The Blue Boar Inn in Leicester

A ‘Grand Hotel’ of Richard III’s time

On his way to the battle of Bosworth, Richard III stayed in Leicester, leaving on 21 August.    According to tradition, he spent the night at the Blue Boar Inn[i], though Peter Hammond thinks it more likely that he stayed at the castle.[ii]  However, as this post is about the inn, it doesn’t really matter where Richard actually resided.

Blue Boar Inn, in: C.J. Billson, Mediaeval Leicester, 1920 (Public domain via Wikimedia Commons)

The Redemption Windows in Leicester Cathedral

The Redemption Windows

in Leicester Cathedral

On 24 April this year, two new stained glass windows were dedicated in Leicester Cathedral.  I had a chance to see them, face-to-face, in the beginning of June.  A much-anticipated visit and I was not disappointed!

Redemption Windows, Leicester Cathedral

David Kindersley

Today would be the 101^st birthday of David Guy Barnabas Kindersley, stone-carver and type designer.  He was born on 11 June 1915 in Codicote, Hertfordshire.  Among his extensive work is the Richard III Memorial Stone.  Some of David Kindersley’s work is at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

The memorial stone was originally in Leicester Cathedral.  It had been a project of Rev T.C. Hunter-Clare, to which the Richard III Society had contributed. It was dedicated in August 1982.

Since January 2015, just prior to Richard III’s reburial in Leicester Cathedral, the memorial stone has been on permanent display at the King Richard III Visitor Centre, Leicester.

David Kindersley died on 2 February 1995 in Cambridge.

The photograph was taken in 2013, showing the memorial stone in its original position in Leicester Cathedral.

Richard III Memorial Stone

To learn more about David Kindersley, you may wish his obituary in the Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituariesdavid-kindersley-1571426.html

Coat of Arms of Richard III

The Coat of Arms in Richard III’s Tombstone – the Dean’s Discussions at Leicester Cathedral

We welcome Rosalind Broomhall to Dottie Tales, who tells us in today’s guest post about making the Coat of Arms in Richard III’s tombstone.

This week we went to the third of the Dean’s Discussions at Leicester Cathedral – a series of talks with the craftsmen (and women) who worked on the Richard III reinterment project. The talk this week was with Thomas Greenaway, the creator of the Coat of Arms that lies in the Kilkenny marble of the tombstone.

Richard III’s Reinterment Week

One week in Leicester –

a personal reflection on Richard III’s Reinterment Week

In March this year, concluding a month-long trip through Europe, my husband and I spent a week in Leicester. But not any old week, but the week, Richard III’s Reinterment Week. For me, and undoubtedly many others, this was a once in a lifetime experience. What follows is a very subjective trip down memory lane.

A Funeral Pall for Richard III

Many of us who were in Leicester for the week of Richard III’s Reinterment admired the beautiful pall, which was laid over his coffin while he was lying in repose in Leicester Cathedral.