Boot Inn marks Battle of St Albans

Debbie White

Published: 5:59 AM July 29, 2013 Updated: 2:48 PM November 1, 2020

The Battlefields Trust has presented the Boot Inn with an information panel commemorating the location of the pub during the First Battle of St Albans. Pictured with the panel are Harvey Watson and Will Hughes. - Credit: Photo supplied

A PANEL commemorating its link to the opening conflict of the Wars of the Roses has been presented to an historic St Albans pub.

The Boot in Market Place is the first pub to be “adopted” by the Battlefields Trust as a “Battlefields Pub” – a public house that is on or near the site of a British battlefield.

The First Battle of St Albans took place on May 22, 1455, and was the opening battle in the Wars of the Roses between the Houses of York and Lancaster.

Parts of The Boot date back to around the time of that initial battle, which resulted in a victory for the Yorkists. But the Wars continued for more than 30 years, climaxing in 1485 with the defeat and death of Yorkist King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth before ending at the Battle of Stoke Field in 1487.

Members of the trust presented pub landlord Will Hughes with an information panel commemorating the inn’s location during the First Battle of St Albans.

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The organisation is a charity dedicated to the preservation, interpretation and presentation of battlefield sites as educational and heritage resources.

It stages battlefield walks, visits and study days throughout the year.