A PLAQUE saluting the skills of England's feared longbowmen has been unveiled in Wootton Bassett.
The Civic Trust provided the plaque at The Buthay to outline the areas's past. The Buthay, now known as Church Street, was used for compulsory archery practice from 1327 until 1700, when the increasing reliability of muskets caused archery to diminish.
Dignitaries who attended Saturday's ceremony were told that 14th century English longbowmen struck terror in their enemies, who would cut off a captured archer's two fingers to prevent them from firing their arrows again.
North Wiltshire MP James Gray unveiled the plaque and commended Wootton Bassett's community spirit.
Civic Trust chairman John Perry said that the plaque is the first of several which it hopes to put up in the town.
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