A MEMORIAL has been sculpted to remember those who fell in the bloodiest battle fought on English soil.

The pyramid-shaped stone monument, engraved with images of the notorious Battle Of Towton, near Tadcaster, will be unveiled at s special ceremony on St George's Day this Saturday.

The memorial, by renowned sculptor Steve Hines, of Morley, near Leeds, will be installed in the graveyard at Saxton Church.

It will stand on top of a mass grave in the churchyard, where the remains of some of the 30,000 soldiers who died were interred, after nearby grave pits were excavated eight years ago.

The excavation uncovered 69 bodies - all of whom had met a violent end and had been stripped of any items of potential value.

The memorial will also be next to the tomb of Lord Dacre, of the Lancastrian army, who was buried in the graveyard along with his horse.

The £2,000 monument was paid for by donations from the 140 members of Towton Battlefield Society.

Society chairman Mark Taylor said the memorial would create history as the only marker of a medieval mass grave in the country. The monument will be unveiled by battlefield "detective" Tim Sutherland, of Bradford University, who has done a lot of archaeological research work on the battlefield site.

Representatives from the Royal Armouries, in Leeds, along with church leaders and councilors, will be attending.

The War Of The Roses battle - one of history's most grisly medieval massacres - took place on Palm Sunday on March 29, 1461.

The Lancastrian army was dealt a fatal blow, with its leader, King Henry V1, forced to flee. He was defeated by the self-proclaimed Edward IV.

Many died in the panic that ensued as the Red Rose men, led by the Duke of Somerset, broke and ran following a clash across the field now known as Bloody Meadow.

After ten hours of ferocious combat, nearly 30,000 men lay dead. York was on the Lancastrian side, and 1,000 men from the city went to the battle and did not return.

Updated: 10:23 Monday, April 18, 2005