As the nation marks the interment of Richard III, Chipping Barnet MP, Theresa Villiers, has revealed that the Battle of Barnet – one of the greatest victories of Edward IV and his brother the Duke of Gloucester who later became Richard III – may not have taken place around Hadley Green and Hadley Highstone in Barnet as has been believed up to now, but in fact may have been located further up the road towards Potters Bar.
Theresa Villiers said: “Academics from the University of Huddersfield have been researching the precise location of the Battle of Barnet and they have told me they now believe that the most likely site is just outside the borough of Barnet. I cannot reveal the precise location because of the need to conserve the site, but I feel that it is very important that thorough research now takes place on the Battle of Barnet and its location.”
“The University and the Barnet Museum, are applying to local charity, the Hadley Trust, and the Heritage Lottery Fund for funding to carry out this much needed research, and those applications have my enthusiastic support.”
“The crowds lining the streets of Leicester to see Richard III’s coffin carried to their cathedral demonstrate the widespread interest in the last of the Plantagenet kings and the civil war of the 15th century. So the time is now right for us to understand much more about a battle which was one of the greatest victories of the House of York.”
“Even if it turns out to be true that the battle actually took place just outside Barnet, I still believe that we can capitalise on the interest in historic battlefields to bring more visitors to our high street and to our local museum. There could be lessons to be learned from Tewkesbury. That is the town to which Edward IV and his brother Richard travelled after the Battle of Barnet and defeated their Lancastrian rivals once again. In Tewkesbury, there are a range of events to commemorate the battle that took place there, including an annual re-enactment.”
“Supporting our local town centres and high streets is one of my highest priorities as MP for Chipping Barnet and I hope to see more visitors drawn to our area because of the historic events which took place so nearby.”
The Battle of Barnet took place in Easter 1471. It marked the return of Edward IV and the future Richard III after a period in exile in Europe. They had fled the country because of the temporary return to the throne of the Lancastrian monarch, Henry VI, after the powerful Earl of Warwick (‘the Kingmaker’) switched from the Yorkist to the Lancastrian side. The weather played an important role in the battle because fog caused confusion with some elements of Warwick’s army attacking one another. The Earl of Warwick was killed in the battle.
Key events in the battle were believed to have taken place around the junction of Hadley Highstone and Kitts End Road in High Barnet where a memorial stone now stands.
The Battle of Barnet was always believed to be the only battlefield site in Greater London. So if the latest academic studies are correct, London has lost its only battlefield.
Themes from 15th century conflict between the two branches of the Plantagenet family, York and Lancaster (known in later times as the Wars of the Roses) appear to have influenced the writer, George RR Martin, and his Games of Thrones books which set out the violent dynastic struggles of the fictional families of Stark and Lannister.