Memorial Type:

Battlefield Monument

Does the monument still exist?

Yes

Installation Date:

Modern (1927)

Inscription:

Battle of Towton Palm Sunday 1461

Allegiance:

Not applicable

Condition Description:

Slight fading of the inscription but otherwise in good condition for a medieval high cross

Memorial Notes:

Cross erected to commemorate the battle of Towton. The cross was discovered in a hedgerow on the battlefield in the early 20th century and it was originally mounted on a short stone plinth. In the mid-1920s it was restored and mounted on a new, longer stone column by the Harrogate-based archaeologist James Ogden. It was erected in its current position in 1927. There is nothing, other than local folklore, to suggest it relates to the death of Lord Dacre (who according to 16th-century legend was shot with a crossbow by a boy hiding in a 'bur tree' on North Acres during the battle) nor that it has any association with the Towton battlefield chapel(s). It has subsequently become a centre of commemoration for those who fell on Palm Sunday 1461 (UM Lascelles,'Towton Cross: Editorial Notes' YAJ 29 (1927), 352).