Though this event is marked each year with a march through the city, it struck a particular chord this time, and an article in your Express exploring the significance of the fight has since been read tens of thousands of times online. This week, we’re taking a look back at the castle’s more recent history, which has featured archaeological digs, reenactments and reconstructions but, thankfully, fewer battles.
1.
Volunteers from the Towton Battlefield Society the Company of Palm Sunday 1461 lay wreaths in memory of the Battle of Wakefield in 2005. Helen Cox and Stuart Ivinson hold the wreaths for the Yorkists and Lancastrians in front of Sandal Castle.
2.
Children are given training lessons in the old arts of the medieval battlefield at a Sandal Castle Open day in 2014.
3.
An aerial view of the castle site, including the village of Sandal and, in the background, Pugneys Country Park, in June 2004.
4.
Left, the dig continues. Right, Phil Mayes, Director of Archaeology at Sandal Castle, Wakefield pictured by the doorway to the Sally-Port, which was a secure, controlled entryway, to the castle, in August 1973.