replies from Leicester

I've been busy with other things, especially with writing to seven assorted
Leicester dignitaries, pointing out the benefits of burying Richard in a
table tomb set in a side chapel, itself set in a memorial garden
commemorating all the dead of Bosworth. I've had three replies so far: the
one from the mayor is just boilerplate and not very interesting, but the
other two are more promising.

I had written to Professor Mark Thompson at the University, and he evidently
pased it on to the Cathedral, for I received this reply from Donald
Monteith, Canon Chancellor.

*******

Mark Thompson has passed on your interesting letter of 5th April to me as I
chair the Executive Group overseeing all the planning work associated with
the interment of King Richard III. Mark is a member of that group.

We have had a huge volume of correspondence - much argued passionately and
imaginatively. Very often correspondents put diametrically opposing views.
All correspondence is read and passed through to the relevant people working
on these plans.

I become Dean of Leicester later in May and I am very aware of the
extraordinary responsibility we have to lay the King finally to rest with
due honour and dignity. We will not come to quick design or decision but are
seeking the very best advice. We will wish to mark his place of burial with
the highest quality craftsmanship and in a way which not only will read well
in our generations but for centuries to come.

*******

I also received a reply to the letter which I had written to Canon Barry
Naylor, the Acting Dean: this reply is signed by The Rt Rev Tim Stevens,
Bishop of Leicester as well as by Naylor.


*******

Thank you for your interest in the ongoing story relating to the
re-interment of King Richard III in Leicester Cathedral. We have received
many passionate and interesting letters and emails as a result of the
publication of the Architectural Brief which is the start of the process to
bring King Richard into the Cathedral. Unfortunately we are not able to
reply individually to each one but your comments will be read and used to
help us plan the year ahead.

We are working to create a great place of honour in the cathedral for King
Richard III. The grave will use high quality design and materials with the
best craftsmanship available, created specifically for Leicester Cathedral.
We hope that the space created in which the King will lie will engender a
sense of awe and wonder, using lighting, artefacts, textiles and more, which
will tell his story with dignity and inspire visitors of all ages and
backgrounds.

The scheme will fit into the overall hopes and aspirations of the Cathedral
to be a place for everyone in our city and county, our nation and the world
as we give Richard III lasting and honoured sanctuary.

The Cathedral team invites you to pray for them as they work to find
compelling and appropriate solutions which will be literally 'fit for a
King'.

*********

Thank you for the letters you wrote, and for sharing the responses with us.

On Apr 17, 2013, at 2:30 AM, "Claire M Jordan" <whitehound@...<mailto:whitehound@...>> wrote:



I've been busy with other things, especially with writing to seven assorted
Leicester dignitaries, pointing out the benefits of burying Richard in a
table tomb set in a side chapel, itself set in a memorial garden
commemorating all the dead of Bosworth. I've had three replies so far: the
one from the mayor is just boilerplate and not very interesting, but the
other two are more promising.

I had written to Professor Mark Thompson at the University, and he evidently
pased it on to the Cathedral, for I received this reply from Donald
Monteith, Canon Chancellor.

*******

Mark Thompson has passed on your interesting letter of 5th April to me as I
chair the Executive Group overseeing all the planning work associated with
the interment of King Richard III. Mark is a member of that group.

We have had a huge volume of correspondence - much argued passionately and
imaginatively. Very often correspondents put diametrically opposing views.
All correspondence is read and passed through to the relevant people working
on these plans.

I become Dean of Leicester later in May and I am very aware of the
extraordinary responsibility we have to lay the King finally to rest with
due honour and dignity. We will not come to quick design or decision but are
seeking the very best advice. We will wish to mark his place of burial with
the highest quality craftsmanship and in a way which not only will read well
in our generations but for centuries to come.

*******

I also received a reply to the letter which I had written to Canon Barry
Naylor, the Acting Dean: this reply is signed by The Rt Rev Tim Stevens,
Bishop of Leicester as well as by Naylor.

*******

Thank you for your interest in the ongoing story relating to the
re-interment of King Richard III in Leicester Cathedral. We have received
many passionate and interesting letters and emails as a result of the
publication of the Architectural Brief which is the start of the process to
bring King Richard into the Cathedral. Unfortunately we are not able to
reply individually to each one but your comments will be read and used to
help us plan the year ahead.

We are working to create a great place of honour in the cathedral for King
Richard III. The grave will use high quality design and materials with the
best craftsmanship available, created specifically for Leicester Cathedral.
We hope that the space created in which the King will lie will engender a
sense of awe and wonder, using lighting, artefacts, textiles and more, which
will tell his story with dignity and inspire visitors of all ages and
backgrounds.

The scheme will fit into the overall hopes and aspirations of the Cathedral
to be a place for everyone in our city and county, our nation and the world
as we give Richard III lasting and honoured sanctuary.

The Cathedral team invites you to pray for them as they work to find
compelling and appropriate solutions which will be literally 'fit for a
King'.

*********

From: "Pamela Bain" <pbain@...>
To: <>
Sent: Wednesday, April 17, 2013 2:14 PM
Subject: Re: replies from Leicester


> Thank you for the letters you wrote, and for sharing the responses with
> us.

Cheers. It seems pretty clear, especially from the letter from the Bishop,
that they have quietly abandoned the idea of simply burying Richard under a
flush slab in the aisle, since it's difficult to see how such a slab burial
could qualify as "the space created in which the King will lie [which] will
engender a sense of awe and wonder, using lighting, artefacts, textiles and
more" without rendering the aisle impassable! It sounds as if they're more
in danger of going over the top.

Does anybody know the name of the architect who did the reconstruction work
on the little private chapel (not St George's Chapel, a little round thing)
at Windsor Castle after the fire? I thought he or she did a lovely job of
designing something which was in a quasi-Mediaeval, Gothic manner and yet
was clearly Modern Gothic rather than Mediaeval or Victorian Gothic.