Atlas of Battles

battle, major, medieval

Battle of Towton

Battle of Towton was a battle fought on 29 March 1461 at Towton, in what is now United Kingdom. It was part of the Wars of the Roses, which ran from 1455 to 1487. The recorded result: Yorkist victory.

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Image for battles of the Wars of the Roses where York was victorious.
Image for battles of the Wars of the Roses where York was victorious.. Sodacan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Fought29 March 1461
WhereTowton, United Kingdom53.840N, 1.268W
OutcomeYorkist victory
BelligerentsHouse of YorkagainstHouse of Lancaster
Battlefield todayBattle of Towton, battlefieldHistoric England entry 1000040, 659 ha
Part ofWars of the Roses1455 to 1487

Where it sits in the Wars of the Roses

First Battle of St Albans, 1455Battle of Blore Heath, 1459Battle of Ludford Bridge, 1459Battle of Sandwich (1460), 1459Battle of Northampton, 1460Battle of Worksop, 1460Battle of Wakefield, 1460Battle of Mortimer's Cross, 1461Second Battle of St Albans, 1461Battle of Ferrybridge, 1461Battle of Towton, 1461Battle of Tuthill, 1461Battle of Piltown, 1462Battle of Hedgeley Moor, 1464Battle of Hexham, 1464Battle of Edgcote, 1469Battle of Losecoat Field, 1470Battle of Barnet, 1471Battle of Tewkesbury, 1471Siege of London (1471), 1471Battle of Bosworth Field, 1485Battle of Stoke Field, 148714551487Battle of Towton, 1461
22 placed engagements of the Wars of the Roses in time order; taller ticks are more widely documented. Each tick is a link.

Record

Date29 March 1461
PlaceTowton, United Kingdom
53.840N, 1.268W
KindBattle, medieval
Commanders
Battle of TowtonBattle of TowtonBattle of Bramham MoorBattle of Bramham Moor5 km53.840N, 1.268W
The recorded site, with the nearest other engagements in the atlas. The dashed outline is the registered battlefield area (Historic England). Present-day coastlines, rivers and borders; towns from Natural Earth.

The ground today

Relief of the ground around the site of Battle of Towton
Relief within about 10.0 km of the site, contours every 10 m. Copernicus DEM GLO-30, ESA.
Satellite view of the site of Battle of Towton today
The same ground from Sentinel-2 on 2025-05-13. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2025.

The recorded site stands at about 35 m; within 10.0 km the ground runs from 2 to 100 m, 98 m of relief, gently rolling country and today it is 66% cropland, 20% grassland, 12% tree cover.

cropland: 66%grassland: 20%tree cover: 12%cropland 66%grassland 20%tree cover 12%
west to east, 10.0 km4 to 81 mnorth to south, 10.0 km7 to 48 m
Elevation from the Copernicus DEM GLO-30 (ESA, Airbus); land cover from ESA WorldCover 2021 (CC BY 4.0), within about 5 km of the recorded site. Computed, not recorded.

Nearest engagements

Contested ground: this site was fought over 4 times between 1408 and 1643.

In the same war

Elsewhere in 1461

Historic England registers this as the Battle of Towton, battlefield (entry 1000040), 659 hectares, under the Open Government Licence.

Battle of Towton is one of 720 engagements of the 15th century in the atlas and one of 695 in present-day United Kingdom.

Sources

Identity, coordinates, dates and the war from Wikidata Q634629, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Battle of Towton, revision 1385628837, read 2026-11-14, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the article's text is not reproduced here. Present-day country and state from Natural Earth. Battlefield boundary and area from Historic England (Open Government Licence). Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.