A Tour of Bosworth Battlefield
Bosworth Battlefield Visitor Centre and Country Park today occupy the site believed by many to be that of the Battle of Bosworth which took place on 22nd August, 1485. Bosworth, the most decisive battle of the War of the Roses, sounded the death knell of the House of Plantagenet and heralded the end of the Middle Ages, King Richard III was killed in the course of the battle and the crown of England passed from the last Yorkist king to the founder of the Tudor dynasty, Henry, Earl of Richmond, who in the course of his victory became King Henry VII.
Bosworth Battlefield Visitor Centre
Run by Leicestershire County Council, Bosworth Battlefield was officially opened in 1974. The Visitor Centre at Bosworth offers interactive displays and a detailed exhibition, along with an interesting film explaining the events of the battle. Visitors can learn about the lives of the combatants in the battle and the impacts of the battle itself through archaeological finds, hands-on and computer interactives, and a Battlefield investigation lab. Living history events take place on the site throughout the summer months. The Visitor Centre is signposted from various roads, including from the A5 between Hinckley and Atherstone.
Ambion Parva Village
Ambion Parva - a fascinating replica Medieval Village, is an exciting new project on the Bosworth site, adjacent to the visitor centre, which creates a sense of medieval village life and is currently under construction. The village will include timber framed buildings that are replicas of vernacular homes that would have been used between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries.
Buildings on site will include a two storey house with jettied crossway known as 'Captains Retreat', a typical example of Medieval homes in the Warwickshire / Leicestershire area.'Gunners Cottage' is a cruck cottage and 'The Old Salt Road Inn', a Medieval ale house, ale and mead, drunk by both adults and children as an alternative to dirty water, were brewed on site. The Foundations have been prepared for the a Granary and further buildings on the site are planned, which will include a church, a barn and workshops. The building feature authentic joints for the period and have been constructed using traditional methods.
Please note- as the site is still under construction it is as yet only open on special event days
The Battlefield
Three main alternative areas presently exist as the location of the Battle of Bosworth, each is surported by at least one of the major works on the battle. The standard interpretation, which is presented in the visitor centre, places the battle on Ambion Hill, this interpretation has been based on the work carried out in the eighteenth century. The standard interperetation has been challenged since 1985, a later, highly detailed study by Foss established evidence as to the broad area within which the battle was fought. The site of the battle has since then, been debated by historians. In the years which proceeded the battle, it was referred to as the Battle of Redemore, which has led to the theory that the battle was not fought on Ambion Hill but on a nearby reedy moor. Much research has been carried out to attempt to discover the actual site of this battle. The lack of details and sometimes conflicting information in contemporary sources leads to make the location difficult to identify. One theory locates the battle closer to the villages of Dadlington and Stoke Golding, while a further theory places it at Merevale, just above Atherstone in Warwickshire.
According to the standard interpretation, Richard III's forces were arrayed along Ambion Hill, where his standard still flies and can be seen from the road. The modern standard which flies on the hill features the traditional Yorkist colors of murrey and blue, the cross of St. George, Richard III's white boar badge, and the Yorkist rose-en-soleil (The sun in splendour, first adopted by Edward IV after the Battle of Mortimer's Cross).
Henry Tudor's forces, positioned beneath his dragon banner, are thought to have been positioned just up from the site of the present Shenton Station. From the summit of the hill, King Richard lead his forces in his last, courageous but fatal charge at the troops of Henry Tudor, who were arrayed on the plain below.
King Richard's Well, where Richard III is said to have drunk during the battle prior to the last charge of the Yorkist cavalry, is now covered with a cairn, which was placed there in the nineteenth century by Dr. Samuel Parr. It was the only reminder of the battle prior to the opening of the visitor centre.
A rough hewn stone in King Richard's Field marks the spot where Richard III is traditionally said to have been cut down during the battle, The plaque on the stone reads:-
'Richard, the lastPlantagenet King of
England, was slain here
22nd August 1485'
The nearby stream may be the "Sandeford" which is mentioned in contemporary accounts. Although alternative theories place Sandeford at a spot near the road from Sutton Cheney to Dadlington.
Sutton Cheney Church
King Richard III is reputed to have heard his last mass at the Church of St. James at Sutton Cheney, on the eve of Bosworth. Few alterations have been carried out to the church since 1485, apart from the addition to the top of the tower. A memorial service and wreath laying ceremony is held at the church annually on the Sunday nearest to August 22nd.
A memorial to Richard III and those who fell in the battle inside the church was placed there by the Richard III Society. The plaque, bearing the Plantagenet arms and the white roses of York, reads:-
'Remember before GodRichard III
King of England
and those who fell
at Bosworth Field
having kept faith
22 August 1485
loyaltie me lie
'Loyaltie me lie' (Loyalty binds me), was the motto of Richard III, adopted when he was Duke of Gloucester. The Church of St. James was founded in the eleventh century. Many of the needlepoint kneelers with their emblems of the white boar, the sun in splendour and Yorkist white roses are the work of members of the Richard III Society. Prior to the village enclosure in 1794, the church occupied a site on the main street, which passed the North wall of the church before rising up to Ambion Hill.
Dadlington Church
Adding weight to the theory that the battle was not fought at the traditional site, many of the dead from the battle were buried at nearby Dadlington Church (situated between Hinckley, Bosworth and Nuneaton). The chapel wardens petitioned King Henry VIII in 1511 for a chantry foundation, on the basis that men who died in the battle were interred there. A license issued by the Archbishop of Canterbury which describes the church as 'standing upon a parcell of the grounde where Bosworth Feld otherwise called Dadlyngton Feld was done.' This is confirmed by reports dating from the nineteenth century of relics of the battle and human remains being disinterred from the churchyard at Dadlington. The chantry foundation at Dadlington was suppressed in 1547 under the staunchly Protestant King Edward VI.
The Battlefields Trust is undertaking a new study of Bosworth battlefield, financed by the Heritage Lottery Fund. The project will attempt to resolve many of the long standing questions surrounding the Battle of Bosworth and its actual location. The key to finding the exact site of the battle will be determined by discovering the Medieval marshland which existed at the time which dictated the course of the battle. Archaeologists have also been searching for armour fittings such as buckles and strap ends.