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LEICESTER | Richard III

69K views 590 replies 50 participants last post by  d4mo85 
#1 · (Edited)
The wretched, bloody, and usurping boar,
That spoil'd your summer fields and fruitful vines,
Swills your warm blood like wash, and makes his trough
In your embowell'd bosoms, this foul swine
Lies now even in the centre of this isle,
Near to the town of Leicester, as we learn

Act 5 Scene 2 - Richard III
I who am laid beneath this marble stone,
Richard the Third, possess'd the British throne.
My country's guardian in my nephew's claim,
By trust betray'd I to the kingdom came.
Two years and sixty days, save two, I reign'd,
And bravely strove in fight, but unsustaine'd.
My English left me in the luckless field,
Where I to Henry's arms was forced to yield.
Yet at his cost my corse this tomb obtains,
Who piously interr'd me, and ordains
That regal honours wait a King's remains.
Reader, whoe'er thou art, thy prayers bestow
T'atone my crimes and ease my pains below".

Henry VII monument inscription
I, here, whom the earth encloses under ostentatious marble,
Was justly called Richard the Third.
I was Protector of my country, an uncle ruling on behalf of his nephew.
I held the British kingdoms in trust, although they were disunited.
Then for just sixty days less two,
And two summers, I held my sceptres.
Fighting bravely in war, deserted by the English,
I succumbed to you, King Henry VII.
But you yourself, piteously, at your expense, thus honoured my bones
And caused a former king to be revered with the honour of a king
When in twice five years less four
Three hundred five-year periods of our salvation had passed.
And eleven days before the Kalends of September
I surrendered to the red rose the power it desired.
Whoever you are, pray for my offences,
That my punishment may be lessened by your prayers.

Alternative Henry VII monument inscription
Ladies and Gentlemen. It is the academic conclusion of the University of Leicester that the individual exhumed at Grey Friars, Leicester, in August 2012, is indeed Richard III, the last Plantagenet King of England.

Richard Buckley
On Monday 4th February, at a press conference at Leicester University - it was revealed that the body found in Greyfriar's, was King Richard III.

A subject worthy of a separate thread and a suitable focal point of discussion about Richard III; as well as the impact on the immediate area surrounding his burial site.

Recently the Mayor purchased the former Alderman Newton School building, which looks over the site, where the skeleton was found.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/leicester_photos/8015408276/

It is supposed that the intention is to house a museum dedicated to Richard III. The building is over the road from Leicester Cathedral, which is going to be the re-burial site for Richard.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/13386269@N03/2961137926/

Other site across the city are also strongly associated with the famous monarch...and I've also included some details about forthcoming exhibitions and media broadcasts.

Bow Bridge

Bow Bridge was the site where Richard left Leicester on that fateful day in 1485 and it is the location upon which he returned to the city as a corpse. A local soothsayer foretold, the night before the Battle of Bosworth,

Where your spur should strike on the ride into battle, your head shall be broken on the return.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25797459@N06/3902927314/

If the skeleton turns out to be Richard III, then it puts to rest the claim that his body had been dug up at the Dissolution and thrown in the river at Bow Bridge. It seems that John Speede had come up with that elaborate story, after mistakingly searching the Blackfriar's site for a memorial and burial place - rather than the Greyfriar's. Having found nothing, he came up with the desecration story and it stuck for centuries.

Blue Boar Inn

This was the hotel were Richard III spent his final night. Sadly the building, in usual Leicester planning foresight was demolished in 1836. Thankfully Joseph Goddard drew detailed sketches and made accurate measurements, so that Leicester University have been able to re-create what the building looked like.

http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/press/...9s-last-2018resting-place2019-before-bosworth


http://www.flickr.com/photos/25797459@N06/8016293093/

Guildhall

An exhibition at the Leicester Guildhall, focused entirely on the search for Richard and all the findings, is to start on 8th February 2012 and has clearly been timed to coincide with an influx of interested visitors.

http://www.visitleicester.info/thin...iii/richard-iii-leicesters-search-for-a-king/


http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnmhague/8413776638/

Channel Four Documentary

"The King in the Car Park" is to be broadcast on the same day at the Leicester University press conference. The title of the programme says it all really. No question mark, is there?

St Mary of the Annunciation

In the basement of the Hawthorn Building at De Montfort University, are a series of arches that were once part of this church. After the Battle of Bosworth, Richard's naked corpse lay for all to see in St Mary's.



Leicester Castle and Castle Park

Richard III visited Leicester Castle on several ocassions and it would have been a place familiar to him. the Castle Great Hall survives from Richard's time and Castle Gardens contains parts of the old castle walls. Also in the park is a statue dedicated to Richard III.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/25797459@N06/3555612631/
 
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#187 ·
Visitor centre could house king painting
Thursday, February 28, 2013
By Peter Warzynski

A 133-year-old painting of Richard III which was bought at auction for more than twice its estimated price could go on show at the council's proposed visitor centre.

