This stand has taken
me probably 6 months. Mainly due to other things getting in the way but it has
taken more planning and a modest amount of conversion compared to normal. I
think only 2 or 3 figures had no modifications, though most of the others only had
minor changes.
The story goes that during the battle, that Randolf Dacre, 1st Lord Dacre of the North of
Gilsland, paused for a drink
and taking off his bevor, was shoot thorough the neck and killed. It is claimed
that he was hit by a bolt fired from behind a bur tree by the son of a man Lord
Dacre killed previously.
“This
Lord Dacres, as the report goeth, was slayne by a boy, at Towton Field, which
boy shot him out of a burtree, when he had unclasped his helmet to drink a cup
of wyne, in revenge of his father, whom the said lord had slayne before, which
tree hath beene remarkable ever since by the inhabitants, and decayed
within this few yeares. The place where he was slayne is called the
North Acres, whereupon they have this ryme. The Lord Dacres Was slayne in the
North Acres” Glover 1585
Hence the dead body in Yorkist colours and
the separate crossbow man. Who knows how true the story is but I thought it
made for a good vignette.
I’ve drawn heavily on
the excellent Towton Battlefield Archaeology Project site by Tim Sutherland. It includes a reference to the
location of the burr tree, based on the 1908 O/S map. Do have a look, I think
Sutherland is one of the most interesting researchers on Towton.
As the website notes,
archelogy around the location of “the tree” provided significant numerous
artifacts including human bones and Sutherland concluded that the “bur tree” is
a “probable site of former grave marker.”
Dacre is buried at
Saxton Church. His tomb states,
HIC JACET RANULPH / DNS DE DAKAR ET G[ILLESLAN]D VERU
MILES Z STRENUUS IN BELLO / PR… .HENRICO VI / …O DNI MCCCCLXI XXIX DIE
MNSI….RCII VIDL DNICA RAMIS PALMARU / CU’ AIE P’PCIET D’S AME
“Here lies Randolf, Lord of Dacre and
Gilsland, a true knight, valiant in battle in the service of King Henry VI, who
died on Palm Sunday, 29 March 1461, on whose soul may God have mercy, Amen.” Boardman
(1996, 90)
His burial is linked
to the other legend about him, that he was buried mounted on his horse.
Dacre’s banner, which
I’ve taken from the Lance and Longbow Heraldic Banners of the Wars of the Roses
booklet is a hard one – and is a photocopy-paint-on.
The other figure with a
coat of arms is Sir Thomas Hampden.
According to the Towton Battlefield Society list of combatants at
Towton, he fought with Dacre. I chose him as he comes from my current next of
the woods, the Chilterns. And was an ancestor of the far more important Sir
John Hampden, a key figure in the pollical debates that led to the English
Civil Wars. The family coat of arms is Argent a saltire glues between four
eagles azure.
Whether Thomas had this coat of arms is conjecture and I
have no proof beyond the TBS list that he was at Towton. The representation of the heraldry on the
figure isn’t great – the eagles are more aspirational than actual.
I’m currently working
on an annotated gazetteer of Oxford/Bucks gentry in the WORs, which I’ll post
on here in due course and there are likely to be a few more local figures in my
WoRs stands as I progress.
The figures are a mix of Perrys, Essexs and the Wargame
Foundry Swiss Character pack – the reminder of which may appear as C16th Scots in another project.
And Old Wardour is a hidden gem in Wiltshire.
I've seen some of these pieces in the flesh before but his personal
collection of battle, tournament and ceremenoial armour was hugh.
“This
Lord Dacres, as the report goeth, was slayne by a boy, at Towton Field, which
boy shot him out of a burtree, when he had unclasped his helmet to drink a cup
of wyne, in revenge of his father, whom the said lord had slayne before, which
tree hath beene remarkable ever since by the inhabitants, and decayed
within this few yeares. The place where he was slayne is called the
North Acres, whereupon they have this ryme. The Lord Dacres Was slayne in the
North Acres” Glover 1585
