A Packed Anniversary Weekend in Tewkesbury

Four years ago, as we contemplated ways to mark the 550th anniversary of the Battle of Tewkesbury, a conference seemed a fairly straightforward proposition. After all, we had an ideal venue on our doorstep in the shape of the Watson Hall, 23 years history as a Society to draw on, and the battlefield itself and attractions of our town to provide a counterpoint to academic debate. The Town Council were supportive, even to the extent of giving us a grant to cover the costs of hiring the Hall from them, so what could go wrong? COVID, of course, which not only wrote off 2021 itself, but also left a lot of our potential audience unsure about committing to a weekend away and so made 2022 an unsafe bet for planning. 2023 looked more promising – after all, what other competition could we expect on our May Bank Holiday anniversary weekend? A Coronation was the answer, and we suspected that the Venn diagram of ‘people who would be interested in our conference’ and ‘people who would want to take part in Coronation celebrations’ would overlap sufficiently to guarantee that we couldn’t compete, so 2024 became our target. After all, after 550 years, no one is going to quibble about an extra three!

And so, on Saturday 4 May, exactly 553 years after Yorkists and Lancastrians were girding themselves for the Battle ahead, some 40+ attendees and presenters gathered in the Watson Hall for a day devoted to ‘Presenting, Preserving and Researching Battlefields – Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow’. The plural battlefields bit is important, as we’d decided that the event would have more impact if we worked in partnership with the Battlefields Trust to organize and promote it, allowing us to use Tewkesbury as a case study without being fixated on a single place and event. Early arrivals were rewarded with the chance to browse a number of stands, including not only stalls from the Trust and Northampton and Tewkesbury Battlefield Societies, but also an impressive exhibition of original art by Graham Turner. Most eye-catching, though, was a 24-foot long wargame depicting the Battle of Tewkesbury, mounted by the RAF Cranwell Wargames Club and featuring around 2,500 figures.

We were very fortunate to have Professor Anne Curry, chair of the Battlefields Trust and renowned medieval historian, with us for the day, who also did us the honour of opening the proceedings. First to the lecturn was Steve Goodchild, founder member and past chair of the Tewkesbury Battlefield Society, who took us on a fascinating tour of the Society’s evolution, from its origins as a group of enthusiasts, through its baptism of fire in the face of the threat of development in 1997, to its constructive projects in battlefield tours, signage, publications, sculpture and the signature banners displayed annually in the Town. What came through strongly was the importance of the relationship between the Society and the Battlefields Trust, forged at the time of the preservation campaign but steadily growing and epitomised by the conference. Next up, was David Frampton from the Cranwell Wargamers who not only explained his own journey into medieval wargaming but also what the hobby could add to the understanding of how medieval battles were fought. It was fascinating to consider how factors such as psychology and cohesion could be represented in miniature warfare, and also how replaying key engagements with subtle variations could explore some of the potential ‘what ifs’. David’s presentation led neatly into a lunch break, giving attendees the chance to roll the dice for themselves, as well as inspecting the detail of the models whose heraldry accurately reflected the banners decorating the Hall.

The buzz of conversation over lunch underlined that this was genuinely a conference, giving interested parties with multiple perspectives the chance to mingle and discuss, but there was no difficulty in getting them back into place for our opening presentation after lunch by Graham Turner. Since his first painting of the Battle of Bosworth some 30 years ago, Graham has become pre-eminent in depicting the conflicts of the Wars of the Roses and his work is widely regarded as authoritative. We were lucky in that our enforced postponement of our original plan allowed the conference to coincide with the recent publication of Graham’s new book, containing over 120 paintings and illustrations related to the period,. Graham took us through a riveting resume of his career, including his jousting career, and exploration of how he conducts the research essential to accurate representation of the clothing, arms and armour of the period. In addition to his regular exhibitions at the Medieval Festival, Graham has been generous to not only our own but many related organisations in allowing us to use his work in pursuing our aims, beginning with his iconic painting of the Battle of Tewkesbury, completed in 1996 and appearing on the document proposing the creation of the Society in 1997.

