Alfred H. Burne - The Battlefields of England

PEN & SWORD MILITARY CLASSICS

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First published in 1950 by Methuen
Published in 2005, in this format, by
PEN & SWORD MILITARY CLASSICS
an imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Limited
47 Church Street
Barnsley
S. Yorkshire
S70 2AS

Copyright the Trustees of Alfred H. Burne, 2005
Introduction Robert Hardy, 2005

ISBN 1 84415 206 5

The right of Alfred H. Burne to be
identified as Author of this Work has
been asserted by them in accordance with
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical
including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.

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To
Alan W. Lidderdale
who sowed the seed

and to
Peter Young
who by his penetrating but kindly criticism did his
best to improve this book

THE Battlefields Trust is a registered charity, which has been formed to help save battlefield sites (both in Britain and abroad) from destruction, and preserve them for posterity as educational and heritage resources. That such an organisation was necessary did not occur to its founder members until Naseby battlefield was partially destroyed by the construction of the A1/M1 link road in 1992. It seemed quite incredible that such an important, and until then, largely unchanged battlefield should be consigned to the bulldozers with such ease. If such a fate could befall Naseby in the year of the Civil Wars 350th anniversary, then what chance would other, less well known sites have if faced with development plans?

A conference was arranged on the theme of Ancient Battlefields as National Treasures by Mr Kelvin van Hasselt. The feelings of delegates were so strong that The Battlefields Trust was set up with the aims described above. Already it has helped to prevent gravel extraction at Blore Heath in Staffordshire (1459), has sat on the English Heritage Battlefields Register Panel and campaigned against developments which would threaten the battlefields of First and Second Newbury (1643, 1644) and Tewkesbury (1471). In addition many events furthering the interpretation of battlefields have been staged, including field days, study days and conferences, the latter attracting delegates from as far afield as Japan, South Africa and the U.S.A.

The Battlefields Trust is keen to work with owners of battlefields to help them improve the presentation and interpretation of their sites, so that through encouraging more visitors and by raising the profile of battlefields any threats from development will disappear. With the publication of English Heritages Battlefield Register, planners will have to consider the importance of any battlefield listed before any development can take place. However, battlefields still have no legal protection, and only major English battlefields are included on the Register.