Editing Battle of Bosworth Field (section)

==Battlefield location==
{{multiple image
| align     = right
| direction = vertical
| header    = Richard's Field
| footer    = The memorial and its plaque
| footer_align = left
| width     = 200
| image1    = King Richard's Field.jpg
| alt1      = A clearing sparsely surrounded by trees and bushes. A gravel-lined spot is at the centre, sporting a stone with flowers lain in front of it. On the left stands a flagpole, whose flag lies unfurled.
| image2    = Memorial plaque to King Richard III.jpg
| alt2      = Rectangular plaque containing "Richard the last Plantagenet King of England was slain here 22nd August 1485"
}}
The site of the battle is deemed by [[Leicestershire County Council]] to be in the vicinity of the town of [[Market Bosworth]].{{sfn|English Heritage|1995|p=1}} The council engaged historian Daniel Williams to research the battle, and in 1974 his findings were used to build the Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre and the presentation it houses.{{sfn|English Heritage|1995|p=2}} Williams's interpretation, however, has since been questioned. Sparked by the battle's quincentenary celebration in 1985,{{sfn|English Heritage|1995|p=1}} a dispute among historians has led many to doubt the accuracy of Williams's theory.{{sfn|Dunn|2000|p=2}}{{sfn|Battlefields Trust|2004|loc=[http://www.battlefieldstrust.com/resource-centre/warsoftheroses/battlepageview.asp?pageid=387 "Visiting the Battlefield"]}} In particular, geological surveys conducted from 2003 to 2009 by the Battlefields Trust, a charitable organisation that protects and studies old English battlefields, show that the southern and eastern flanks of Ambion Hill were solid ground in the 15th century, contrary to Williams's claim that it was a large area of marshland.{{sfn|Foard|2004|p=21}} [[Landscape archaeology|Landscape archaeologist]] [[Glenn Foard]], leader of the survey,{{sfn|Williamson|2008|p=2}} said the collected soil samples and finds of medieval military equipment suggest that the battle took place {{convert|2|mi|km|spell=in}} south-west of Ambion Hill (52°34′41″N 1°26′02″W),{{sfn|Foard|2010|p=29}} contrary to the popular belief that it was fought near the foot of the hill.<ref>{{harvnb|Wainwright|2009}}; {{harvnb|Walker|2009}}.</ref>

===Historians' theories===

[[Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England|English Heritage]] argues that the battle was named after Market Bosworth because the town was then the nearest significant settlement to the battlefield.{{sfn|English Heritage|1995|p=4}} As explored by Professor Philip Morgan, a battle might initially not be named specifically at all. As time passes, writers of administrative and historical records find it necessary to identify a notable battle, ascribing it a name that is usually [[toponymy|toponymical]] in nature and sourced from combatants or observers. This name then becomes accepted by society and without question.{{sfn|Morgan|2000|p=42}} Early records associated the Battle of Bosworth with "Brownehethe", "''bellum Miravallenses''", "Sandeford" and "Dadlyngton field".{{sfn|Morgan|2000|p=44}} The earliest record, a municipal memorandum of 23 August 1485 from York,{{sfn|Foard|2004|p=17}} locates the battle "on the field of Redemore".{{sfn|English Heritage|1995|pp=1–2}} This is corroborated by a 1485–86 letter that mentions "Redesmore" as its site.{{sfn|English Heritage|1995|p=2}} According to the historian, Peter Foss, records did not associate the battle with "Bosworth" until 1510.{{sfn|Morgan|2000|p=44}}

