The New Murrey and Blue blog

battlefield archaelogy

Pinpointing the Battle of Barnet….

Apr 14, 2023

anniversaries, battles, genealogy, heraldry

badges, Barnet, Barnet Battlefield Project, battlefield archaelogy, Edward IV, Elizabeth Wydeville, fog, George Duke of Clarence, Hadley Green, Hertfordshire, John Neville Marquis of Montagu, Nevilles, Richard III, Richard of Warwick, Wars of the Roses, weather

On 14th April 1471, Easter Sunday, in thick fog, was fought one of the pivotal battles of the Wars of the Roses, when the Yorkist Edward IV took on and defeated the by-then-Lancastrian Earl of Warwick, who was killed in the aftermath while trying to escape. His brother Montagu was killed as well. The…
On the trail of the golden dragon of Wessex….

Feb 15, 2019

archaeology, battles, buildings, heraldry

“Tudors”, Aethelbald of Mercia, Anglo-Saxons, Arthur. Uther Pendragon, Battle of Burford, battlefield archaelogy, coffins, Cuthbert of Wessex, Dorset, Elizabeth I, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Golden Dragon, Harold II, Owain Glyn Dwr, Plantagenets, Salisbury, St. Edmund, William Camden

The Golden Dragon of Burford in Oxfordshire isn’t a takeaway! It’s the pagan banner of the Anglo-Saxon King of Mercia, Aethelbert, who was defeated at the Battle of Burford in AD 752 by Cuthbert, King of the West Saxons. Aethelbert’s golden–dragon banner was taken, and for centuries the outcome of this battle was celebrated in…