at Towton, you can only imagine what the melee, the man-to-man cut and thrust could be like. The battle was so intense that at times the bodies piled up so high that the opposing sides had to say 'Stop! Let's move these bodies out of the way and then let's get back to it.'"
There are few laws or regulations that protect important battlefields such as Towton, as Julian Humphrys of the Battlefields Trust explains: "Unfortunately, battlefields at the moment have no legal protection. There is a register that English Heritage has developed and that can assist in planning applications but it actually gives the battlefield no legal protection at all."
A Heritage Protection Bill which would have given battlefields protection, and made unsupervised metal detecting illegal was dropped.
One of the first acts of remembrance on the battlefield was just a few short years after the killing, when three bells were cast for All Saints Church in Saxton. After more than 500 years they're still ringing out over the fields.
bbchistorymagazine.com
The man, Simon Richardson, also once unearthed the world's oldest known medieval bullet.
The finds, near Towton in North Yorkshire, contradict the theory that, at the time, guns were only used to attack castles.
The metal guns were not found intact. This may have somthing to do with the fact that the manufacturing of firearms at the time was notoriously unreliable and that it was not uncommon for weapons to explode in the user's hands, often with fatal results.
Experts at the ISIS Research Centre in Oxfordshire, which uses neutron analysis to examine samples in minute detail, said the finds were "unique in Britain".
Archaeologist Tim Sutherland said: "In terms of its rarity, we don't know of any other battlefield where one of these has turned up.
"In terms of the Towton battlefield, it's very important because we're looking at the cusp of the use of archery and the introduction of handguns."
The Battle of Towton, fought on 29th March 1461, was a battle of the War of the Roses, an English civil war fought between the Yorkists (whose symbol was a white rose) and the Lancastrians (whose symbol was a red rose), two rival factions of the Plantagenet Royal Dynasty who both wanted the Throne.
The battle, fought in a snowy Yorkshire field, has gone down in history as the bloodiest - and largest - ever fought in England.
The Lancastrians (supporters of the recently deposed King Henry VI) were led by Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset and the Yorkists by King Edward IV, the cousin of King Henry VI (and the grandfather of the future King Henry VIII).
Henry VI and Edward IV are the only English monarchs to reign twice, with Henry coming back to the Throne in 1470 after deposing Edward IV, and then Edward IV retaking the Throne in 1471.
Up to 100,000 men took part in the battle and, within 12 hours, 28,000 men lay dead - 1% of the English population. It would be the equivalent of around 600,000 soldiers dying in a British battle today.
To put that into perspective, 10,000 British troops died on the first day of the Somme during WWI.
The battle was a decisive Yorkist victory. It is believed that one of the reasons why so many soldiers died at Towton was because of those killed during the rout at the end of the battle, when the Lancastrians fled. Several bridges over neighbouring rivers collapsed under the weight of the armed Lancastrian men, plunging them into the freezing water. Those stranded on the other side either drowned in the crossing or were cornered by their pursuers and killed. Some of the worst slaughter was seen at Bloody Meadow, where it is said men crossed the River Cock over the bodies of the fallen. All the way from Towton to Tadcaster the fields were full of bodies. The fleeing Lancastrians made easy targets for Yorkist horsemen and footsoldiers, who killed many men who had dropped their weapons and thrown off their helmets to breathe more freely as they ran.
The War of the Roses lasted 30 years, from 1455 to the day in 1485 when Henry Tudor beat and killed King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth and had himself crowned King Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch.
Parts of guns found at Towton War of Roses site
Fragments of guns found at Towton
Parts of handheld guns have been found at a North Yorkshire battlefield which saw one of the bloodiest conflicts of the War of the Roses.
A metal detectorist unearthed the fragments of the guns, thought to date back to the 15th Century, at the site in Towton, near Tadcaster.
The find contradicts the idea that guns were only used in that period of history to attack castles.
Experts say it sheds light on the use of guns by troops in medieval battles.
Tim Sutherland, an archaeologist visiting the University of York, said the unearthing of the parts of gun barrels was "incredibly important" - but possibly unlucky for the soldier who had been holding the weapon in the conflict in 1461.
The manufacturing of firearms in that period of time was notoriously unreliable, Mr Sutherland said.
He revealed the reason the guns were probably not found intact was that it was not uncommon for the weapon to explode in the user's hands because of metal casting faults.
The 1461 Battle of Towton is the deadliest ever fought in England, killing 1% of her population
Experts at the ISIS Research Centre in Oxfordshire, which uses neutron analysis to examine samples in minute detail, said the finds were "unique in Britain".
