Events

Battlefields Trust Online Talk: English Battlefields: changing interpretations in the 21st century

Thursday 2nd October 2025

It is more than 20 years since Michael wrote his book 'English Battlefields: 500 battlefields that shaped English history'. The History Press has now published a fully updated second edition, which involved him revisiting the sites covered in the first edition, as well as adding several new entries. It was perhaps surprising just how many changes of interpretations of battles and their battlefields have taken place in these years, often due to work under the auspices of the Battlefields Trust, but also by other individuals and organisations. In addition, it is very pleasing to see the large increase in on-site information panels and similar, as well as events and local groups. This talk will provide a summary of these changes, looking at key examples, as well as the development of battlefield studies and presentation.

MICHAEL RAYNER is Chair of the Battlefields Trust’s Battlefield Panel, and a member of Historic England’s Expert Advisory Group. He has been at the forefront of battlefield preservation and interpretation in the UK for over 30 years since helping to set up the Battlefields Trust in the early 1990s, following the A14 being built across the southern part of Naseby battlefield. He is the author of English Battlefields (2025, The History Press), a fully updated edition of English Battlefields: 500 battles that shaped English history (2004 & 2007, Tempus.) His other work includes Battlefields: Exploring the Arenas of War, 1805-1945. He lives in Norfolk.

 

 
 

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