Last chance to walk around Fulford battlefield

Chas Jones, who has been fighting a rearguard legal action against plans to build hundreds of homes on what he believes is the site of the Battle of Fulford, says this weekend marks the 948th anniversary of the conflict on September 20, 1066.

He said the conflict was the first of the three that autumn which culminated in the Battle of Hastings.

He questioned whether the site would survive long enough for celebrations which were being planned to mark the 950th anniversary in 2016, with developers hoping to bury the land beneath a new road and having already fenced off much of it.

“This might be the last chance to appreciate the site before it is destroyed,” he said.

“People may not get another chance although I will fight them to the end and will have some exciting new finds from excavations this July to reveal soon.”

The Press reported in July how Mr Jones had lost a High Court skirmish over the site, with judges throwing out his challenge against English Heritage’s refusal to register the land as the site of the battle on the official Battlefield Register.

Having carried out extensive research, he had argued it was the most probable site but English Heritage concluded that even though it probably was the battlefield site, the evidence was insufficiently conclusive.

Mr Justice Lindblom said Mr Jones might be right in his belief but there had been no error of law by English Heritage.

Persimmon vowed earlier this year to start work on the housing development as soon as possible, after a different court challenge by Fulford Parish Council had been thrown out. 

* Mr Jones said walkers should meet at 11am tomorrow on the playing field, opposite Fulford Cemetery, on Fordlands Road - postcode YO19 4QG for satnavs, adding: “People will be able to see the site where the causeway over the ‘muddy ford’ which gave its name to the battle, discovered during the excavations in July and hear about the exciting finds of iron that were recovered.”