HOPES of identifying the exact location of Stow Battlefield, the last battle of the English Civil War, have been dashed.

A bid submitted to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF)by the Battlefields Trust to carry out a survey to establish the true location of the Stow Battlefield has been turned down it was announced this week.

The Battlefields Trust, on behalf of the Stow and District Civic Society, had disputed whether the current memorial for the battle is in the correct place and bid for funding in June from the HLF.

But the HLF turned down the bid on Friday on the grounds that the survey did not offer value for money for the level of learning and educational activities.

Tim Norris, chairman of the Stow and District Civic Society, said they would not be giving up and that the HLF had said they could reapply for a reduced amount of funding.

Mr Norris said: "We see this simply as a setback in the progress of this work.

"We’ve got so much enthusiasm and support for the project from so many volunteers and we can’t simply give in and let them all down."

The battle was the last field battle of the first Civil War in 1646, which led to the surrender of Royalist Commander, Sir Jacob Astley to the Parliamentarians in Stow Market Square. The Battlefields Trust believes the actual location of the battle must be closer to Stow as the current marked location would have been too small for the 6,000 men and horses who took part.

Mr Norris said: "It would absolutely terrific if we could actually dig up some relics and be able to say for sure, rather than leaving it to speculation."

Last year the Battlefield Trust uncovered the true location for the Battle of Bosworth, the penultimate battle of the War of the Roses.