Bosworth Field

[poliphilo]

At the time they called it the Battle of Redesmoor. Which rather suggests that it was fought, not on Ambion hill where the visitors centre stands, but in the marshy lowlands to the south, between Ambion hill and the village of Dadlington, where many of the dead were buried and where Henry VII established a chantry chapel.  It's odd; Bosworth Field is one of the two or three decisive battles in English history, but we know very little about it- much less (for example)  than we know about the Battle of Hastings four hundred years before.

Later historians called it Bosworth after the nearby town of Market Bosworth to the north. The battle didn't impinge on the town, but its spire is the local landmark, and is visible from most quarters of the presumed battlefield.

It's a mild, unspectacular  Midlands landscape. Tiny villages, a railway line, a canal. Birdsong. Pretty much as I imagined it  in the first purchas book. (Phew!)

Anyway, here are some pictures:


The Church at Market Bosworth


Market Bosworth on its ridge, viewed from Ambion hill.


Looking South from Ambion hill, towards the likely site of the battle. There wasn't a wood there in 1485.


From Ambion Hill looking west



King Richard's Well. Legend has it that Richard III drank from this well before the battle. The fancy pyramid is the work of a late 19th century American Richardian. 

Comments

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

Are you sure about that late 19th c American Ricardian? I only know of one in that time period, Henry Cabot Lodge, and I don't think he did it. I think the 19 c Ricardian in question was an antiquarian, and one of your own.

Michael Bennett, The Battle of Bosworth, says the cairn was erected in 1813. That puts it closer to the time of the reprint of Hutton's Battle of Bosworth. In fact, J. N. Nichols, in his preface to the 1813 reprint, quotes one S. Parr as saying "...It was in dirty, mossy ground, and seemed to me in dange of being destroyed by the cattle. I therefore bestirred myself to have it preserved....... Now Lord Wentworth, and some other Gentlemen, mean to fence the place with some strong stones, and to put a large stone over it with the following inscription; and you may tell the story if you please. Yours, &c. S. Parr

"AQVA.EX.HOC.PVTEO.HAVSTA
SITIM.SEDAVIT
RICARDVS.TERTIVS.REX.ANGLIAE
CYM.HENRICO.COMITE.DE.RICHMONDIA
ACERRIME.ATQVE.INFENISSIME.PRAELIANS
ET.VITA.PARITER.AC.SEPTRO
ANTE.NOCTEM.CARITVRVS
II.KAL.SEPT.A.D.MCCCCLXXXV"

The current inscription suggests that the bit about the American Ricardians may be correct, but at a somewhat later date and as a restoration of the original. Here is a translation:

"Richard III, King of England, slaked his thirst with water drawn from this well when engaged in most bitter and furious battle with Henry, Earl of Richmond, and before being deprived of both his life and his sceptre on the morning of 22nd August A.D. 1485. Those who came afterwards have re-built this structure, damaged as it was by the passage of time. A.D. 1964"

I have some friends who recall shimmying under fences and clambering through weeds to see the cairn in the late 1960s and mid-1970s. How times change...

For more information, including a link to the Battlefield Centre site, see

http://www.r3.org/bosworth/

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure. I'm reporting what was written on the information board beside the well and I may have misread or misunderstood. What I should have done is take a photo of it so I could refer back to the text.

I think it's possible that the structure over the well has gone through several versions. What's there now isn't a cairn (in my book) because the stones are mortared together.

Thanks for the link. It makes me want to hurry back and see all the things I missed on our flying visit. Ah well, there will be other opportunities...