FW: {RealRichardIII} Horse trough

thought this from a friend on another list might be of interest re our
earlier discussions.
Paul

> One version says Richard was laid out in the streets of Leicester watched
> over and washed by a mad woman.>
>
> Really? I've not heard that one in relation to Richard,
> only in connection with Owen Tudor's head (after Ludlow?),
> which apparently also got the mad woman wash...
>
> <But it still doesn¹t tell me about the horse trough legend!>
>
> The horse trough was apparently where R's body was initially
> laid. Some female traveller made a note of it in the 18thC - I
> have a feeling her name was Cynthia Fiennes or something - and
> IIRC she added there was indentations in this trough for the head and
> shoulders,
> leading to speculation that it wasn't a horse trough after all,
> but an old stone coffin of the sort in vogue in medieval times
> (York still has a few on display outsdie, near the Library in the
> grounds of the City Park). The trough/coffin was broken
> up after that if memory serves - when a vicar (I've also forgotten that
> name, but
> it *was* provided in the write-up I read - prob. in the David Baldwin
> article
> already mentioned onlist in the last day or so) came across it
> used as steps in a pub in Leicester - I'm pretty sure the pub was the Talbot
> Inn.
> (I remembered the name of the pub, not because it was a pub, per se, but
> because a talbot was a sort of dog, as in Lovell the Dog <g>)
> The pub's still there, I believe, but renamed, and no doubt done out with
> some horrible decor by now.
>
> A lot of the info that we have concerning R's burial in Leicester
> was collected up by Nicholls who wrote quite a few bits on
> Leicester in the 19thC, and later by Charles Billson.
> I got masses of stuff relating to this from the R3 Soc
> Library - ask for the Papers Catalogue, the details are
> in there, if memory serves.
>
> Bones were actually found at Bow Bridge in the 19thC
> and were thought to be Richard's. The bones didn't
> apparently show much evidence of a violent death,
> as one would expect, plus the age wasn't thought to
> be correct, but I haven't got all the details in front
> of me on that. I do remember reading the skull
> survives though, in private hands. How potentially
> thrilling is that???


> There is an Abbey archway surviving in the basement
> of what was a Leicester Poly (student union) building,
> very close to THAT carpark. The surviving wall in the carpark
> has no arch - just a few stones. The Park also has
> some medieval walling - but I think they're the
> remains of the Castle.