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The epic battle at the crossroads

Around 9,000 men fought at Mortimer's Cross, between Kingsland and Aymestry, with nearly 4,000 dead from one of the most consequential battles of the Wars of the Roses.

Around 9,000 men fought at Mortimer's Cross, between Kingsland and Aymestry, with nearly 4,000 dead from one of the most consequential battles of the Wars of the Roses.

A key moment in English history, in 1491, Owen Tudor's Lancastrians were on the march to join Queen Margaret's army, but were defeated by Edward, Earl of March, who would later be crowned King Edward IV.

Owen Tudor would later be executed in Hereford's High Town, with a plaque marking where he was killed still visible to this day.

The landscape of the battle, and the solar phenomenon that preceded it, a parhelion, inspired a passage in Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 3.

Nicola Goodwin reports, with historian Jason O'Keefe.

Image credit: 大象传媒

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7 minutes