Page 48 - History of War - Issue 18-15

THE BOW THAT BUILT BRITAIN

ANATOMYOFTHEBRITISH
LONGBOW

TRADITIONAL BOW-MAKER WILL SHERMAN EXPLAINS THE KEY
FEATURESOFTHEBOW,ASWELLASWHEREITSDEADLYPOWERLIES

THE MEDIEVAL WAR BOW
Almost seven feet long, two inches wide and with a draw-
weight of up to 150 pounds, this hand-crafted single piece of
wood could propel a deadly missile weighing a quarter of a
pound up to 230 yards with ease.
ARROW BAGS
Arrow bags were provided to archers for transporting their
ammunition. The bags would have been made of linen and
contained a stiff leather disc with holes for the arrow shafts.
This kept the arrow fl etchings from being damaged in transit.
It is most likely that the arrow bags would have contained 24
arrows, known as a ‘sheaf’. These bags could be secured to
a belt using a knot that tightened around the arrows while
allowing them to be used easily.

FLETCHINGS
The flights, or ‘fletchings’, of the
arrowweremadeofgoose,swan
or peacock feathers. The feathers
were fastened to the arrow shaft
using animal skin glues, and
boundfirmlyinplacewithsilk.
Thefletchingswouldeitherbe
trimmedwithshearsorburned NOCKS
toshapewithhotsteel.Afeather To protect the soft yew wood from
hasanaturalcurve,andbyusing beingdamagedbythebowstring
threefeathersfromthesame whenbeingshot,thetipsofcattle
wing, spin would be imparted to horn were used. These horn ‘nocks’
the arrow much like rifling. hadasinglegroovecutintoone
side,intowhichthebowstringwould
be looped or tied.

ARROW STRENGTH
With such powerful bows, the wooden ends
of the arrows would often split and break on
release. To protect against this, a thin sliver of
fl attened cow horn was inserted into a slot cut at
the base of the arrow, going against the grain of
the wood, strengthening the arrow considerably.

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