A fresh attempt is being made to find the precise site of the 1471 Battle of Barnet -- a location that continues to prove elusive despite extensive previous searches and years of study by historians and archaeologists.

A widely held view is that this epic confrontation during the Wars of the Roses took place in and around Hadley Green or Hadley Highstone.

To test a new theory, a team of archaeologists and enthusiasts led by Peter Masters, a research fellow at Cranfield University forensic institute, spent the day surveying the golf course of the nearby Old Fold Manor Golf Club, long thought of as a likely site.

Rarely seen historical records will be examined as part of the project which is heightening interest in the possibility that High Barnet’s historic Tudor Hall might become a national visitor centre for the Wars of the Roses.

Mr Masters was joined in his survey of the golf course by members of the Hendon and District Archaeological Society and the Barnet Society -- see above, from left to right, Steve Hatch, Bill Bass, archaeological graduate Victoria Judith Igary, Peter Masters, Kit Carstairs and Nick Saul.

This fresh investigation is part of a wider initiative to re-open the search for the site which is being suggested by the Battlefield Trust and which has the support of Barnet Museum, Barnet Medieval Festival and the Barnet Society, and which could lead to the creation of a new Battle of Barnet partnership.

Barnet is the only registered battlefield site within Greater London, but historians and archaeologists have failed to agree on the precise location of the clash between the Lancastrian and Yorkist armies on 14 April 1471 – other than to say it probably took place on fields up to a mile north of Barnet.

National and local enthusiasts are determined not to be defeated despite an inconclusive report published in 2021 after a four-year search project which concentrated on land around Kitts End Lane, to the north of Hadley Green.

No definitive battle-related evidence was found during several archaeological digs which were led Glenn Foard, Reader in Military Archaeology at the University of Huddersfield, who was unable to repeat the success of locating the site of the 1485 Battle of Bosworth Field, but who recommended further research into sites north of Barnet.

While Peter Masters acknowledges the efforts made by the Huddersfield University team, he believes that ideas for further research which he has been pursuing at Cranfield University, are worthy of examination.

Based on archaeological surveys and aerial photographs -- and after reviewing the military tactics of the period -- he thinks that the battlefield might well have been at the northern end of Old Fold Manor golf course.

He believes the siting of Monken Hadley Church is significant. It was rebuilt in 1494 and was almost certainly regarded as a memorial to the battle.

Mr Masters hopes to examine records which have perhaps been overlooked in the past, including court rolls at the National Archives and London Metropolitan Archives which might reveal who fought at the Battle of Barnet and who was killed.

Records associated with Wrotham Park and Hatfield House might give further insight into events surrounding the battle.

Mr Masters secured a grant to carry out preparatory work with the aim of recruiting volunteers and helping to train them in the archaeological fieldwork which will needed for a more detailed search.

Although the actual site of the battlefield has yet to be determined, there have been surveys and investigations to try to find where those who were killed might have been buried.

Volunteers working with the Barnet Tourist Board are claiming to have made some “astonishing discoveries” about where they think “most of the bodies lay buried.”

While there have been no recent finds, Barnet Museum has presented a display of six iron arrowheads which were donated to the British Museum in 1851 and had rarely been exhibited.

Little is known about the actual discovery of the arrowheads which were said to have been found at the site of the battlefield and which had remained in a storeroom at the British Museum until their recent release for display.

In addition to the six arrowheads, Barnet Museum has displayed the seal of Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick, whose death at Barnet was perhaps the most significant event on the battlefield.

Another historic item on display is a copper alloy strap end from a belt which was recovered from a test pit in Wrotham Park during the 2016 Battle of Barnet excavation and which is inscribed with the wheel of St Catherine.

Other items held by the museum include three golf ball sized lead cannon balls recovered almost 20 years ago from the Kits End area by Darren Wright and a groat from 1467-68 from the first reign of Edward IV which was discovered at Wrotham Park.