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Published: August 29th 2013
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We motored on to Sutton Cheney Wharf, at about the 11 mile marker, turned the boat around and moored. From here we could walk along footpaths to the
Battle of Bosworth Heritage Centre and a battlefield walk. The Battle of Bosworth Field was the last battle in the Wars of the Roses – Yorkshire v Lancashire – white rose v red rose. Richard III, aka Richard of York, was on the throne and his forces were beaten by Henry, subsequently Henry VII, a Lancastrian and the first of the Tudor monarchs. So 1000 people died and the Plantagenet line ended on 22
nd August 1485. Interestingly their Royal Standards didn't have roses on them – Richard III had a white boar and Henry Tudor a Welsh dragon.
Richard III's body was found recently, despite stories that it had been thrown into the R. Soar; the site of the battle has also been moved after new evidence came to light. It is fair to say that the 'truth' about all that happened is unreliable, particularly as most of it was documented a considerable time
after it happened and under the malevolent eyes of Tudor monarchs, who were hardly impartial. As I have already studied this period in depth for my 'A' level, we decided to miss the
Heritage Centre and just follow the walk, which was designed to 'provide visitors with the opportunity to reflect on this pivotal battle' – but we enjoyed the walk anyway. There were two viewpoints from different angles of the 'actual' battlefield, which is flat and part of a large area of higher ground. Whatever marshes existed and played their part in Richard's downfall have long since been drained. Many cannon balls the size of tennis balls have been found all over the site – these had a range of about 200 yards whilst the archers managed about 100 yards. One interesting fact – apparently esquires were squires who had been through all the training and had the skills to be a knight but who didn't want to take the final step of swearing allegiance and making any commitments.
We stopped at Sutton Cheney Wharf cafe on the way back but had to fight the wasps off our tea and cakes –
it's that season again unfortunately.
The Ashby Canal has grown on us – it is incredibly peaceful and, despite the number of moored boats, there aren't many others on the move. Most of one edge of the canal is mud bank and there's evidence of mammals living here. We saw several varieties of dragonfly and damselfly and it is a strange experience to be overtaken by a large dragonfly. Martins were swooping low over our boat this morning, after the insects – pity they don't eat wasps.
We've been by very dusty towpaths for a week and our boat paintwork really needs a good wash – I feel that if I do so it might provoke a rain storm so perhaps I'll leave it a little longer.
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