The Longbow in Bolton.
During the middle ages weekly practice of the longbow was a regular occurrence thoughout the land, in fact it was made law. So we can safely say that some of the people from Bolton and the surrounding areas were indeed shooting the bow at a practice ground now long forgotten. Locally it has been written that Bolton sent men to fight at Agincourt in the Hundred Years War, if this is true and whether these where archers no one knows. But what we do know is that in September 1513 Sir Edward Stanley led local forces which included a contingent of archers from Bolton in the English army at the battle of Flodden Field, the last great medieval battle of the British Isles and the swansong of the Longbow. The Bolton archers where forever remembered in a verse from 'The ballad of Flodden' with the line:
"with lusty lads-liver and lights- from Bolton-i'th' Moors
The lusty Lads were also recalled in a stone inscription,long since lost on the wall enclosing the old parish church:
"The bolt shot well I ween
From arabalist of yew green,
Many nobles prostrate lay
At glorious Flodden Field."
An ancient yew tree stood on the south side of the Bolton parish church yard and was said to have provide some of the wood for bows and arrows of the Bolton archers.
and if your thinking of making a longbow have a look at
http://ynotcoppice.weebly.com/
During the middle ages weekly practice of the longbow was a regular occurrence thoughout the land, in fact it was made law. So we can safely say that some of the people from Bolton and the surrounding areas were indeed shooting the bow at a practice ground now long forgotten. Locally it has been written that Bolton sent men to fight at Agincourt in the Hundred Years War, if this is true and whether these where archers no one knows. But what we do know is that in September 1513 Sir Edward Stanley led local forces which included a contingent of archers from Bolton in the English army at the battle of Flodden Field, the last great medieval battle of the British Isles and the swansong of the Longbow. The Bolton archers where forever remembered in a verse from 'The ballad of Flodden' with the line:
"with lusty lads-liver and lights- from Bolton-i'th' Moors
The lusty Lads were also recalled in a stone inscription,long since lost on the wall enclosing the old parish church:
"The bolt shot well I ween
From arabalist of yew green,
Many nobles prostrate lay
At glorious Flodden Field."
An ancient yew tree stood on the south side of the Bolton parish church yard and was said to have provide some of the wood for bows and arrows of the Bolton archers.
and if your thinking of making a longbow have a look at
http://ynotcoppice.weebly.com/