To say that it rained that day in Leicester is to totally understate the situation. There are waterfalls less wet than the city streets that August.
But this wasn't any old August. It was August 2012, part of the rainiest years since records began in Britain; and also the month when the remains of Richard III were discovered under a car-park in Leicester.
We couldn't have known that at the time. I was there meeting friends and desperately trying to keep dry while sight-seeing. The announcement occurred the day afterwards.
This was a great shame, because two of our number were historians. Had we known about the trench up Grey Friars, we would certainly have been peering over a fence having a good nosey. Instead we were huddling under an overhang at the Jewry Wall. Roman ruins there, bordering a Saxon/Norman church. All very interesting and, above all, dry.
Yet King Richard III wasn't completely ignored that day in Leicester. As my friends escorted me back to my own car-park (sadly lacking in any royal corpses), we crossed Bow Bridge with its big legends. The story goes that Richard rode over it, on his horse, on the way to Bosworth Battlefield. As he passed by an old woman/witch/hag/prophetess warned him that when he returned he would bang his head on the bridge.
The Battle of Bosworth duly came and was lost. The stripped naked body of Richard was strung across a horse's back, then brought in procession back to Leicester. There was nothing honourable about this. He was being returned solely so enough people could view his body, that there would be no question that he still lived. Henry Tudor had a kingdom to consolidate and a dynasty to sire.
But as the horse and its sad cargo crossed Bow Bridge, Richard's head struck the stonework at the side. The old lady's prophecy (or curse) had come true.
That was legend, but there was also an historical rumour attached to this location. After Richard III's body had lay in Leicester for an adequate amount of time, it was taken away. Some said that it was thrown into the River Soar, hence the plaque on the wall (pictured above) which sits alongside Bow Bridge. Others stated that he was retrieved by the Grey Friars and buried in the long-lost friary. It turns out that they were correct.
'Near this spot lie the remains of Richard III the last of the Plantagenets 1485' reads the plaque on Bow Bridge by the River Soar. What they actually meant was that the remains were four minutes walk away, under the car-park of Leicestershire Social Services.
But this wasn't any old August. It was August 2012, part of the rainiest years since records began in Britain; and also the month when the remains of Richard III were discovered under a car-park in Leicester.
We couldn't have known that at the time. I was there meeting friends and desperately trying to keep dry while sight-seeing. The announcement occurred the day afterwards.
This was a great shame, because two of our number were historians. Had we known about the trench up Grey Friars, we would certainly have been peering over a fence having a good nosey. Instead we were huddling under an overhang at the Jewry Wall. Roman ruins there, bordering a Saxon/Norman church. All very interesting and, above all, dry.
Yet King Richard III wasn't completely ignored that day in Leicester. As my friends escorted me back to my own car-park (sadly lacking in any royal corpses), we crossed Bow Bridge with its big legends. The story goes that Richard rode over it, on his horse, on the way to Bosworth Battlefield. As he passed by an old woman/witch/hag/prophetess warned him that when he returned he would bang his head on the bridge.
The Battle of Bosworth duly came and was lost. The stripped naked body of Richard was strung across a horse's back, then brought in procession back to Leicester. There was nothing honourable about this. He was being returned solely so enough people could view his body, that there would be no question that he still lived. Henry Tudor had a kingdom to consolidate and a dynasty to sire.
But as the horse and its sad cargo crossed Bow Bridge, Richard's head struck the stonework at the side. The old lady's prophecy (or curse) had come true.
That was legend, but there was also an historical rumour attached to this location. After Richard III's body had lay in Leicester for an adequate amount of time, it was taken away. Some said that it was thrown into the River Soar, hence the plaque on the wall (pictured above) which sits alongside Bow Bridge. Others stated that he was retrieved by the Grey Friars and buried in the long-lost friary. It turns out that they were correct.
'Near this spot lie the remains of Richard III the last of the Plantagenets 1485' reads the plaque on Bow Bridge by the River Soar. What they actually meant was that the remains were four minutes walk away, under the car-park of Leicestershire Social Services.
The plaque is slightly to the right of the 'B' marking St Augustine Road. The body was actually just off Grey Friars, here marked with an 'A'. In 2014, Richard will be buried again, this time in the more salubrious environs inside Leicester Cathedral.
Which makes us all wonder what will happen to the Bow Bridge plaque. It's now obviously telling a lie to all Leicester tourists, many of whom will be there to visit the soon-to-be-constructed Richard III museum. They will all KNOW that he's in the cathedral, at least after 2014. So we have bets on how long it will take for his plaque to mysteriously disappear. My Leicestershire friend will be keeping his eye out, so we get the alert.
The big question is: will the plaque just be flung in the river or be shoved in a make-shift grave under Social Services?
Which makes us all wonder what will happen to the Bow Bridge plaque. It's now obviously telling a lie to all Leicester tourists, many of whom will be there to visit the soon-to-be-constructed Richard III museum. They will all KNOW that he's in the cathedral, at least after 2014. So we have bets on how long it will take for his plaque to mysteriously disappear. My Leicestershire friend will be keeping his eye out, so we get the alert.
The big question is: will the plaque just be flung in the river or be shoved in a make-shift grave under Social Services?
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