Returning to Lede by way of Newstead (situated half a mile west of the beck, where also is the old stead and signs of early occupation, a unique moated site very indicative of a long history) we now follow the beck to the old mill, known as Lead Mill, although standing in the parish of Saxton. A twelfth-century deed of Robert Patefin, lord of Towton, Roger Berkin and Alice his wife (whose first husband was Roger Paytefin), grants them all the town of Towton, yet so that the men of Towton, as they were wont to do, should grind at Paytefin’s Mill of Saxton, saving to Roger and Alice, his wife, the “ multure of their house quit,” for all the life of the same Alice. In the reign of Edward I. Alice de Laci gave to Margaret Kirkton (daughter of Alexander de Kirkton, sheriff of Yorkshire), her damsel and a great favourite, the bodies amid lands (holden in villeiiiage) of Ralph Brown and George Saxton, both of Lede.
On the Saturday morning, 28th of March, preceding the battle, the Lancastrian army was moving southwards towards Towton. The Yorkists, under the personal command of Edward and Warwick, were encamped at Ponitefract, from whence Lord Fitz-Walter, with a body of picked troops, had been despatched to guard the ford at Ferrybridge, the only available crossing place in the district.
The Lancastrian faction sends Lord Clifford rushing south to Ferrybridge from their powerbase at York while they move their equally immense forces south of Tadcaster to Towton to take up a strong position there upon the plateau north of Saxton. Lord Clifford successfully takes over the bridge at Ferrybridge and destroys it. Lord Warwick slays his horse and tells anyone who wishes to leave to do so now. The Yorkists then cross the river upstream at Castleford, thus outflanking Clifford and causing him to retreat back north to the main Lancastrian force‘s position. An attempt to dislodge Clifford at the ford being of no avail, a detachment crossed three miles higher up the Aire, at Castleford, to cut off Clifford from the main body of Lancastrians. Perceiving the ruse, he fell back towards Towton but not sharp enough to elude the advanced guard of the Yorkists who probably pushed forward by the old Roman way, and over Hook Moor, reaching Dintingdale, a small valley running between Saxton and the Ferrybridge and York Road, the way by which Clifford and his staunch men of Craven were retreating.
The Yorkists, foreseeing this possibility, send a detachment of mounted archers to ambush him at Dintingdale between Towton and Sherburn-in-Elmet, and he is killed. They then advance their main force to Dintingdale and Saxton and there take up their own position upon the plateau, with the woods to their left. The Yorkists occupied the high ridge of land immediately south of Saxton, stretching from Scarthingwell towards the Cock at the Crooked Billet. The Lancastrian divisions occupied the high land immediately around Towton, having about two miles of front, the left wing spreading south-east of Towton, the right feaching from Towton half a mile or more west, to where the land falls sharply down into the swamp of the Cock at Renshaw Wood. There, in the little valley, a smart skirmish took place; Clifford and the yeomen of the west fought bravely against overpowering numbers. Few escaped to tell the story of disaster. The next morning, Palm Sunday, the main battle begins. Yorkist Lord Fauconberg launches an arrow storm into the Lancastrians backed by a snowstorm and supporting wind. There is devastation within the Lancastrian ranks. The Lancastrians counter attack with foot soldiers up the slope which is on their right flank. The slaughter then begins that names the area ‘Bloody Meadow’ to this day.
This battle took place on the morning of Palm Sunday, 1461. The Sabbath had only just broken into day, which found the two armies, composed of the best and bravest of England’s sons, ready for the coming fight. The tide of battle at last set against the House of Lancaster by the arrival of five thousand fresh Yorkist troops. No quarter had been given at the battle of Wakefield where the black-faced Clifford, in cold blood, slew the innocent Rutland; now at Towton Edward commanded that no quarter should be given, and only too well were his orders carried out, for at eventide, upwards. of thirty-thousand of the bravest and noblest of England’s sons lay dead or dying on the ghastly field. The old Norman track turned sharply to the left at Towton town end, passed down the precipitous slope on the north side of Renshaw Wood to Cock Bridge, climbed the opposite ridge, and thence along the west side of Stutton into Tadcaster; such was the ground the beaten army had to retreat by, exhausted. It may be said that an 'order of battle' in the days of archery would require some 25,000 men to a mile of front.