when did the english start using the longbow
English longbow The earliest longbow known from England, found at Ashcott Heath, Somerset, is dated to 2665 BC,[1] but no longbows survive from the period when the longbow was dominant (c. 1250â€“1450 AD),[2] probably because bows became weaker, broke and were replaced, rather than being handed down through generations.[3] More than 130 bows survive from the Renaissance period, however. More than 3,500 arrows and 137 whole longbows were recovered from the Mary Rose, a ship of Henry VIII's navy that sank at Portsmouth in 1545.