Friday 12 April 2013

King

A to Z Challenge – travels round Leicester with my camera No 11.

“Piteously slain fighting manfully in the thickest press of his enemies.”
Bronze statue of Richard III in Castle Gardens by James Walter Butler, 1980.

Richard III, the last Plantagenet king, was killed at the battle of Bosworth in 1485 by the forces of Henry Tudor. His body was taken to nearby Leicester and buried in the church of the Grey Friars. Over time the grave was lost. 

For many years there was a popular story that Richard’s remains were disinterred after the dissolution of the monasteries and tossed into the River Soar from Bow Bridge, the bridge he’d passed over when he rode out to battle. A variant of this tale claimed his remains were secretly fished out of the water and reburied beside the bridge.

On 4th February 2013 the University of Leicester confirmed that human remains excavated from beneath a car park on the site of the former Grey Friars church were those of King Richard and the 500 year old mystery was finally solved.

Richard III’s memorial stone in Leicester Cathedral where he will be reinterred next year.

If you are interested in the history and archaeology behind the discovery go to: http://www.le.ac.uk/richardiii/ They’re the experts. I just want to give you a glimpse of the effect King Richard has had on modern Leicester.

As soon as the announcement was made crowds came to see the Richard III exhibition in the Guildhall (see letter G), patiently queuing despite the cold weather. I’m afraid I waited till the initial rush had died down but I couldn’t resist taking some pictures of the waiting hordes. The exhibition is quite small but worth a look and includes a model of Richard’s skull.





Here are a few of the recent sightings of the king around Leicester:


This one remains my all time favourite:



7 comments:

  1. Haha, I love that Henry Smith and Hamilton ad - I saw it a few weeks ago. A* to the marketing dept there! Great post, Sally :)

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  2. That was an amazing find, I must admit.

    Great post.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks. As you can imagine it's a big, big story here.

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    2. I went to the exhibition a few weeks ago, and thought it very good! Afterwards I took a look inside the Cathedral too.

      Good informative post Sally ;-)

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  3. Great Post. The pictures of ads are funny :)

    #atozchallenge
    Ramprasad at Ram's Photo Blog

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great Post. The pictures of ads are funny :)

    #atozchallenge
    Ramprasad at Ram's Photo Blog

    ReplyDelete