Foss is named by English Heritage as the principal advocate for "Redemore" as the battle site. He suggests the name is derived from "''Hreod Mor''", an Anglo-Saxon phrase that means "reedy marshland". Basing his opinion on 13th- and 16th-century church records, he believes "Redemore" was an area of wetland that lay between Ambion Hill and the village of [[Dadlington]], and was close to the Fenn Lanes, a [[Roman roads|Roman road]] running east to west across the region.{{sfn|English Heritage|1995|p=2}} Foard believes this road to be the most probable route that both armies took to reach the battlefield.{{sfn|Foard|2004|p=51}} Williams dismisses the notion of "Redmore" as a specific location, saying that the term refers to a large area of reddish soil; Foss argues that Williams's sources are local stories and flawed interpretations of records.{{sfn|English Heritage|1995|p=3}} Moreover, he proposes that Williams was influenced by [[William Hutton (Birmingham historian)|William Hutton]]'s 1788 ''The Battle of Bosworth-Field'', which Foss blames for introducing the notion that the battle was fought west of Ambion Hill on the north side of the [[River Sence]].{{sfn|Foss|1998|p=22}} Hutton, as Foss suggests, misinterpreted a passage from his source, [[Raphael Holinshed]]'s 1577 ''Chronicle''. Holinshed wrote, "King Richard pitched his field on a hill called Anne Beame, refreshed his soldiers and took his rest." Foss believes that Hutton mistook "field" to mean "field of battle", thus creating the idea that the fight took place on Anne Beame (Ambion) Hill. To "[pitch] his field", as Foss clarifies, was a period expression for setting up a camp.{{sfn|Foss|1998|p=21}}

[[File:St James the Greater, Dadlington.jpg|thumb|alt=Side view of a building, which has a small tower on the left side: tombstones lie in rows on plots in front.|upright=1.5|St James the Greater, [[Dadlington]]: the dead of Bosworth Field were buried here.]]

Foss brings further evidence for his "Redemore" theory by quoting [[Edward Hall]]'s 1550 ''Chronicle''. Hall stated that Richard's army stepped onto a plain after breaking camp the next day. Furthermore, historian [[William Burton (antiquary)|William Burton]], author of ''Description of Leicestershire'' (1622),{{sfn|English Heritage|1995|p=2}} wrote that the battle was "fought in a large, flat, plaine, and spacious ground, {{Convert|3|mi|0|disp=sqbr|spell=in}} distant from [Bosworth], between the Towne of [[Shenton]], Sutton [Cheney], Dadlington and Stoke [Golding]".{{sfn|English Heritage|1995|p=3}} In Foss's opinion both sources are describing an area of flat ground north of Dadlington.{{sfn|Foss|1998|p=28}}

===Physical site===
English Heritage, responsible for managing England's historic sites, used both theories to designate the site for Bosworth Field. Without preference for either theory, they constructed a single continuous battlefield boundary that encompasses the locations proposed by both Williams and Foss.{{sfn|English Heritage|1995|pp=12–13}} The region has experienced extensive changes over the years, starting after the battle. Holinshed stated in his chronicle that he found firm ground where he expected the marsh to be, and Burton confirmed that by the end of the 16th century, areas of the battlefield were enclosed and had been [[Land improvement|improved]] to make them agriculturally productive. Trees were planted on the south side of Ambion Hill, forming Ambion Wood. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the [[Ashby Canal]] carved through the land west and south-west of Ambion Hill. Winding alongside the canal at a distance, the [[Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway]] crossed the area on an embankment.{{sfn|English Heritage|1995|p=4}}{{sfn|Gravett|1999|p=83}} The changes to the landscape were so extensive that when Hutton revisited the region in 1807 after an earlier 1788 visit, he could not readily find his way around.{{sfn|English Heritage|1995|p=4}}

[[File:King Richard's Well.jpg|thumb|right|alt=A pyramidal stone structure stands in a small clearing surrounded by small trees and bushes. The structure, enclosed by a fence, has an opening in the front.|Richard's Well, where the last Yorkist king supposedly took a drink of water on the day of the battle]]
Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre was built on Ambion Hill, near Richard's Well. According to legend, Richard III drank from one of the several springs in the region on the day of the battle.{{sfn|Gravett|1999|p=72}} In 1788, a local pointed out one of the springs to Hutton as the one mentioned in the legend.{{sfn|Battlefields Trust|2004|loc=[http://www.battlefieldstrust.com/resource-centre/warsoftheroses/battlepageview.asp?pageid=392 "Battlefield Monuments"]}} A stone structure was later built over the location. The inscription on the well reads:

{{Blockquote|Near this spot, on August 22nd 1485, at the age of 32, King Richard III fell fighting gallantly in defence of his realm & his crown against the usurper Henry Tudor.

The Cairn was erected by Dr. Samuel Parr in 1813 to mark the well from which the king is said to have drunk during the battle.

