Cannon ball fromWars of Roses fished out of river
‘Magnet fisherman’ believes he has found relic of 1471 Midland battle
IT was a major Midland battle which proved a turning point in the Wars of the Roses that ravaged the country in the 15th century.
Now amateur Birmingham historians believe they have found a crucial relic from the 1471 Battle of Tewkesbury – thanks to a bit of lucky magnet fishing.
‘Peaky Dippers’ member Glen Collins has discovered what he believes to be a rare Medieval cannon ball while trawling Tewkesbury’s River Avon, which runs besides the town centre and ancient battlefield.
The battle, on May 4, 1471, was one of the pivotal confrontations between the Yorkists and Lancastrians in the Wars of the Roses.
It sealed the power of King Edward IV and the Yorkists for 14 years before the climactic Battle of Bosworth in 1485 saw the crown won back by Henry Tudor.
Mr Collins, from Sutton Coldfield, only started magnet fishing in 2018 and the 551-year-old discovery was from his first trip to Tewkesbury.
He fished the treasure out of the water close to Healing’s Mill in the town centre.
He said that it was “the best thing he had found” since starting the hobby and that it was a “truly memorable experience”.
“I know it’s a cannon ball,” added
Mr Collins. “I’ve found many of them before. I couldn’t believe it. I 99.9 per cent know that it’s come from that historic event. For that not to be part of the battle would be very shocking.”
The ball is only a few inches in size and, Mr Collins says, would have been fired by a falconet, a light cannon developed in the late
15th century.
He is now offering the item to Tewkesbury Museum because he felt it should remain in the place where it was fired.
The Battle of Tewkesbury took place on fields close to the Gloucestershire town during a major fight for the English crown over
decades.
King Edward IV and his forces loyal to the House of York defeated rivals from the House of Lancaster.
Fields near the river are still known as Bloody Meadow today after the bloodshed there.
Mr Collins’ wife, Marie, who is also a member of the Dippers, said the cannon ball find had been “unbelievable”. She added that donating it to the museum would be the right thing to do as it would “preserve the history for our future generations”.