TRANSCRIPTIONS OF TWO LETTERS WRITTEN BY COL. JOHN GEORGE WOODFORD TO HIS BROTHER ALEXANDER GEORGE WOODFORD ON 20 FEBRUARY AND 28 FEBRUARY, 1818 RELATING TO HIS EXCAVATIONS ON THE AGINCOURT BATTLEFIELD

 

 

 

[Letter  1, side 1]

[Transcribed by Tim Sutherland (words that are not positively deciphered are highlighted by ?xx?]

 

Later note:

Sir J. Woodford

Re digging the

field of

agincourt –

all he found  lost

in the burning

of the

Pantechnicon

[This happened in London on Feb. 13, 1874]

 

Tramecourt Feb 20th

 

My dear a

 

I commenced the dig this

Morning – I marked off two lines

guided by the instruction I had obtained

& by the appearance of the ground, chose

the part most hollow & sunken – I changed

the disposition from sixty men to thirty as

two reliefs, as they w’d otherwise have

been crowded – at about three

feet & a half in some places we came

to bones, but they were of course in a

very decayed state – bits of scull were

found in better preservation, and teeth

 

 

[Letter  1, side 2]

in great abundance – fragments

of iron were also found but in very

small pieces & hardly bearing the

touch but an arrowhead to my

joy at last came up in a very

tolerable state – no doubt it was

buried there in the body of the man

whose death it caused – the small

point of bodkin I likewise got, but

of large pieces of iron or armour this

first days search has not been pro-

ductive – however I am far from com-

plaining – you have still to hear of

the happiest discovery – two coins

in the highest preservation – much of

[Letter  1, side 3]

this prodigious luck–They are of Charles’s

reign – (Charles 6th – I suppose) very thin

& apparently very pure gold like a ducat.

            I can hardly recover from my ?luckiness?

at being this fortunate – WHERE WE JUST BEGAN the woman

(a daughter of the old one) came & made

a ?jab? but very civilly & I have

compounded with her, to avoid a ?veocis?

verbal & the botheration of a correspondence –

& so I shall continue to work away

hard – I am rather tired & the

anxiety of such an extraordinary

sort of approximation to an event

so distant & impressive exhausts

my spirits – but I cannot

refrain from communicating this

 

 

[Letter  1, side 4]

intelligence – tomorrow I expect

more iron –  I enclose you

a tooth en account but – I wish

you had been here – of the bones

I have collected a little box full – all

that bore removal – there was

no disrespect tho’ the soldiers were

sometimes irresistibly funny –

 

Adieu for today –

[Signature]

May forward the account of the

Coin to Flint – I will write to him

Tomorrow –

?Morn? is with me – nobody else

 

 

[Letter  1, side 5]

Tramecourt Feb 20th 1818

[illustrations of coin and arrowhead]

 

 

 

Gold coin very well preserved – very thin

like a ducat, but of the size above described.

Charolus Dec Gracia very distinct indeed.

The remainder of the legend on that side less

so  -  On the other side the inscription

is good & well preserved, but the letters are

very ancient (in form) & partly cut away

on the edge so that I cant make out

the inscription as yet – but a person cognisant in

old coins will probably have little difficulty.

     Found in the ground where the knights

were buried, amongst a quantity of bones

& the remains of sculls – particularly teeth –

 

 

[Letter 2, side 1]

LETTER FROM JOHN J. WOODFORD TO HIS BROTHER ALEXANDER DATED [PROBABLY 28] FEBRUARY 1818

 

Tramecourt Friday

My dear a

            You can hardly imagine what a

blank I feel after extraordinary interest

of those few days -  altho my avarice

of Azincourt relics is excessive, yet

I feel content to have sacrificed the further

search, in which I should have dug up

the whole spot,  thereby have completely

annihilated the resting place of the

slain – As it is , the greater part

remains undisturbed, & this soothes my

 

 

 

[Letter  2, side 2]

conscience – poor fellows how thick

they lay! I have ordered an oaken

sarcophagus for bones [illustration]

 

 

 

& have given the design and dimensions –

I have settled with the mayor & cure

to deposit them in Azincourt church

yard & I shall endeavour to get a

plain marble slab to protect the spot –

I shall put no inscription I think except

the mere date – Anything referring

to the Battle of Azincourt would appear

to be the indulgence of national pride in the English

Man - & perhaps it ought to be a

 

 

[Letter 2, side 3]

superb mausoleum for the commemoration

of such an event as that –

            I have been busy cleaning my iron

relics – & making a list of them – it is

not quite finished; you shall have a copy –

I have also drawn up a little report of

the dig – which you shall likewise

have when copied.     I think the

rest of the relics in iron after the fine arrow head

is what I take to be the spear head of

a banner –(they w’d most likely bury the banner with the knight)

I enclose a sketch of the

real size – it has jag or small projections

& is in excellent preservation –

I wish there had been a cuirass or

 

 

[Letter 2, side 4]

sword for Carlton House – however

I don’t complain – There is a little

iron thing like a tooth pick [illustration] it is

 

 

 

flat – what can it have been?        I think

of getting a ring or two when I go to Paris

made in imitation of  [illustration of flower and text ?'belle'?] – t’will

 

 

 

be a pretty present – The enamel of the

leaves is white – the flowers & letters red –X

very bright & well enamelled - truly – I shall

not trust the jeweller with the original –

I think if you had been here, you would not

have liked digging up the poor fellows –t’would

have shocked you – so perhaps ‘twas as

well you did not come – we will have

a division of the spoils, & they shall be left

in the family through all generations.

 

 

[Letter 2, side 5]

I shall never forget this winter – it will

be distinguished as the ‘Azincourt winter’

While memory holds a place in this poor

brain. I have lived with the departed spirits of lives past –

I wonder where the English were buried!

No history speaks of the spot –

There would be famous digging at

Cressy, for there is a pit called

La fosse which never was sanctified

ground, & is I have no doubt full of bones and relics.

 

 

[Letter 2, side 6]

There is a piece of iron with wood

still sticking in it – either a dagger

hilt, or bit of a lance – but more

like the former.            Adieu for

today – I think the business has been well

done, for I have gained my objective, &

have got a little credit, I sh’d think, for

     desisting – I

     hope your dinner

     went off well.

 

It is past twelve, so I have got

another year on my back [Woodford was born on 28th Feb 1785 (Crosthwaite 1880) suggesting that this was the date of this letter]

 

I feel as if I was (above) 403 years old &

had been at the Battle of Agincourt.

 

[Signature]