Wars of the Roses

A guide to the buildings, monuments, towns and battlefields of the Civil Wars across both England and Wales—includes photographs.

The Wars of the Roses ravaged England and Wales by warfare for three decades, saw dynasties rise and fall, decimated the nobility of an entire generation, witnessed the rise of the merchant class, the decline of medieval feudalism and opened the country to the enlightened ideals of the Renaissance. So lasting were its effects that the red and white rose of the Tudors is still a national symbol.

This book is an exploration of the buildings, monuments, towns and battlefields of that turbulent era across both England and Wales – places that can still be visited and experienced today. The stories of the great battles of St Albans, Stoke Field, Wakefield, Townton, Barnet, Tewksbury and, of course, Bosworth, are told along with beautiful photographs to help guide the reader round these important sites, as well as the dozens of smaller engagements where the supporters of the Houses of York and Lancaster fought and died.

Here are castles and manor houses galore, all of which played their part in this protracted struggle for the throne of England, such as Richard of York’s imposing powerbase of Lulow Castle and the magnificent Tudor stronghold of Bamburg. These, and scores of other places, monuments, plaques, buildings and battlegrounds, represent not only a journey across England and Wales, but a journey back in time to the bloody conflict that was the War of the Roses.