The University of Leicester paid £7,300 for the work by 19th city century artist John Fulleylove at an auction at Gildings, in Market Harborough, on Tuesday.

The university said it was now thinking about where to display the oil painting, which was expected to sell for about £3,000.

It has said it could loan the picture to the city council for display in the proposed Richard III visitor centre, which is planned for St Martin's Place – part of the former Leicester Grammar School, in Peacock Lane.

The building is a few hundreds yards from the spot where the former monarch's remains were discovered in August.

Richard Taylor, deputy registrar at the university, said: "It is our intention the painting is put on display so that the public are able to enjoy it.

"We've had a couple of ideas and we haven't ruled out possibly loaning it to the Richard III museum.

"But the money which was used to acquire it has come from a budget specifically used to enhance the campus so there are also plans for it to feature at the university."

The painting was by artist John Fulleylove, who was born in Leicester in 1845.

It shows Richard III outside the Blue Boar Inn – then called the White Boar – in Highcross Street, sitting astride a white horse as he prepares to go into battle.

Richard Buckley, the lead archaeologist in the university's search for Richard III, said: "In my view, Fulleylove has really brought to life the departure of Richard III from the Blue Boar on the morning of August 21, 1485.

"Although he could not have painted the inn from life, as the building had been demolished 40 years previously, Fulleylove based his picture on engravings by John Flower which are now known to be accurate representations of the building.

"The picture also shows All Saint's Church in the background and gives an impression of what the other buildings of Leicester's medieval High Street may have looked like at this time."

If the picture is loaned to the Richard III museum it will join the bust created by Dundee University using state of the art forensic techniques.

City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said: "We were delighted to hear of the university's intention to loan the picture to us, where it can be displayed so everyone in Leicester can enjoy it."

Another attraction will be the recreated skull, which has been crafted from 3D imaging of the original remains by Loughborough University.

Loughborough is also planning to make a replica skeleton for the museum.

It is still not known whether the actual skeleton of Richard III will be put on temporary display at the centre – although the university has said it has not ruled it out.
It would make sense for the painting to be displayed at the new museum.

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co....tory-18274994-detail/story.html#axzz2Lul3KT2U
 
#190 ·
Leicester's population in 1485 was around 3,000. The Richard III forces began to gather in Leicester from the 16th August 1485 and must have numbered several thousand.

Henry VII must have brought a fair few of his victorious men back to Leicester after the Battle of Bosworth too. Especially as he had a King's body and a few executions to carry out...

It must have been a mad few days in the old town...
 
#195 ·
Further update on the Richard III Museum

Richard III: Mayor to recruit duo for project
Friday, March 01, 2013

The city mayor is looking to appoint two people to develop the Richard III experience in Leicester.

The city council is creating a major new visitor attraction at the former Leicester Grammar School, telling the story of the search for and discovery of the former Plantagenet king.

Sir Peter Soulsby has agreed to put aside £220,000 to cover the cost of the preliminary building work and for two workers to run the project.

A further £135,000 has also been approved for lamppost banners and a marketing campaign.

The mayor is hoping to employ a new creative director and an interpretation specialist to lead the design of the museum and develop the exhibition.

Over the next 12 months, the staff will be responsible for turning the ideas for the centre into a reality.

The attraction is due to open in early 2014.

Sir Peter said: "The Richard III story has opened up a whole new chapter for the city's heritage and tourism, and the new visitor centre will be at the very heart of that.

"From the outside, it is already a dramatic and very fitting building, next to the site of the Greyfriars church where Richard's grave was discovered, and right opposite Leicester Cathedral, where he will be buried.

"Our job now is to transform the inside of the building into the kind of visitor centre that is merited by such a fantastic story as that of King Richard."

A temporary exhibition at the nearby Guildhall has already attracted record numbers of visitors since it opened on February 8.
 
#196 ·
lamp post banners? wow, that's ambitious - wouldn't the money better spent trying to persuade all the overseas tourist coming to the uk, that leicester is worth a visit?

who's going to see the lamp post banners, people on their way to f*cking m&s, that's all...

feeble.
 
#199 ·
Use the money from the pointless banners to commission a new statue of Richard on his horse near the site of his burial, and leave the current one where it is in its beautiful surroundings.

I'd rather there be more references such as this to Richard than having to move bits and bobs around the city.
 
#201 ·
Richard III statue should be placed in the field in Market Bosworth (off the gated road to Sutton Cheney) instead of having a statue of Hercules there (why?!). It's only 1 mile from the battlefield site and in 1485 the soldiers would have almost definately have walked on that spot to get to/from the battlezone from Leicester. I presume it would have even formed part of the battlefield itself.

