Throughout our national history battles, as opposed to the frequent small-scale fights and skirmishes involving a few people on either side, were relatively rare. Bringing two armies together in full-scale conflict was a hazardous business with the ever-present possibility of defeat. Too much could go wrong and often did. A battle is a throw of the dice and the outcome is not always what might have been predicted.  Many battles were part of our national story and the location is incidental to the narrative and even accidental in the sense that they could easily have happened somewhere else. Why then should they have a place in the study of ‘local’ history?

In some cases battles were a part of a regional conflict or the regional aspect of a national struggle. The most prominent of these centres on the north east of England and the Scottish borders. Over a period of more than 500 years the rulers of England and Scotland fought to decide the issue of Scottish sovereignty and this struggle had a major impact on the identity and culture of the people living in that area.  The Wars of the Roses was not so much a national civil war as a family squabble between the descendants of Edward III. It was, however, substantially fought on a regional basis and much of England was untouched by it. For long periods most of the kingdom – the South, Midlands, East Anglia and West Country – was at peace.  The British Civil Wars of the 17th century were fought substantially on a regional basis prior to the creation of the New Model Army in 1645 provide a force able to operate anywhere in the country.  On top of all of this, battles happened somewhere and inevitably had an impact on the local population even where the armies were drawn from other parts of the country.  People are always interested in ‘history on their doorstep’ and it is said that no-one lives more than half-an-hour’s drive from a battlefield in much of the UK.

Over the past fifteen years I have led a number of projects for the Battlefields Trust - https://www.battlefieldstrust.com/ - where we have looked in detail at a particular engagement. This has involved not just the few hours of fighting but the wider political, economic and social context, the technology that created the weapons used, the strategic framework and the lasting impact on the locality.  Without exception we have had great support from local residents, many of whom had no idea of just what had happened so close to their homes and have become active volunteers in our projects.  In addition, these projects have been able to excite interest in younger people through our associated work with schools and youth groups and we have created a number of free resource packs for use by teachers in schools and colleges.  My own experience has been echoed around the country in the many other projects that the Battlefields Trust has undertaken.

Recent discussions between the BALH and the Battlefields Trust have lead us to believe that combining the resources and experience of our two organisations to work together on local projects centred on some of the 350+ known UK battles would be a beneficial and worthwhile collaboration.  Both of our organisations have a mission to engage more people of all ages in understanding and investigating their local history and I look forward to developing ways in which we can achieve this together.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the British Association for Local History (BALH). Any content provided by our contributors is of their own opinion and is not intended to malign any individual, group, organisation, or entity.