Note 92a — Chapter VI · THE FIELD OF THE BATTLE OF TOWTON. [81a]

It is scarcely possible to understand why it is stated, in a short paper, by the Rev. George Fyler Townsend, professing to give some account of the battle, and communicated at the meeting of the Archæological Institute, held at York, in July 1846 (see report of the proceedings, pages 12 to 16), that the Lancastrians were drawn up at “Dartingdale,” or “Tartingdale,” between Towton and Saxton. I was informed, in reply to my inquiries made in the neighbourhood, that no person living near there, ever heard of such names. The rev. writer seems to have confused those names with Towton Dale. He also erroneously states, that the Lords Clifford, Northumberland, and Dacre, drew up their men, and that those “three Lancastrian leaders all met their deaths in this battle.” It apparently escaped his recollection, that Lord Clifford was slain on the previous day.