From the helicopter view of wargaming, and the hand-to-hand perspective of Graham’s artwork, we descended to what could be learned from that left underground as Glenn Foard took us through an analysis of the role of archaeology in the interpretation of battlefields. The work of Glenn and those like him has been fundamental to the work of the Battlefields Trust in anchoring battles to specific sites, and Glenn’s presentation took us through some of the highlights and frustrations of the science. His examples brought home that archaeology was no golden bullet for interpretation and that the result of extensive work could well be only to leave long-held beliefs as to location unproven. I think many of us were also quite shocked at the realization that, high amongst the activities that could ‘taint’ a battlefield for archaeology was re-enactment, in the potential for reproduction items to be scattered and quickly decay to the extent that they could not be positively separated from originals. I sensed a sigh of relief amongst my Tewkesbury colleagues that it had never been practicable to hold the Festival on the Gastons themselves.

As we paused for afternoon tea and coffee, it was poignant to remember that, in the time that we had been together in the Hall, on a Saturday morning 553 years ago, some 1,000 men had met their death in the Battle itself, just the other side of the town. That sobering thought underlined the importance of why we seek to preserve and promote our battlefield heritage. Simon Marsh, the Trust’s Research and Threats Coordinator rose expertly to the challenge of capping all that we had heard with a review of where we stand today, in a world where interest in heritage meets the attitude of ‘It’s only a bloody field, isn’t it?’. We learned about how the Trust differentiates between a battlefield and the site of a skirmish (harking back to a point raised earlier by Professor Curry as to what constitutes a ‘battle’), along with a resume of sites which the Trust had been successful in registering, those which defied definitive location, and where planning applications had been successfully or unsuccessfully countered. It was clear that pressures on development, particularly house building, would continue to present real threats to the integrity of Britain’s battlefield heritage, but that the best hope of successfully meeting those threats lay in the strong relationships between passionate and informed groups at local level, typified by the battlefield societies and individuals present in the room, and the overarching presence of the Battlefields Trust.

Our thanks go to all those who supported, enabled or attended this signature event, from individual attendees and presenters, to the Town Council and Battlefields Trust who provided practical and financial support – with special mention to the Cranwell Wargamers whose invitation could genuinely have been worded ‘3 + 2,500’.

Sunday saw many of those who attended the previous day’s conference gather in some long-awaited Spring sunshine for our annual extended battlefield tour. A minibus provided by our friends from the Baptist Church transported two groups to Tredington, where they began the march to Tewkesbury, treading the footsteps of the Yorkist army. In a new evolution for 2024, the groups took separate routes roughly equating to the left and right flanks of the army – one staying west of the Swilgate river, within sight of the modern A38 Gloucester Road and the other departing from Tredington church and crossing the Swilgate only as they neared Tewkesbury. Recent rain on already soaked ground made for some soggy going, but all involved were mindful that their discomfort was nothing compared to that encountered by those in whose footsteps we trod, and the focus remained on the history. We were, though, glad to reach St Margaret’s Camp, representing the midpoint between the two armies, and the chance for refreshment at the Gusphill Manor. There we were joined by horses and riders representing multiple periods taking time out from the Armour Behind the Abbey Event for a ride out over the battlefield. Getting up close with these impressive beasts set us up for the remainder of the tour, adding a touch of realism as we trod in their hoofprints into the Gaston field and onwards around the battlefield trail. In total, over 30 walkers participated in the tour, representing a capacity crowd. On arrival back in the town, many took the opportunity to visit the Armour Behind the Abbey site, while others headed for the Abbey itself to see 30 of the Society’s banners hung around the Abbey’s interior representing those who had fallen in the Battle and who were buried within its walls.

In all, this marked a packed weekend, showcasing the partnership between the Society, the Battlefields Trust, the Abbey and the Medieval Festival community, all dedicated to bringing history to life for the benefit of visitors and local residents alike while promoting the heritage which surrounds us.