When I'm retired (35 odd years?!), I'm going to buy a metal detector and spend my years walking around my hometown of Market Bosworth; and will definately wish I'd done it when I was younger(!). My Mum found a coin in our garden in Market Bosworth when I was a young lad. I am absolutely convinced that the fields of Market Bosworth must be littered with stuff only inches below the ground. That really excites me. Is that weird?! **** it.
 
#202 ·
The Richard III statue should remain in Leicester. I don't mind it staying where it is, or at Jubilee Square, or nearer the Cathedral.

The present site in Castle Gardens looks over the route Richard took out of the city as a king and returned as a corpse. It is a fitting location.

I'm all for the commissioning of a new statue near the burial site. I do like the idea of a dramatic statue, with Richard on a horse ready for battle. Could be pretty costly though...
 
#203 ·
Yes I'd also be happy for it to remain where it is. I don't think it'd be at the cathedral. I like the idea of his legacy being more scattered around the city and towards Market Bosworth also. The central point being the Cathedral, buriel/trench site and the Guildhall. They should rename that small area of the city 'Richard III Square' or something similar.
 
#205 ·
From Merc:

Richard III could provide a king’s ransom for Leicester with an estimated £140 million tourism boost.

Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce chief executive Martin Traynor has based his calculation on the increased flow of tourists into Leicester since the discovery of the king’s remains and all the national and international press coverage of the city.

More than 28,000 people have visited the temporary Richard III exhibition at the Guildhall since it opened last month, with many of them coming from outside the county.
Bosworth Battlefield has also reported a sharp rise in numbers, doubling the attraction’s annual entrance figures for February.
Full article: http://www.thisisleicestershire.co....urism-boost/story-18381439-detail/story.html?
 
#206 ·
The calculation has been based on the number of people who can be bothered to queue, to get into the tiny Guildhall exhibition. An exhibition that hasn't been massively publicised.

What about when the new Richard III Museum opens to a fanfare? I was listening recently to plans for the museum and there is talk of a recreation of the 1485 Highcross Street and the Blue Boar Inn, inside the old Alderman Newton School. Also by 2014, visitors will have the original grave and new burial site of Richard III to visit.

I suspect even with a charge at the new museum, we will see more than 28,000 visitors in the first two months at Greyfriar's and the Cathedral.

Hopefully by then, Leicester will have worked out how to capitalise on the Richard III market and get the Magazine Gateway and Castle Precinct permanantly open again.
 
#209 ·
I am staggered at the Leicester Cathedral stance on this?

Richard III: Tomb design does not meet Leicester Cathedral's criteria
Tuesday, March 12, 2013

By Peter Warzynski

A tomb designed by the Richard III Society does not meet Leicester Cathedral's criteria for a lasting memorial, members of the group said yesterday.

The University of Leicester, which holds the exhumation certificate for the king, nominated the cathedral as the place of interment following the discovery of his body underneath a city car park in August.

Philippa Langley, who launched the search, had hoped the society's design for a 7ft limestone casket would hold the former King of England's remains.

However, it is understood memorial designers will be asked to create a less conspicuous monument, such as a slab or tablet – similar to the cathedral's existing memorial stone to the monarch.

A spokeswoman for the cathedral said the architect's brief for how the memorial should look would be revealed tomorrow, and "no firm plans" were in place yet.

However, Philippa said she was given a copy of the brief in advance and the guidelines rule out the society's £30,000 sarcophagus – which designers had been working on since 2010.

Funds for the tomb have already been raised and more cash is available for building work and installation.

"I'm a shocked and deeply saddened," Philippa said. "We've had money absolutely pouring in, the tomb is all paid for.

"It can all be given back, but it would be such a shame."

David Potter, committee member for the Leicestershire branch of the Richard III Society, said: "We've not had a chance to consider any other designs.

"It seemed the tomb had been very well received.

"I think now it would be interesting to see whether the readers would prefer a tomb or a slab."

The body will be reinterred at some time in the first half of next year, but a date has not yet been set.

All memorial proposals will be submitted to the Cathedrals Fabrics Commission for England, a national body which oversees work and offers advice on matters relating to architecture, archaeology, art and history of cathedrals.

The Leicester Cathedral spokeswoman said: "The ideas presented by the Richard III Society have been included in the architect's brief, and will be considered within the context of the need for a scheme which will work within the cathedral.

"There are no firm plans yet for any particular memorial."
http://www.thisisleicestershire.co....tory-18391233-detail/story.html#axzz2NF3jycGY
 
#211 ·
This is not what is needed. The article also suggests it's not the final decision? We can't still be modest even for this!

Btw I heard on BBC east Midlands there's also the pointless debate in parliament today about where the skeleton should be interred. No way can they change the decision!
 
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