Bolton longbow archers commemorate battle of Flodden Field

The Flodden Marks Company of Longbowmen will be commemorating the 505th anniversary of the Battle of Flodden in a special event at Turton on Sunday.

Mr Jason Stokes, who helped found the company 14 years ago, said: “If you happened to walk past the stone wall enclosing the old Parish Church of Bolton at some time before 1701, the following inscription would have caught your eye:-

The bolt shot well I ween,

From arablast of yew tree green;

Many nobles prostrate lay

At glorious Flodden Field.

Mr Stokes said: “The inscription was there to remind the people of the town that Boltonians fought in battle of Flodden Field, and the Ballad titled Flodden Field, tells us of the ‘Lusty lads from Bolton i’th Moors’.

“These lusty lads from Bolton who plied their trade upon that field as our tradition tells us, would have honed their skills with the longbow in the meadows and fields around Bolton.

“The Flodden Marks Company of Longbowmen was formed to continue the tradition of shooting and roving regularly with the longbow at the marks in the meadows and fields around Bolton.”

Marks are symbols painted on wood which longbowmen use in much the same way as golfers use flags by holes.

Enthusiasts fire from one mark to another on land rented out by farmers and landowners.

For this Sunday’s event, Mr Stokes spent months creating 11 marks depicting the coast of arms of Scottish nobles who fell in the Battle of Flodden.

“It’s a nice nod to the losses the Scottish army suffered,” he said.

Explaining his interest in the sport, he said: “At first I got into traditional archery but I discovered longbow archery required more skill and was more instinctive.

“There’s no shelf, no sights, it’s just you the wood and the string. It’s much more challenging and I think of it as the fly-fishing of the archery world.”

The Battle of Flodden Field

THE Battle of Flodden was the most significant invasion of England by Scotland and the greatest battle between the two countries.

Leading the Scots was James IV, while Henry VIII led the English.

The battle was triggered by Henry VIII tearing up a treaty that his father had signed with James IV, which the latter believed was a formal recognition of Scottish independence.

Stung by the insult, James crossed the River Tweed – the historical boundary between the two countries - on August 22, 1513. The Scottish quickly took all the major fortresses in Northumberland.

The Earl of Surrey, who commanded the English army, sent diplomat Thomas Hawley to the Scottish side with an offer of battle. James accepted and the battle was decided for September 9.

However, when Surrey realised the Scottish army had a huge advantage by being based on Flodden Hill, he argued that the sides had agreed to fight on flat ground.

A furious James ignored this so Surrey moved his army north-eastwards towards Berwick, then doubled backed with the intention of attacking the Scottish army from the rear.

Unfortunately for the English, James and his troops got to their intended position first meaning they still had the advantage of being on higher ground.

The battle began at 4pm but both sides struggled due to the atrocious weather. Just as James and his men began to get the upper hand,they hit boggy ground and Surrey brought in his reserve men.

They dropped their pikes and brought out their swords, but were then fighting against the 8½ foot bill, an adapted agricultural scything tool. The English common soldier now had the advantage.

The Scottish army was soon under attack on three sides. Their situation was made worse when the English archers began a rear attack.

By the end of the battle 10,000 of the he 34,000 Scottish soldiers were dead, along with James IV himself. By comparison, there were only 4,000 English fatalities.

England had won and, as a reward, Henry VIII made the Earl of Surrey the Duke of Norfolk.