London's Lost Battlefields

Modern London has many hidden ghosts of bloodshed and rebellion on its streets, from the infamous rebel Boudicca to the devastating but little-known Zeppelin attacks of the First World War. The Peasants' Revolt of 1381 saw murder and plunder in central London, notably where the present-day Savoy Hotel is located. Thirty two rebels, drinking wine in the cellars, were trapped by fire and falling masonry. After several agonizing days they died there. St. Albans was the site of two vicious battles during the Wars of the Roses, when an eyewitness said that the market place ran with blood. Under a nearby field in Barnet lie the bodies of between 3,000 and 4,000 forgotten soldiers of the Wars of the Roses. The Wyatt Rebellion, 1544, saw London's streets again awash with blood, and gallows set up all over the city by Bloody Queen Mary to take her revenge. 1642 saw two London English Civil War battles, at Brentford and Turnham Green. Many fleeing Parliamentarian soldiers jumped into the Thames at Brentford and drowned. Some were buried anonymously on Hounslow Heath. Parts of central London still bear the shrapnel marks of the Zeppelin attacks that killed 200 Londoners and injured many more. This book tells you where to find the city's battle scars, bringing to life the hidden, bloody side of our capital's history.