My friend and colleague on the Northamptonshire Battlefields Society committee, Simon Marsh, is also the Research and Threats Coordinator for the Battlefields Trust. This year he has been organising events and activities to mark the 30th anniversary of the Register of Historic Battlefields maintained by Historic England. There are only 47 battlefields on the register. The criteria to get on is tough. The battlefield must be historically significant, it must be securely located in the landscape and it must still exist.in such a state that it tells us something about the battle. Alas several well known battles do not make it on to the list. These include 2nd Newbury, and 1st & 2nd St Albans, lost under modern developments.
To mark the anniversary Simon has produced a book for the Battlefields Trust, called "The Crossing of Swords". This is described as "A field guide to registered historic battlefields in England". What this means is it isn't a detailed history. What it is, is a book that clearly tells you enough background to the battle to understand it, where it is and how you can visit it. Each battle gets two pages, one of text and one a colour map. The map shows the registered area and the likely troop deployments, where known, overlaid on a modern Ordnance Survey map extract. The map is labelled with locations of car parks and information boards, and the text tells whether there are local visitor centres or museums with further information. It also tells you whether there are any issues with accessing the location, possibly saving you a wasted trip.
At two pages per battle the book runs to just under a 100 pages in foolscap size. The book is £15, and has been self published through Amazon by the Trust. You can find it here: link .
The thing with books about battles - especially those which cover several battles - is who are they intended for and do they bring anything new to the table? So what about this one? Let's start with what it isn't. This book is NOT a definitive guide to all the battles in Britain. It isn't intended to be. It is aimed at people who want to visit battlefields in England. As such, it is perfect for both the experienced and casual visitor who wants to visit a battlefield they're not familiar with. It contains the practical information you need and a proper map you can use. And - get this - the information for each battle is on a two page spread. No irritation from the map being on the next page, or the information broken up by pictures you don't need. In that respect there isn't anything that does this job so well for our registered battlefields that I know of. The combination of information and maps makes this the best book of its type you can get. Buy a copy for yourself, and also for your friends who say things like "we really should visit (insert name of battlefield here)" if you need a good Christmas gift idea. Profits go to support the work of the Trust, which is very worthy of your support.
So don't delay - order todat.
[Note: Northamptonshire Battlefields Society has copies of the book in stock, and we will be selling it at our meetings and on our show stand. Members of NBS can get it for the discounted price of £12.50]
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