It is maintained by the Fellowship of the White Boar.{{sfn|Battlefields Trust|2004|loc=[http://www.battlefieldstrust.com/resource-centre/popup.asp?imageid=353 "The Plaque on Richard's Well"]}}}}

North-west of Ambion Hill, just across the northern tributary of the {{Not a typo|Sence}}, a flag and memorial stone mark Richard's Field. Erected in 1973, the site was selected on the basis of Williams's theory.{{sfn|English Heritage|1995|p=12}} St James's Church at Dadlington is the only structure in the area that is reliably associated with the Battle of Bosworth; the bodies of those killed in the battle were buried there.{{sfn|Battlefields Trust|2004|loc=[http://www.battlefieldstrust.com/resource-centre/warsoftheroses/battlepageview.asp?pageid=392 "Battlefield Monuments"]}}

===Rediscovered battlefield and possible battle scenario===
The very extensive survey carried out (2005–2009) by the Battlefields Trust headed by Glenn Foard led eventually to the discovery of the real location of the core battlefield.<ref>Glenn Foard & Anne Curry (2013). ''Bosworth 1485: A Battlefield Rediscovered''. Oxford: Oxbow Books. pp. 195–198. {{JSTOR|j.ctt14bs19c}}</ref> This lies about a kilometre further west of the location suggested by Peter Foss. It is in what was at the time of the battle an area of marginal land at the meeting of several township boundaries. There was a cluster of field names suggesting the presence of marshland and heath. Thirty four lead round shot<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.bosworthbattlefield.org.uk/site-history/ |title=Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre |access-date=3 March 2021 |archive-date=8 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308130200/https://www.bosworthbattlefield.org.uk/site-history/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> were discovered as a result of systematic metal detecting (more than the total found previously on all other C15th European battlefields), as well as other significant finds,<ref>[http://www.battlefieldstrust.com/media/772.pdf Bosworth: all potential battlefield finds], Battlefields Trust</ref> including a small silver gilt badge depicting a boar. Experts believe that the boar badge could indicate the actual site of Richard III's death, since this high-status badge depicting his personal emblem was probably worn by a member of his close retinue.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/leicestershire/8523386.stm |title=New Battle of Bosworth Field site revealed |publisher=BBC News |date=19 February 2010}}</ref>

[[File:Bosworth Battlefield (Fenn Lane Farm).jpg|thumb|Bosworth Battlefield (Fenn Lane Farm)]] 
A new interpretation<ref name="NHLE">{{NHLE|num=1000004|desc=Battle of Bosworth (Field) 1485 |access-date=30 July 2016}}</ref> of the battle now integrates the historic accounts with the battlefield finds and landscape history. The new site lies either side of the Fenn Lanes Roman road, close to Fenn Lane Farm and is some three kilometres to the south-west of Ambion Hill.

Based on the round shot scatter, the likely size of Richard III's army, and the topography, Glenn Foard and Anne Curry think that Richard may have lined up his forces on a slight ridge which lies just east of Fox Covert Lane and behind a postulated medieval marsh.<ref>[http://www.battlefieldstrust.com/media/776.pdf Bosworth Battlefield: Conjectural terrain reconstruction with two options for the Royal army deployment], Battlefields Trust</ref><ref>[http://www.battlefieldstrust.com/media/775.pdf Deployments], Battlefields Trust</ref> Richard's vanguard commanded by the Duke of Norfolk was on the right (north) side of Richard's battle line, with the Earl of Northumberland on Richard's left (south) side.

Tudor's forces approached along the line of the Roman road and lined up to the west of the present day Fenn Lane Farm, having marched from the vicinity of Merevale in Warwickshire.{{sfn|Hammond|2013|p=64}}

Historic England have re-defined the boundaries of the registered Bosworth Battlefield to incorporate the newly identified site. There are hopes that public access to the site will be possible in the future.<ref name="NHLE"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Bosworth Battlefield: The Way Forward |date=August 2013 |url=http://www.hwa.uk.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/EB-23.pdf |access-date=2016-08-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818145049/http://www.hwa.uk.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/EB-23.pdf |archive-date=18 August 2016}}</ref>