The ghosts of Bloody Meadow, Tewkesbury
Tewkesbury's battle took place on 4 May 1471. Local stories place ghosts around the battlefield, the abbey and a pub.
The battle of Tewkesbury was fought on 4 May 1471 between Lancastrians and the House of York. Love British History says the three York brothers, Edward IV, George of Clarence and Richard of Gloucester, fought together again. Wikipedia records that Somerset's division was routed and most of his troops were cut down as they fled toward the Severn. The long meadow beside the Colnbrook is still called Bloody Meadow.
Cotswold Life says the town has many reported ghosts and runs a Hallowe'en walk around the battlefield. It lists a ghostly figure wearing a velvet doublet in the grounds and a screaming woman in white outside the abbey, and asks whether they are the young prince and a camp follower or Queen Margaret. Love British History adds an apparition of a Lancastrian soldier, in the telling, seen where the Black Bear pub stands.
"Somerset's battle was routed, and his surviving troops tried to escape across the Severn. Most were cut down as they fled. The long meadow astride the Colnbrook leading down to the river is known to this day as "Bloody Meadow".[23] Somerset galloped up to Wenlock, commanding the centre, and demanded to know why Wenlock had failed to support him. According to legend (recounted in Edward Hall's chronicle, written several years afterwards though from first-hand accounts), he did not wait for an answer but dashed out Wenlock's brains with a battleaxe[24] before seeking sanctuary in the Abbey."
- A ghostly walk across Tewkesbury's Bloody Meadow, Great British Life (Cotswold Life)
- Bloody Meadow and The Battle of Tewkesbury, Love British History (2025)