Mr Sutherland said: "In terms of its rarity, we don't know of any other battlefield where one of these has turned up.
"In terms of the Towton battlefield, it's very important because we're looking at the cusp of the use of archery and the introduction of handguns.
"When we analyse the internal coating, that has the constituent parts of gunpowder.
"It's incredibly important and we still can't believe we've found this."
He added: "We have fragments of handguns that exploded during the Battle of Towton - how rare can you get? It's unbelievable."
The Battle of Towton saw up to 28,000 soldiers killed on a single day and has been named as one of the bloodiest battles to ever take place on English soil.
Metal detector user Simon Richardson, who was trawling the site for objects said he was not sure what he had found on the battlefield.
He said: "I found two pieces on two separate occasions.
Archaeologist Tim Sutherland said the find was "unbelievable"
"I had an idea of what they were, but it's pretty rare.
"I had previously found a lead ball, so I knew guns had been used."
Dr Evelyn Godfrey, who analysed the fragments at ISIS said the fragments had revealed more about battlefield weapons.
She said: "We have looked at the crystal structure of the objects.
"Almost certainly there are two different alloys which came from two different castings.
"They are almost certainly from two different guns."
But the effectiveness of early battlefield firearms was not a refined art.
"The weapons did more damage and scared horses than it did to the opposition," Mr Sutherland said.
Towton: The bloodiest battle in English history
Towton was the site of the bloodiest battle in English history
On a snowy Palm Sunday in 1461, 100,000 men gathered close to Tadcaster with the intention of killing one another. The Wars of the Roses had been rumbling on for years and they intended to settle it, the hard way.
On one side were the Lancastrians, on the other side the Yorkists. But it wasn't county against county, it was more north against south; cousin against cousin; the Lancastrian forces of the recently deposed Henry VI up against the Yorkists, led by the man who would win the battle and claim the throne, 18-year-old Edward IV.
North Yorkshire soil would see a throne change hands, altering the course of English history. On that one day up to 28,000 soldiers would die in slaughter from dawn to dusk.
Arrowheads and the earliest known bullet were found on the battlefield
In 1996 a mass grave of more than 40 bodies was discovered at Towton Hall. Emerging from the soil were soldiers who'd fought and died at Towton.
Archaeologist Tim Sutherland describes what a significant find it was: "When I first saw them, I was absolutely stunned. A whole grave pit full of skeletons. But they weren't just any skeletons, we knew exactly when they died. They died on the 29 March, 1461. On that day these people went through hell.
"I feel as though you can almost touch the history. It's something that, the more you get to know about the Battle of Towton, the more you realise it wasn't just any old medieval battle, it was a very significant event."
Skeletons found at Towton show evidence of terrible injuries
Some of the skeletons showed evidence of up to 20 head injuries. They all died a horrible death and some of the skeletal remains are being studied at the University of Bradford.
Dr Alan Ogden, a palaeopathologist, comments: "The thing that shook us was that these people had been butchered. The main thing is the sheer number of head injuries. Perhaps the most spectacular ones are where people have basically had part of their head sliced off, or their head cut in half. But what's interesting about Towton is that there's evidence of mutilation. That noses and ears were cut off."
Evidence of the killing and the combat is still bubbling out of the ground. Metal detector enthusiast Simon Richardson has spent nearly 30 years finding objects and has made a discovery of international importance: the oldest known bullet found on a medieval battlefield.
Historian, Philip A Haigh described what the battle would have been like.
He said: "It would have been intense, it would have been noisy, it would have been fearful, it would have been horrific. Twenty eight thousand people to die within 12 hours is a huge number.
The bells at Saxton church were installed a few years after the battle
"If you compare that to the first day at the Somme where we had 10,000 British casualties; to then have three times that many casualties at Towton, you can only imagine what the melee, the man-to-man cut and thrust could be like. The battle was so intense that at times the bodies piled up so high that the opposing sides had to say 'Stop! Let's move these bodies out of the way and then let's get back to it.'"
There are few laws or regulations that protect important battlefields such as Towton, as Julian Humphrys of the Battlefields Trust explains: "Unfortunately, battlefields at the moment have no legal protection. There is a register that English Heritage has developed and that can assist in planning applications but it actually gives the battlefield no legal protection at all."
A Heritage Protection Bill which would have given battlefields protection, and made unsupervised metal detecting illegal was dropped.
One of the first acts of remembrance on the battlefield was just a few short years after the killing, when three bells were cast for All Saints Church in Saxton. After more than 500 years they're still ringing out over the fields.
bbchistorymagazine.com
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