The Wars of the Roses: New online resource reveals memories

Audley’s Cross commemorating the 1459 Battle of Blore Heath

The Wars of the Roses Memorial Database is a new online resource that highlights the significant and long-lasting impact of the Wars of the Roses on the country and its population with a guide to the many monuments that mark this critical but often overlooked historical period.

The intermittent series of battles and rebellions against royal authority which took place in the second half of the fifteenth century has left an indelible mark on the English landscape, its churches, and our historical imagination, not least in Shakespeare’s works, modern TV dramas such as The White Queen and Game of Thrones, and novels such as Ravenspur, The Kingmaker’s Daughter, and The King’s Mother.

Whilst some memorial chapels were dedicated at the time to those killed in the battles of the Wars, memorialisation has been a piecemeal affair, its extent underestimated and many memorials lost or forgotten.

Yet, as the Wars of the Roses Memorial Database reveals, anyone walking the streets of Britain today may encounter monuments or markers that provide a direct link to the people, places and events of the Wars of the Roses. Ranging from 15^th century funerary monuments and later memorials dedicated to some of the major protagonists and events, to stained-glass windows, plaques and more recent interpretation panels at noteworthy locations. The online guide allows users to search by memorial type, allegiance, or location.

David Grummitt, an Open University historian and member of the Battlefields Trust Advisory Panel, was the academic lead on the project: “The Wars of the Roses Memorial Database is a crowd sourced heritage resource that can be used, and added to, by everyone interested in this period of history. It reveals how history, myth and heritage have come together to tell stories about this period of English history. Over time, we hope the Database will emerge as a key resource for those wanting to discover how the Wars of the Roses have shaped our national and local history and shared cultural memory.”

Entries in the database range from the iconic, such as the recently installed tomb of King Richard III in Leicester cathedral, to the idiosyncratic, including the Blore Heath smithy plaque which records the legend of a local blacksmith who reversed the shoes on Queen Margaret’s horse to aid her escape after the battle of Blore Heath in September 1459.

Led by the Battlefields Trust, the database has been supported by the Mortimer History Society, the Northamptonshire Battlefields Society, the Richard III Society, the Tewkesbury Battlefield Society, and the Yorkist History Trust. With over 150 records online at present, the site invites further submissions from the public for consideration.

A rich resource for anyone interested in the Wars of the Roses, British heritage, UK travel or the downright quirky, the Wars of the Roses Memorial Database is now accessible.

An official launch took place at Delapré Abbey in Northampton on Wednesday 15 October 2025. The launch was covered by BBC Look East evening news and on the BBC website.